LAS VEGAS — Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, Angellica Grayson tried every sport she could: dance, roller hockey in the neighborhood, volleyball, basketball, even a year of wrestling in middle school. As she got older, she tried flag football.
It wasn't until she was an adult that she honored the nagging feeling she had for years, the one that began after taking note of a female classmate who was on the school's team: that she wanted to play tackle football.
After graduating from Grambling State University and moving to Atlanta, she was invited by a friend to watch the Xplosion, a tackle football team that was part of the Independent Women's Football League.