LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — For the second straight year, a Las Vegas Valley local will represent the United States on the U.S. Women's Flag Football Team in August's world championships.
News broke Monday that Maci Joncich, a recently graduated Coronado High School senior, will compete internationally after being selected to the adult team's 12-athlete roster. Teaming up with players aged 20s to 40s, the 17-year-old University of Florida enrollee becomes the youngest athlete to ever make Team USA's women's flag football final roster.
With flag football rapidly growing in Nevada and beyond, as it's now set to be an Olympic sport starting in the 2028 Los Angeles games, Joncich hopes her story can inspire others to pick up a pigskin.
“It feels like an exponential amount of growth within myself and within the game itself," Joncich said. "Two years ago there wouldn’t have been this opportunity to do this, and I wouldn’t have even thought about doing this.”
Las Vegas native Jazlyn Camacho made the final cut last year. Vegas native and Bonanza High graduateBrianna Hernandez-Silva serves as one of this year's team's six alternates.
Beginning with 60 athletes competing for a spot, March's initial 18-athlete roster was trimmed down during a three-day training camp in Charlotte. Being moved around the field as a utility player, the Coronado quarterback/safety made enough plays to earn a roster spot.
“The competition was incredible," Joncich said. "The weekend was full of practices, scrimmages, throwing in plays, throwing in defenses. Having those scrimmages back to back to back, it was very tiring. Very grueling. Everybody was exhausted by the end of it. But it was so much fun."
Making the final roster for the national team is the culmination of hard work for Joncich, who didn't even consider playing flag football an option until entering high school.
“Years and years of practice and games and tournaments and flying across the country to get my name out there is the most important part," Joncich said. "Seeing that it’s now in the Olympics, it kind of lit a fire underneath me and hopefully other people too.”
WATCH the full interview with Maci Joncich here:
Nevada has joined Florida among premier women's flag football states, it being a sanctioned high school sport in the Silver State. Flag football's popularity has also grown thanks to it becoming the NFL's Pro Bowl format, the first implementation of the new all-star game being in Las Vegas.
“The game is growing exponentially, so seeing that physically happen in your home state is super cool," Joncich said. "Growing up here, when I was little, flag football was just for the boys and it was just something you could do on the side just for fun. Now having it in high schools, winning state championships, it’s the best feeling ever.
"To be able to continue that and push it to the next level, it’s been super fun.”
The flag football world championships will take place in the last week of August in Finland. Before going across the pond, Joncich will be preparing in Henderson and attending training camps in Charlotte in late July and late August.
