She was forever grateful.

At first it was very hard.

My first time I went out there, I was super, super scared.

I was intimidated by all the boys.

When the boys looking at her like, I'm not playing with no girl.

But soon they realized like, hey, she's pretty good.

The first time she ever touched the ball, she scored a touchdown.

So that was pretty amazing.

After playing for a couple of years as the only girl in the league, the boys got a little too big.

So Amaya moved on to other sports, most notably softball.

She never thought she'd play football again until as a middle schooler, the well-respected athlete heard from Chris Reichert, head coach of the new flag football program at Pace High School.

He said, hey, I heard about you.

You should come out to a practice like a summer practice.

And at first I was like, I don't know if I want to go, like, I don't think I should.

And my parents convinced me to.

And after that first practice, I was like, I need a transfer, I'm going to play flag football.

He called me.

He said, hey, I've got a seventh grader coming out and I was like, at first thought.

I was like, okay, cool, I don't expect very much.

And she came out to practice for summer conditioning and she said, hey, throw the ball.

So I threw her the ball next to no.

She threw it back to me and it was just like a guy throwing it.

And I was like, okay, can this girl come to high school already?

Two years later, she officially arrived as a freshman, and when the starting quarterback went down with an injury in the preseason, the Patriots turned to Amaya.

I was like, we're going to throw her under the fire, so to speak, and, get her ready.

And then turns out the first game we played for on beach and she threw six touchdowns.

I was surprised that she was good because like, since we're the same age freshman year, I had no idea, like what I was doing.

So like just seeing her, I was like, wow, she's actually really good.

And that kind of intimidated.

Me a little bit.

She just kept getting better.

With off the charts results in her first three seasons at pace, putting up astounding numbers almost 13,000 passing yards with 169 touchdowns.

I always try and stay humble like I always think I'm of those stats, but like, not at the same time.

Like I. I want to stay humble and just think I can always be better than the year before.

Anytime you ask her to do something, she does it.

She asks how she can work harder as I should do something different.

She always works for the teammates and show her how things can be done if her teammates have some advice to listen to them as well.

She's always been willing to learn.

Ever the all around athlete, she's excelled in other sports at pace softball, track and weightlifting, where she finished second in the state as part of a Patriots state championship team.

But after her junior year, Amaya fully realized her path forward is with flag football.

In December, she was selected to participate in the U.S. Army All American Flag Bowl in Texas, along with many of the nation's top players.

That was probably my favorite flag football moment for me.

I got really super close with, a lot of the people there, and I love the coaches there.

It was a great environment for me, very hyped and exciting.

A constant during the amazing journey in football is a bond with her dad James.

He played football at pace, part of back to back undefeated regular seasons in 1999 and 2000.

He's been my number one guy.

I go to him like after every single game or like even half time I'll be like, hey, what do I need to do?

Like, I need your help because he's just so smart and he's just always been there for me since day one.

He was the one who motivated me to do tackle football.

Like he wasn't scared for me.

He was like, yeah, you should do it.

You should.

If you love it that much, you should do it.

And then ever since he's just been by my side, it's been amazing.

I mean, she's a better athlete than I ever was.

It's pretty cool to see the flag world growing as much of the has.

And then now she's going want to get some of the best in the country.

It's been really cool.

It just keeps getting cooler.

Flag football will be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics, giving Amaya another goal to shoot for, but first, she'll be part of the sport's rise on the college level, signing a scholarship to Lindsey Wilson College, a new Naia program in Kentucky.

It's super, super exciting for me.

I just literally never have thought this would happen in my life.

I'm very grateful for everybody in my life that got me to this point.

Did you ever envision that her college is going to be paid for by flag football?

No, never.

It's always softball in my in my eyes growing up.

I mean, that's what we were going for.

But never flag.

Never.

But God works in mysterious ways and.

Alumni Avenue is where we spotlight a local product, now excelling on the college or pro level.

The Pensacola area's ability to consistently turn out NFL players is stunning.

Last season, a whopping nine athletes from the three county area Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa were on NFL rosters.

Among that group, no.

One is shining brighter now than Devin Weatherspoon ten.

Just two seasons into his NFL career, Devin Weatherspoon has established himself as one of the best defensive backs in the league.

The Pine Forest grad earned a spot on the Pro Bowl in each of his first two years.

The first Seattle Seahawks quarterback ever to achieve that.