Stay Tranquilo - 2x Gold Medalist Laneah Bryan on USA Flag Football’s Olympic Debut in LA Olympics 2028

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

We’re live from Super Bowl Media Row with 2x gold medalist and Team USA defensive back Laneah Bryan of USA Football 🇺🇸🏈 Laneah joins the Stay Tranquilo Podcast to talk about her journey from playing college basketball at the University of New Mexico to becoming one of the top DBs in women’s flag football — and now preparing for the sport’s Olympic debut in Los Angeles 2028. In this episode, we cover: 🥇 Winning gold with Team USA 🏈 The growth of women’s flag football worldwide 🌎 Toughest international matchups (Mexico, Canada, Austria & more) 🔥 Signing with Under Armour + the new “Click Clack” campaign 🇺🇸 What it means for flag football to debut at the 2028 Olympics in LA 🗣️ DB mentality, chirping, and Olympic pick-six celebrations Women’s flag football is skyrocketing, and with the Olympics on home soil in 2028, the sport is about to reach another level. Laneah shares what this moment means for the next generation of girls who grew up loving football but didn’t always have the opportunity to play. If you love football, Olympic sports, or seeing women dominate in the game — this is an episode you don’t want to miss. Make sure to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more interviews from Super Bowl week and beyond. #USAFlagFootball #LaneahBryan #Olympics2028 #WomenInSports #FlagFootball #StayTranquilo #SuperBowl #LA2028   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All right, what is going on? We are here in Super Bowl Week on Media Row. Radio Roe. A lot of talking today, Media Row, Radio, Radio, but we got a great conversation today. We got Lanaya Brian, right? Lanaya. Lanaya, Brian. Appreciate you for coming on.

Yes, thank you for having me. Yeah, fun conversation today. So tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, looking at what you do. So my name's Lanaya Brian. I am a Team USA flag football player. So I play DB. I'm from El Paso and I have been on the team for four years now. Awesome.

And it's been a role with. Oh, yeah. Talk to us because I know you played basketball too, right? Talk to us about that transition from being a hooper to now playing football. Yeah, it's been great. So when I was little, I loved football. Like, I had a football with me all the time, got anyone who would play catch with me to play catch. But there wasn't space and opportunity for girls to play flag football.

So I played basketball, love basketball. I went on to play college basketball at the University of New Mexico. and then after that is when I transition to flag football. Now, I will say a lot of it does translate. I think lateral movement, hand-eye coordination. I do think that background for sure helped me. But now I'm getting to live out a dream. So I love football, rider-dike football.

Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Are you still playing at all? Any basketball, or is it just strictly football now? Somebody asked me this question yesterday, and I actually thought about it. I haven't played basketball for like three, four years now. Oh, wow.

That's hard to move. Like, no, pick up. Nothing. Damn. So I've been locked in on football. That's awesome. That's awesome. So talk to us about that whole experience.

You said you've been doing it for four years now. Yes. How has the growth of not only flag football, but women's flag football been? Yeah. It's insane. Like, it's skyrocketed. I don't know if you guys know, but me and a couple of my teammates are signed with Under Armour. And we actually just had a commercial come out today.

Hell yeah. So it's the click clack. They're bringing it back. And so we did a click-clack commercial. So it's insane. Like, it's like every single day I do something. thing I'm here at Media Row at Super Bowl. And I'm like, this is the coolest thing I've ever done.

Coolest thing. I never thought flag football would bring me here, but it has. And so it's skyrocketing and I flagged 2028. It's going to be insane. Yeah. Wait, when does that commercial come out? It actually came out today. It came out this morning.

It's National Women's and Girls in Sports Day. Hell yeah. So, yeah. Oh, let's go. Congrats. That's awesome. That's awesome. That's awesome.

So, so the ones, how, on a scale from one to a million, how excited are you to play the Olympics because that's huge. A million and one. That is awesome. The Olympics is in L.A. Right? L.A. Yeah. That's so cool about it.

Home soil. And it's so historical, right? Like the Coliseum, all that stuff. So flag football making its debut in L.A. It's poetic. So have you played like other countries already? Like in terms of like... I've been on the team four years.

So we played against... I mean, you name a country. Probably played against... Who's the hardest opponent or your toughest matchup? Mexico's a really good team. Canada's really good. They have an amazing quarterback. Austria is really good.

