Groundbreakers | Diana Flores on Her Start Playing Flag Football

- [Diana] When I started, I started playing at a club.

We had this amazing stadium, the football field, you know, with lights on.

Amazing.

That wasn't where I started to play flag.

I started at a dust field right in the back, full of rocks, literally, and trash.

Because they told us that we were not allowed to stand on the field because it was for the boys.

Every time before a practice, my coach, he asked us to start like, um, cleaning t-- the field from rocks so I could bring my bag, my trash bag, to every practice.

- It's terrible.

So you went from this dust field, rocks, trash bags, all this, and then how old were you when you played on a men's team... - 14.

- 14.

- Yes, so... - But the boys let you or the coach let you?

- At that moment in time, there was a rule in the league... - Ah, there was a rule.

- That if they had a girl on the team, they were allowed to have one more boy.

- Oh, good, alright-- - So it is like, mmm... - So they're not losing out, basically?

- Yes.

It was hard at the beginning because I remember boys, and even the coaches, they didn't get to trust a lot in me because, as you said, it was not their fault.

I understood it like, later on.

- It's culture.

- Because-- yes, because they were used to that kind of mindset.

- Yes.

- And the mindset of, "Okay, "the girls, she's the weak one of the team.

Okay, we're gonna protect her, okay..." - So how did you-- did you change their minds?

- Yes.

- And how did you do that?

- It was all about like, my-- my work... - It was your skill, right?

- My passion, my skills.

They saw, and they realized that I was not competing against them, I was competing with them... - Right, you're on their team, to win, right?!

- We have the same passion, we have the same vision.

We have more things that connect us than what we would've thought.

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