Corona del Mar sophomore aims to empower other flag football players with new book
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Corona del Mar High School sophomore AnnaSofia Dickens dreams of one day playing flag football in the Olympic Games.
She wants other teenage girls to know their dreams in the quickly growing sport could soon become reality.
Dickens is the author of “We Run This House: The Girls’ Guide to Flag Football,” which will be released on Tuesday.
The book is designed to offer tips and advice from Dickens’ own experience, as well as that of NFL standouts and women’s football greats. She interviewed football pros like Matthew Stafford, Bryce Young, Jared Goff and Michael Strahan, as well as Mexican flag football team captain Diana Flores.
Vanita Krouch, quarterback of the U.S. flag football national team, wrote the book’s foreword.
Dickens said she has been lucky enough to grow up in the flag football milieu and be coached by Jason Guyser, her club coach with Seals Football Club, who coaches high school flag football on the other side of the bay, at Newport Harbor High.
“I want every girl out there to get that advantage,” said Dickens, 15. “I’m not the best girl on my team, I’m just a girl who’s lucky enough to have the advice, and I want to share it with the rest of the world, the rest of the girls who want to play.”
Each chapter features interviews and advice from Dickens herself, along with fun spotlights on Dickens’ club and high school teammates — Newport Harbor quarterback Scarlett Guyser, JSerra receiver Tessa Russell and her CdM teammate Addi Stern, to name a few.
Dickens wants to continue to grow the game she loves. Also a singer-songwriter, who can be found singing the national anthem at sporting events around Newport Beach, Dickens previously wrote a song also called “We Run This House.” The pop theme song for the NFL Females in Flag movement was played in the stadium during the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl game.
Dickens said she got the song to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell through a family friend, television broadcaster Kaylee Hartung.
“I just want to do as many expansions as I can with ‘We Run This House,’ make it my thing,” Dickens said. “I’m really hoping that I can inspire other girls, help give them advice through flag football.”
The sport is set to make its Olympic debut for both men and women at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In terms of high school competition, this is the second year it has been a CIF Southern Section sport, complete with playoffs.
Dickens is one of four team captains for Corona del Mar, along with fellow sophomores Stern and Mia Balabanian and junior Brooke Morris. Coach Theo Rokos’ young Sea Kings finished fourth in the rugged Sunset League and won 20-18 at Agoura on Tuesday in the first round of the Division 2 playoffs.
Across the bay, Newport Harbor also has some talented sophomores, like Dickens’ good friends and longtime teammates Scarlett Guyser, Skylie Cid and Blakely Irvine. The sport appears to be bursting at the seams with talent, particularly in Orange County. Orange Lutheran’s Makenna Cook is the 17-and-under national team quarterback, while Kate Meier of JSerra is the 15U national team quarterback.
Dickens said she’s always enjoyed asking questions and getting to know people and plans to release podcast episodes featuring some of the interviews for her book.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Jason Guyser said of the teen’s publication. “That’s what you want, more publicity for the game. The game is already exploding, and that just adds to it. It’s really cool that she did that.”
With the sport’s burgeoning popularity comes more chances to continue a playing career. Several NCAA Division I programs have announced they have teams in the works, with Alabama State, Mercyhurst and Mount St. Mary’s fielding teams this year. Other Division I schools, including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Baptist in California, have club teams.
Dickens, a receiver and middle linebacker, has plans to try out for the 17U national team next spring. She received her first college offer last month from Fullerton’s Hope International University.
She and her friends have been playing flag football since first grade, starting on boys’ teams in the Matt Leinart Flag Football League. But the sport that originally was largely a fun offseason plan for soccer players is on the brink of becoming much more.
“I think it’s slowly starting to switch,” said Dickens, a longtime club soccer player with Pateadores, coached by Cid’s father, Ignacio “Nacho” Cid. “The girls realize that they’re at the top of the sport, and you could actually go to the Olympics or play [Division 1 in college]. I tried to make that switch as early as I could, from focusing on soccer to football. It’s taking some other girls a little bit longer, but they’re starting to realize that football’s going to be a thing.”
Dickens, the second of four children, has her family riding on the same train. Her siblings all play football, with the oldest, Sam-Reed Dickens, a senior member of the CdM football team. Father Reed also played growing up, and her mother, Sofia, currently plays flag football in an adult league on the sand.
“Thanksgiving football is like a whole different vibe at our house,” she said with a smile.
Feeling the sport has been such a great opportunity for her, Dickens said her new book is helping her share that love with the world.
“For me, it’s been really cool playing my dad’s favorite sport, my brother’s favorite sport,” she said. “I know a lot of families out there love to see their daughters playing football, and I think it’s really cool that girls get the opportunity now.”
