She took the handoff and broke toward the right side of the field. In one swift move, Adele Carcano avoided a diving defender and headed up the sideline untouched for the run of her young sports life. Touchdown Webster Elementary.
The only girl in the City of Malibu’s flag football league, Carcano scored her first touchdown on a 50-yard dash at Bluffs Park as her happy teammates looked on. Pure elation filled her face.
“It really felt awesome when I had my first touchdown. I was like, ‘I’m going to get it,’” Carcano said. “It was the only touchdown I scored this season.”
Carcano joined the flag football league on the advice of her mother, Teri.
“My mom said to go try out. She saw that there was flag football coming up so she said this would be awesome for you to play,” Carcano said. “I really liked it the first day. I just love running and I love catching the ball. It’s a lot of fun.”
One of her favorite games as a fifth-grader is tag. Carcano instantly noticed a similarity between flag football and tag, which made her new sport much easier and more enjoyable to play.
“I love tag. It’s my favorite thing to do. Because I like playing tag, I liked playing defense,” Carcano explained. “It’s kind of the same, concept running around and pulling other people’s flags. That’s what I love about it.”
The flag football season concluded Wednesday. Despite being the only female participating in a male-dominated sport, Carcano fit in seamlessly.
“On the first day I was kind of freaked out because I was the only girl. But I ended up loving it. It was an awesome experience,” Carcano said.
“She was never intimidated being the only girl in the league,” Webster Coach Craig Detweiler said. “She anchored our defense on the right side and did a great job. She was always comfortable and enthusiastic.”
As for the boys?
“It was fine. I had no trouble with them,” Carcano said. “It’s a lot of fun even without other girls. I feel unique and special being the only girl playing flag football.”
“I don’t think the boys look at Adele any differently than themselves,” Teri said. “She is just a teammate and one of the team.”
Aside from flag football, Carcano has participated in swimming, tennis and other camps during the summer. She enjoys running, surfing, dance as well as writing and reading.
Two years ago, her family traveled across the world visiting 19 countries in total. Carcano fell in love with Australia, Switzerland and Norway, and recorded her experience in writing.
“I loved Australia because I got to plan the whole trip there,” Carcano said. “I even wrote a blog about what we did and where we went. I like writing because I like to express myself. I love reading too. That’s what inspired me to write.”
Her affection for creative writing has led Carcano to write fiction, short stories and poems. At the tender age of 10, Carcano has developed into an all-around young lady who has aspirations for bigger and better things.
“I want to become a biologist who studies wolves. I like science too and I love wolves.”
It’s quite evident that whatever Carcano puts her mind too, she can achieve; even if it means going out of the country and eavesdropping upon wolves and studying their habits.
“What makes her unique is that Adele is willing to do anything and try everything. I love that she has this outlook that she can do anything,” Teri said. “She is pretty focused on what she wants to do and that’s to have a great time. I’m very blessed to have her.”