Two local teenage girls are on a national fast track as top-flight flag football players. Victoria Ayllon, 16, a rising junior at Palm Beach Gardens High School, and Janiah Tejada, 15, a rising sophomore at Seminole Ridge High School, are currently on USA Football’s radar screen for its national 16U girls flag football team.
Ayllon plays wide receiver on offense and cornerback on defense. Tejada is also a two-way player, playing wide receiver on offense and either cornerback or safety on defense.
In addition to pursuing playing opportunities representing USA Football, both Ayllon and Tejada are key members of the Loxahatchee-based Tru Skillz Academy travel flag football team and have been for the last three years. Both also play high school flag football.
From July 9-12, the two traveled to southern California to play in USA Football’s Select Bowl, which was held at Galaxy Park in Carson, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Ayllon and Tejada played for the Southeast development team and were part of a four-team tournament featuring all-star squads from four different U.S. regions. The Southeast team finished in third place, which earned each player a bronze medal.
To play in the Select Bowl, both local girls had to earn spots on the Southeast team by participating in a USA Football-sponsored and organized Talent ID Camp in Tampa earlier in the year.
“Going to the Select Bowl was an amazing opportunity and experience for both girls,” said Nicole Ayllon, Victoria’s mother, who also traveled to southern California to watch both girls play.
Soon after returning from California, they packed their bags and headed to Canton, Ohio, with their Tru Skillz Academy age-group teammates to compete in the NFL Flag Championship. Their team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of this national competition. Their team qualified for the championship by winning the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Regional Championship hosted by the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers last December.
When both girls are not traveling around the country to flag football tournaments, they play locally in the fall and spring in the Breakthru Athletic League, which is based in Loxahatchee.
Next spring, they will be focused on trying to lead their respective high school flag football teams to the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) state championships.
Their next competitive tournament will be the Summer Shootout, which will be held at West Palm Beach’s Lake Lytal Park on Aug. 10-11. There, they will be playing with their high school teams in an early school-year warm-up tournament.
