U.S. Army All-American flag football game selects Dr. Phillips senior

Olivia Cadiz spent her childhood throwing a football at trees across the street from her family’s home in Windermere.

Now a senior at Dr. Phillips High School, Cadiz will take part in the inaugural U.S. Army Bowl All-American Flag Football Game on Monday at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

“When I was little I wanted to be a quarterback and win a Super Bowl,” Cadiz told the Orlando Sentinel. “I would play on that field for hours until sunset when I was little and my mom would call me in to get ready for bed.”

Her unwavering commitment has paid off.

Cadiz, among the top performers at the Jacksonville Jaguars QB Skills Challenge in April, signed a scholarship last month to play flag football for three-time defending NAIA national champion Ottawa University in Kansas.

She joins future college teammate Isabella Sosa of Miami Palmetto among 20 girls flag football players from seven states who were invited to the U.S. Army event. Auburndale’s Jaylianie Lucas and Gabrielle Rourke from Jacksonville Atlantic Coast are the other participants from Florida.

“The U.S. Army Bowl All-American Flag Football Game not only celebrates the prowess of these talented young women but also serves as a testament to the growing prominence of flag football at the high school level,” stated a U.S. Army Bowl press release.

The weekend includes team practices, guest speakers and individual testing at the national combine ahead of Monday’s 5 p.m. game.

Cadiz hopes to one day be selected to the national team and compete in the Olympics, which added flag football to the 2028 summer games lineup in Los Angeles.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Cadiz said. “A lot of things are happening in the flag sport and I’m just happy I get to be at the front of it.”

Cadiz has periodically participated in other sports over the years, including basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, weightlifting, wrestling and track and field, where she was a state qualifier last spring in the javelin event.

“No sport has brought me to life like flag has, and that’s why I love it so much,” said Cadiz, who was born in Orlando.

“I’m Hispanic and Latin American, so football is not really something that’s in my family genes,” she said. “But growing up in America, I saw the Air Bud football movie and absolutely fell in love with the sport.”

It’s since been a fulfilling journey, albeit one that’s demanded persistence at times when it comes to getting a chance to participate.

Cadiz nudged her way onto the middle school tackle football team in seventh grade at Foundation Academy, where she primarily played linebacker. She stepped in as a flag football starter as a freshman at Dr. Phillips and spent the past year practicing with the boys team to gain even more of an edge.

“It was a nice experience, because even though I didn’t really play, I learned a lot that’s going to carry on through life, like how to be on the bench and be a team player,” she said of suiting up at DP. “It gave me a lot of confidence. It taught me how to be assertive and put myself in situations, even if I didn’t know completely what was going on.”

Cadiz’s fortitude comes as little surprise to former Foundation tackle coach Brad Lord, who now coaches at Groveland South Lake.

“If every player I coached had the heart and work ethic of Olivia I’d have 10 state championships,” Lord said. “She’s a winner. She put in the hours and had the same mindset as every great big-time player we had at Foundation. She would volunteer to be the ball girl at games and put in extra work after practices with the varsity quarterbacks, and everyone respected her.”

Dr. Phillips flag football coach Anthony Jones shares similar sentiments, saying Cadiz is a player who is routinely the first one at practice and the last one to leave.

“The first day I met her she said, ‘I’m going to be your starting quarterback. Just watch and see.’ And sure enough, she could fire that ball,” Jones recalled. “She asked a lot of detailed questions as a ninth grader and has always been eager to learn.

“She never stops working and wants to figure out what other people are doing and how to get better,” he said. “That’s the type of young lady she’s always been.”

Cadiz became a student of the game at a young age while paying close attention to a future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback.

“I absolutely loved and admired watching Tom Brady, because no matter [his physical limitations] he somehow managed to be the MVP, and that translated a lot for me,” she said. “It was amazing to see how much he was doubted, and how he was able to overcome that and become one of the greatest of all time. That inspired me.”

This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email J.C. Carnahan at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com.