Danneille Ayala

Ambassador Name: Danneille Ayala

Location: Astoria, NY

Favorite Athletic brew: Lemon Radler

Instagram: @threeptdiamond

Professional photos courtesy of the New York Wolves, www.newyorkwolves.com

Danneille Ayala grew up with sports.

 

No, really: Her parents and step-parents were athletes, so she had full exposure to sports and fitness for her entire childhood. That love of sports continues to this day, and she’s now a quarterback for a professional women’s team, the New York Wolves, part of the Women’s Football Alliance tackle football league.

 

“My favorite thing is … putting my uniform on, getting on the field, and playing with my friends,” Danneille said. “I’ve gained a lot of friendships over the years. To be able to get on the field and play with them in front of a crowd that is cheering us on is a great feeling. We have a lot of fans that come to watch, and they make it really fun at our games. Being able to go and play with my friends, it’s sometimes surreal that we get to do this. It’s awesome!”

 

Like most women, Danneille didn’t have the opportunity to play football – especially tackle football – against other female teams growing up, so the first time that she really got a taste for the game was when she attended tryouts for the team. The experience left her hungry for more – albeit a little bit sore from getting tackled, too.

 

But it’s an experience she said fueled her love and interest for the sport, and that continues to grow to this day. She’s stoked for next season!

 

Read on to learn more about Danneille, her career as a professional football player, and what some of her biggest motivations and goals are for the upcoming year!

 

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Tell me a little bit about yourself and how fitness and sports came into your life.

 

I’ve been playing sports since I was 4 or 5 years old. My parents and step-parents were both athletes, so I was born and raised to be an athlete, which always made me aware of the importance of being fit and playing sports.

 

I’ve played a lot of sports. It’s been an amazing journey. Football has proven to be my passion. It has its ups and downs, but it’s treated me well.

 

 

How did you get into professional women’s football?

 

It was back in 2017: A friend of mine invited me to a tryout, and I didn’t know that something like that even existed, so I was like – awesome! I’ve always loved football since I was a kid. I used to try to play when I was a kid, but obviously, “girls can’t play football” – I got that a lot. So I never pursued playing on a football team as a kid.

 

Unfortunately, that tryout got rained out, but I did find the New York Sharks, which is the first team I played for. I absolutely fell in love with it immediately at tryouts! When they told me I made the team, I was so ecstatic, so stoked, like, oh my god, this is happening! But, yeah, it’s been a remarkable journey.

 

 

Wow, so that’s super interesting – the tryouts were the first time you played tackle football?

 

Yes. I played a lot of flag and touch football when I was younger. I was first introduced to football when I was in middle school. I lived in the Bronx as a kid so football wasn't as popular as basketball or baseball, but the boys would come with their Pop Warner gear and stuff. I’d ask if I could try them on  So I put on pads and a helmet, and we’d run into each other and see who can topple the other one over.

 

So, yeah, that was my first introduction to tackle football. My mom saw that I was really interested in it, so she got me a foam football, and she would play with me and show me how to throw.

 

When I tried out for this pro team, it was the first time I ever tried real tackle football: pads, helmet, everything. As a kid, you try to tackle each other in the dirt and mud, but playing full-on gear is totally different. Every player is familiar with their “welcome to football” moment, and mine came within a few practices of my pro career.

 

 

 

How did you feel going into tryouts? Were you prepared for what was coming, or were you nervous?

 

I was super excited. I’m one not to shy away from contact at all, but this was totally different. I was not expecting to get hit as hard as I did my first time around. I got hit by one of my teammates, who is probably one of the best linebackers in women’s football history.

 

But I said to myself, listen, if I can take a hit from her, I think I’m all right. It really hurt, but it was also very exhilarating. It just woke something up in me. I was like, oh my god, I want to do this! This is so fun. It just gave me that energy, like this is something I need to be doing.

 

 

What position do you play, and why do you enjoy it?

