Julieann Challacombe
When a tree is first planted, it’s as delicate as it will ever be.
Briannah Gallo has stood alongside women’s football long enough to see it grow from a sapling she needed to nurture, to a grand oak she could use to relax under its shade.
Its roots are curled deep underground, its branches are strong, and its crown is almost tall enough to reach over the mountain, but it’s not quite there yet.
Gallo’s journey with football began long before she knew what the possibilities of playing football were. She was four, she says, when she knew she wanted to play. Being part of a team and working towards a common goal was a desire she held early in life, so her mom signed her up.
For the Pop Warner cheerleading team.
For years she stood on the sidelines, surrounded by football but never feeling whole. Then came 2007.
Gallo was driving along the road, probably thinking about football, when on the radio came a commercial. The time had come for the Bay State Warriors to hold tryouts, and it was then Gallo realized her time had come too.
She had been exercising her childhood dream through flag football, but Gallo felt it was time for her to play at a higher level, for something more that what flag could give her. She showed up at the try out, showed her passion for the sport and never looked back.
“I got hooked and fell in love with it,” said Gallo. “I felt like I could truly be myself as a person and an athlete.”
Gallo was never an outspoken person, she said, and prefers to absorb knowledge and show what she can do rather than talk about it. Through years of building teams and reinventing them along the way, Gallo has spent time acting as a sponge, soaking up every bit of knowledge she could.
Crossing paths with some of the greatest leaders in football and experiencing its growth has shaped her into the leader she is today. She’ll never forget how they laid the foundation for her to become a captain down the road.
“I realized over the years that leadership came in different shapes and forms and had different voices,” said Gallo. “I’ve never forgotten where I’ve come from or the roots planted by those who came before me.”
17 years later, Gallo is using the enriching lessons she has been taught to nurture and grow the next generation of athletes. She has a desire to teach them, as her captains once taught her.
The student became the teacher, and Gallo couldn’t be more thrilled with the hands women’s football will someday be left to.
“You can’t teach passion, you can’t teach desire, and you can’t teach energy; that just comes naturally,” said Gallo. “This new generation continues to push themselves and overcome any adversity they face.”
This season, the Renegades are composed of many generations. A balanced group, Gallo says, that will remain rooted in the legacy built by the people that came before them.
Remaining planted in their mindset that no matter the challenge, they will overcome.
A tree can’t be uprooted if its foundation is strong.