A look at region standings for local teams.

When girls flag football kicked off in Tucson last week, Marana High School senior Ryann Brooks didn’t think she would be on the sidelines for the first home game.

But, due to a knee injury she received while playing with club football team Tucson Turf, she opted to sit out and do the only thing she could do — cheer on her team from the sidelines.

“It was bittersweet but it was great seeing my team and stuff and we battled the whole game,” she said last week. “We started out a little rough, but then we just got in the groove and everybody started relaxing and we went to work. And it was sad because I wasn’t out there playing. I know I play next week, but I feel like it’s my senior year and that was the first home game and everybody’s going crazy. I was like, ‘Dang,’ but that’s going to be me next week.”

Marana won its home opener against Mesa’s Desert Ridge High School, 26-7. Brooks, a running back, is set to make her season debut against Marana’s district rival, Mountain View, on Tuesday.

“I’m just ready to see what I can do for real. Because, obviously me hurting my knee was a really big setback in my athletics and everything. So, I’m really just ready to come back and I’m ready to go to work, absolutely,” she said.

Ryann Brooks, #7, poses for a photo in her Marana High School girls flag football uniform before the fall season.

Brooks may only be 17 years old, but football has been a lifelong passion for her. She grew up cheering on the Baltimore Ravens with her dad and began playing flag football when she was just 10.

She recalls wanting to play football with her brother and the rest of the boys and her dad saying, “Let’s try flag football (instead).”

Since she started her football journey several years ago, Brooks says her favorite element of the game is its intensity.

“I love how competitive I can get, and still, at the end of the day we are friends,” she said. “Off the field, we are friends and we can talk to each other about everything, but as soon as we step on the field, it’s showtime and I’m ready and I’m gonna beat you, but after that, we can still be best friends.”

Marana girls flag football coach Shaun Lara calls Brooks “a bull in a china shop.”

“She’s an amazing athlete. I can only imagine how she is in track because of her speed,” he said. “Now, obviously, her having the knee injury right now, she’s still moving, she’s still breaking people’s ankles and we did statistics for our tryouts and she was still faster than half our team, and that’s coming off a knee injury. So, she’s a great athlete and she knows a lot of these girls because they play together in a club, but the more time she gets to work with these girls because she is new here, she is becoming more of a Marana Tiger every day.”

Ryann Brooks during her time with flag football club Tucson Turf. She began playing flag football competitively when she was 12.

When Brooks isn’t competing, you can often find her working to maintain her 3.6 GPA, participating in youth city council or taping up ankles on the sidelines as an athletic training intern at Marana.

Brooks says sports medicine is useful because as an athlete who competes in multiple sports, it helps her know what’s wrong when she gets an injury and how to fix it. As someone who plans on going into the medical field, sports medicine is a stepping stone toward her goal of becoming a doctor.

“I want to be a trauma surgeon,” she said. “I think the unexpectedness of being a trauma surgeon sounds really cool with the adrenaline and everything. And I was watching ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and they looked like they were having fun. So, I was like, ‘Shoot, let me do that, too.’”

After graduation, Brooks plans to attend the University of Arizona, where she hopes to compete in track and field as she works to get into medical school.

But, before she heads off to the UA, her focus remains on this flag football season at Marana with her team who is currently undefeated.

“We have an amazing team, we don’t have just one amazing player,” Lara said. “How all of them come together is really what makes our team special.”

Marana’s Ryann Brooks helps her teammates in their pre-game drills as she sits out the Tiger’s season opener against Desert Ridge on Sept. 14

Get to know Ryann

What’s your pregame routine look like?

A: “I just put my headphones on, lock in and everything, and I’ll drink some apple juice. Apple juice is my favorite drink. … I don’t really be talking to nobody, because I’m trying to lock in. And then I’ll take my headphones off and go to warm-ups and we just get hype and we’re just going crazy to get the energy up before the game.”

What’s your current hype song?

A: “It’s kind of cheesy, but I actually love this song, it’s called ‘Fly Love’ from ‘Rio,’ and I think that song is just like so calm and soothing and it just gets me in the right mindset. And then I listen to some gospel music and everything because God is a big part of my life as well.”

What’s your favorite post-game meal?

A: “A big cheeseburger. I love cheeseburgers. They’re my favorite food. And after a big win, I’ll get a cheeseburger and I’ll be hype about it, or I’ll get a cheeseburger and I’ll be sad if we lost, but I still got my cheeseburger.” She says her favorite spot to get a cheeseburger is Red Robin.

Who’s your favorite football team?

A: “Lamar (Jackson) and the (Baltimore) Ravens are definitely my favorite football team. My dad and them (family) grew up in Maryland and I just grew up watching them.”

What’s your favorite class right now?

A: “Sports medicine is definitely my favorite class.”

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Elvia is a journalism and history graduate from the University of Arizona. She hopes to create stories that show what makes Tucson and its community special.