 

I’m a quarterback. It is like a double-edged sword playing quarterback. My teammate who was the starting quarterback when I first started playing, said, “Everyone wants to be a quarterback, but not everyone can be a quarterback.”

 

It really resonated with me because it’s not all about being able to throw or run an offense. You have to be mentally strong and have a strong sense of self and also a bit of an ego to lead a team in such a physical sport. Quarterbacks get all the glory but also all the blame.

 

But I love being a quarterback. Just being out there and leading my team and offense – it’s like being a general out in the field. You have to be strategic. You have to know where everyone is at all times. Quarterback is one of the hardest positions in sports – it really is. You have to know what everyone is doing all at once, and try to find the best way to take advantage of the defense and help your offense get to the end zone.

 

It’s not only a physical challenge but a mental challenge within the game. It’s kind of cool for me – I like to play chess, so I always compare it to a life-sized chess game.

 

 

What misconceptions are out there about professional women football players, and how do you challenge them?

 

I think the biggest misconception is that we’re trying to take over men’s sports, and that’s just not the case. I think most female athletes just want to have the opportunity to play professionally and have some type of equity as pro athletes. With football, most of us have grown up just being able to watch and not participate. At the end of the day, we just want to play a sport that we fell in love with.

 

Now that a lot of us have the opportunity to be able to play football, it’s just a bonus because it’s something we never had access to when we were younger.

 

I think another big misconception is that we want to play with the guys. That’s not the case either. We know that there’s a difference in the experience that we have. Boys grew up playing football since they were young, and a lot of us don’t have that type of experience.

 

So it’s a little bit unbalanced in the way that men and women play professionally. There’s a big disadvantage experience-wise. There are women who join and are just playing football for the first time.

 

There's a lot of stuff being said that’s kind of annoying to hear, but it is just outside noise. I’m excited to have had the opportunity to play a sport I’m passionate about and contribute to the legacy of women’s football. I’m excited to see more women participate and have the courage to go out and play football. We also have flag football becoming popular now, so younger girls are getting into it at an earlier age, which is amazing.

 

 

 

What’s your favorite thing about being a professional football player? What is the most challenging?

 

My favorite thing is just putting my uniform on, getting on the field, and playing with my friends. I’ve gained a lot of friendships over the years. To be able to get on the field and play with them in front of a crowd that is cheering us on is a great feeling. We have a lot of fans that come to watch, and they make it really fun at our games. Being able to go and play with my friends, it’s sometimes surreal that we get to do this. It’s awesome!

 

I think the biggest challenge is resources. A lot of us have to pay out of pocket to be able to play and travel and things like that. It’s really hard because when it comes to men, they don’t always have those types of financial challenges. They don’t have to pay out of pocket to play a sport they love. Most of the time, they’re fully covered.

 

On our end, we have to be more mindful about out-of-pocket costs. As players, we can really only rely on sponsorships, and if we don’t get them, we have to make sure we can afford to play, can make it to our games, and can work around our jobs and school schedules. It’s a little disappointing at times, but I think our passion for the sport eclipses that.

 

 

How are things changing in the sport of professional women’s tackle football?

 

Since I started playing, I’ve seen a huge difference. There are people out there who really do care about women’s football and want to see this sport be successful. Their sentiment is they want it to be like the WNBA, where it starts out small but soon becomes a big thing. I think in the last few years, we’ve seen more accelerated growth for us, which is awesome, and I love to see it!

 

 

 

What is a typical season like for you?

 

We start training camp around early January, maybe a little bit before, and that lasts until April when we actually start our season. It’s a spring-summer league. So you spend 6 to 9 months out of the year playing football. We spend most of the time with each other before and during the season. Sometimes you’re like, OK, this is awesome, and other times, it’s like, can I get a break, I need to see my family, I’ve got stuff to do! It’s a little bit challenging, but it’s all worth it in the end.

