- May 4, 2024
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Seabreeze flag football player Grace Remey. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Grace Remey hands a flag to an opponent after a tackle. Photo by Ray Boone
The Sandcrabs' Grace Remey gets in a defensive stance. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Grace Remey runs the ball against Atlantic. Photo by Ray Boone
Grace Remey was on pace to graduate from Seabreeze High School in December 2017. She was ready for graduation, ready to move on from high school life.
But something was pulling her back: flag football, which starts in the spring.
For more than two hours, Remey and Sandcrabs coach Mike Fries worked tirelessly to find out how to delay Remey’s impending graduation. But with the help of Fries and school advisers, Remey, who already earned her associates degree, worked out her new course schedule, postponing her final core class — government — to this semester.
“I just really love this sport,” said Remey, who is a team captain for the Sandcrabs. “I wanted to play for one last season.”
Remey didn’t play flag football until the 2017 season, Fries’ first with the team. She had never touched a football until that point.
Her mom didn’t want Remey to play. She had “bad knees,” according to Remey, and her mom feared her daughter could get seriously hurt. Eventually, Remey was allowed to try out for the team with two of her closest friends. Remey and one friend made the team; the other did not. After the second practice, Remey was the last one standing.
One of the biggest factors in her staying?
Fries.
“He’s the best coach I’ve ever had,” said Remey, a lifetime soccer player. “And I’ve had a lot of coaches in my lifetime.”
She started at outside linebacker in her junior season. She was an aggressive defender and had good speed.
But, she had hands of stone.
“We didn’t want her on offense then, that’s for sure,” Fries said. “She couldn’t catch anything.”
Now, however, in addition to starting on defense, Remey is a threat on offense. She plays wide receiver and running back and has punting duties.
But according to Fries, Remey’s best attribute is her ability to sacrifice for the team.
“She’s always pushing her teammates to do better and to strive for more,” Fries said. “It’s just her attitude about the game: She loves being here. That attitude shoots her above a lot of people.”
Fries added: “She’s always helping me. She’s like a player-assistant coach with the work she puts in. It shows her dedication to this team and to the success and to where we want to be at.”
Sometimes, Remey — who helped lead the Sandcrabs to a season-opening 44-0 win over Atlantic on Tuesday, March 6, at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex — forgets that it’s her last season with the team.
“I think I’ll be really sad when I graduate,” she said. “But I’m happy I got into it because I’m definitely going to play intramurals when I finally get to college.”
