Senior Kaley Phillips was born and raised in Florida, where her father was a flag football coach. She, like her father, loved the sport and began playing at a very young age. 

“There was a little recreation league in my hometown in Florida, the sport is huge there. I just think I fell in love with it,” Phillips said. 

Flag football didn’t start in Florida, but it has become very popular there. The first official high school flag football teams came from the Florida High School Athletics Association. The sport has continued to grow across the country, with Baker’s flag football team only being in its third season this year. 

Phillips first played college flag football at Hesston College, but came to Baker after her sophomore year.

“I decided to transfer. I wanted to be coached by one of the best, in the league and in the game,” Phillips said.

Coach Willy Perez is the founding coach of Baker’s flag football program, and he is also a Team USA coach, which he does throughout the year.

“He’ll leave and come back, and do some of his own tournaments. He’s a quarterback (QB), so at practice he throws at us which is cool,” Phillips said.

Even though Phillips has been playing flag football her whole life, she still faced hardships.

“Adjusting and having to fill in roles that I’ve never done before was difficult at first, and having to train up to bigger standards, because coming from a junior college, you don’t really train that much,” she said. “Now I have two- or three-hour practices and two-a-days, stuff like that, that’s the hardest adjustment.”

After graduation, Phillips plans to enlist in the Air Force or Navy and then continue in crime scene investigation. She also plans to keep playing flag football recreationally at home, and keep in contact with Coach Perez, who she said has been her biggest inspiration during her time at Baker.