 

 

Are there other sports or training that you enjoy outside of football?

 

Oh yeah! I love to go cycling. I recently got a cool new bike, so I’m trying to get out there and bike everywhere. It’s fun, but I haven’t ridden a bike in a long time, so it’s a little bit awkward. Especially living in New York City, where you have to look out for cars and all this stuff. It can be challenging, but it’s been really fun.

 

 

 

How did you find Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic beer and the Athletic Brewing Ambassador program?

 

Luckily for me, I found Athletic during COVID. We were all locked up. I liked Athletic because I  wanted to have a few drinks to pass the time but – at the time, our season was just going to start but was suspended when everyone had to go into quarantine. Not knowing what the future would be like, I still needed to be in shape in case the season started up again.

 

I remember going with my sister to a beer distributor, and we came across it very randomly. I was like: This is cool. I tried it; tasted great. I was able to drink and have fun and be with family at home without getting drunk and suffering the consequences of hangovers.

 

I think I found the ambassador program on Instagram since I follow you guys. I thought it was really interesting and applied just to see what it was like. Athletic is something that I believe in. I’ve been drinking Athletic for about 4 years now, so I’m not promoting something I don’t believe in and don’t have a hand in. I thought it was awesome and figured this would be easy because I love it and drink it all the time.

 

 

What are some of your proudest achievements?

 

I’m going to give you two because one does have to deal with football – winning a championship last year at the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the New York Wolves. My team went through some very hard times in the previous year so it was a great redemption story. Being the starting quarterback for the team in my third year, helping us win a championship – I was very proud of that. It was a very awesome moment.

 

Also, one of the proudest moments is going through this process of – not becoming completely sober – but changing my relationship with alcohol. It’s part of the reason why I was so interested in Athletic when I first started drinking it. NA beer didn’t look too appealing before. But being able to use this NA beer to get to where I want to be mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, all that good stuff, because of my previous relationship with alcohol before, is a really proud moment now. I don’t drink as much. I’ve stayed healthy. I’ve done “dry” January, which is awesome – that was a great accomplishment.

 

I think that journey of finding a balance and being able to look deeper at that relationship and find something to replace that was really great. Right now, I’m very proud. I’m the healthiest I have been in a very long time.

 

 

 

Do you have any bucket list races, events, or achievements you'd like to attain one day?

 

Yes! I want to run the New York City Marathon! I tried training for it last year. It didn’t go quite well, but I’m gonna try to stick to it. I am not a runner by any means. But I think it’s a great challenge to do that. I think it’d be very cool to do it at least once.

 

 

What is your favorite recovery food?

 

Idon’t know if it’s recovery, but I love a good plate of chicken wings after a game. Just give me a nice, extra-crispy plate of buffalo wings. I love it!

 

 

 

What do you like to do on rest days?

 

Honestly, I just like to hang out with my dog and my girlfriend. We like to have little adventures, try out different foods, and take nice long walks with my dog, Gia. I like to be very low-key. I tune everything out. I watch some trash TV or something.

 

 

What gets you up and out of bed every day?

 

I think there are a lot of things that I haven’t done in my life. And I think what gets me up out of bed every day is this stuff I want to accomplish. I can’t accomplish that being in bed. You gotta get up and go after it. If this is what you want, you gotta just do it.

 

My mentality is like: Take the risk. Do it. You got stuff to do, things to accomplish, and you’re not gonna accomplish ‘em in bed being lazy, even if that's how you feel in the moment.

 

 

 

What does living a life #FitForAllTimes mean to you?

 

We’re athletes, so a lot of it has to do with ourselves physically, but I’ve been a very big advocate of mental health. I remember in maybe my second or third year of playing football, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, so something I’ve been very vocal about is mental health. Along with being physically fit, being mentally fit and emotionally fit goes a long way. You can be a much better person in this world when your mental health is taken care of. Mental and physical health – they go hand in hand. 

 

 

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