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The football field has been Addi Vrana's second home for as long as she can remember. She spent most of her life watching but now, she's playing.
"I had never really seen her kick a football and she kept dogging me everyday to come out and kick," Vista Ridge head football coach and Addi's dad said. "So we came over here and I was like 'you've got 5 kicks and if I don't like it we're not doing it' and 5 kicks turned into 6 kicks and 6 kicks turned into 17 kicks and pretty soon I'm like wow this might be able to happen."
Addi earned a varsity roster spot as Vista Ridge's starting kicker this season and she's made 22 extra points so far.
"As far as it being my first season ever playing, I think it's gone pretty well, obviously there's always room for improvement," Addi said.
Not only is Addi the anchor to the special teams unit, she's the only girl on the team.
"At first I think they were like this is weird, she's a girl, she's my coach's daughter and it was like a little off-putting," Addi explained. "But I think after the first week, the first game everyone was like, 'she's just a teammate'."
The extra father-daughter bonding time on the football field has brought the Vrana duo even closer.
"Having him as my coach makes it a lot easier because I can go to him and ask questions," Addi said, "and getting to bond with him even more over football has made it so much better."
Mike Vrana has been coaching football for 30 years and said he never imagined he'd be able to coach his daughter in the sport, but he's enjoying every second.
At just 16-years-old, Addi is an inspiration to so many young girls.
"Just the thought of that is insane, that I was just hanging out trying to kick a football and now all of a sudden I have these little girls that think I'm the coolest person ever," Addi said.
Vista Ridge will host Fruita-Monument on Saturday for a second round playoff matchup.