They play a certain style. That's pretty hard. Spain's getting really good. China, they've gotten to where they're training like full year with flag football. So they're on the come up. There's a lot of really good talent out there. So does every country at this point

has a woman's flag football team? Almost every country. I don't know the number. but there's a lot, and there's a lot of emerging countries that are creating teams, and so it's just growing at an insane rate right now. That's impressive. That's sick. It is crazy.

I grew up playing flag football, and then, you know, it kind of went into Pop Warner Tackle Football and then high school football. But flag football is such, like, a great sport overall. Like, my best childhood memories, I played with this guy, actually. We had an undefeated season one year. Okay. But we were, like, defensive lockdown team. I swear to God, because it was.

It's two hives, right? We, I think, went, I don't know how many games where we didn't give up a point. Okay. You hear that USA football? Yeah. There's a pipeline. I can let you guys know about the pipeline to get to that process. Maybe we'll both be there.

Yeah. No, it's like it's awesome for you. Obviously, like you mentioned, like being able to ride the momentum of the growth of the game. But not only the game, but females, right? And women in the sport. Obviously, there's been a big movement around just. females in sports overall. And being able to now have this platform, I think, is huge.

And like you said, you get to do stuff like this, right? Yeah. So my question to you off of that is like, what would you, one, tell your youngest stuff, like, and being able to say, like, hey, look at me now. And a similar girl at the same age now, like, aspiring to be someone like yourself. Yeah, so great question. Younger me, I think if she could see where I'm at now, oh my gosh, she would be able to move like I was obsessed with football so like I always tell people it's like it's a dream

come true that I didn't know it's possible you know and so I would just tell her to stay with that passion you know there might not be space there might not be opportunity for it now but just keep that dream in your heart and now I mean the sky's limit and now for the the generation of girls coming up you know I hope they see the representation now I mean we had a commercial with Under Armour come out today that's epic So the representation and the opportunities are there for them. So I just hope that they see that and they embrace that. And they know that they belong in this space.

And they belong in the space. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You said you're DB, right? DB, yes. So what's the strategy in flag football logging down? Is it more zone, man? So that's a great question.

I'm glad you asked them. Because it's funny when people come to tackle, they're like, how do you guard it flag? Because you can't touch them. You can't press them. There's no contact. Right. Yeah.

So it is, you can't do some zones, but you've met. a lot of the time or it's a zone to a man very quickly. So you've got to have fast feet. You've got to be able to move with them. And it's defense is a challenge. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

If you have a pick six in the Olympics, what's your, what's going to be your go-to celebration? Oh, my gosh. I mean, I gritty a lot. Okay. So that's your own to my go-to. Gritty solid. I'll probably, you know, do a little spin with the ball or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

get into a gritty. That's usually what I do. Who knows? By then, I might have a different sellie. But pick six in the Olympics, that's... Come on. That's like, I mean... That's a dream.

That is what dreams are made of. It is. Anybody in specific that you're looking forward to guarding in the Olympics? Who knows? I mean, we're two years out, so it's not too far out. But, I mean, there's great receivers everywhere. And great quarterbacks everywhere. Diana's great.

Canada, Sarah's great. So it's going to be a dog fight. And it's going to be, I'm really excited for the world to get to watch our sport. Yeah, I'm excited to. I'm pumped. After Olympics, after they see it, after they see the talent, to see the plays that are happening. Yeah.

Like, everyone's going to be so bottom. Yeah. It's going to be awesome. You guys chirping too. Oh, that was like, as a DB, like, DBS are synonymous with chirping. Like, how's your chirp game? Like, DB's like, you gotta have an edge to you. I always tell me with that.

Like, you got to have a little bit of a dog in you. Of course. It's different. Yeah. So, yes, I do chirp. And practice, I'll trip with my teammates. It's all fun and friendly off the field. But, you know, on the field, we're going to talk a little bit.

So I will. Not too much. Yeah. A little something here. You got to do it. It's part of the game. You got to have that mindset. Well, appreciate you for jumping on.

Super pumped for you. Thank you. It's been a great ride. Like Diana, we got to interview a couple months ago, I want to say, which was pretty cool. And she's obviously been a great advocate for the game as well. So we're hyped for you guys. I'm rooting for you guys.

I'm excited to see the Olympics. Bring it home. Bring home that gold. Yes, that's a plan. Thank you guys so much for having me. Appreciate it. Appreciate it.