Maddie Baehr

Maddie Baehr was born in Northern Virginia and raised in Bradenton, Florida. She is 18 years old, holds dual U.S.–Irish citizenship, and competes in both soccer and flag football. In May 2026, she will represent Ireland at an IFAF international flag football tournament in Amsterdam. In the fall, she begins her college career at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to study business and play Division I soccer. She is the eldest of three siblings.

During her freshman year of high school, Maddie was diagnosed with scoliosis. Her S-curve measured over 40 degrees in both planes, a level of severity that often requires surgical treatment. She wore a full-time corrective brace throughout her sophomore year and a night brace for the following year. She continued training and competing throughout both years of treatment and ultimately did not require surgery.

Flag football is scheduled to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Maddie is currently competing at the IFAF international level as a member of the Irish national team. Her dual citizenship connects her to both American and Irish audiences, including the broader Irish-American community in the United States. She is entering her first year of college eligibility in the fall of 2026.

Maddie comes by her athleticism honestly. Both of her parents competed at the collegiate level, meeting as fall sports athletes at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Her father played soccer; her mother played volleyball.

Growing up watching her parents play in adult recreational soccer leagues, Maddie began playing the sport herself at age four. She joined the travel program at Braden River Soccer Club at age ten, staying with her 2008 birth year team as they advanced through increasingly competitive levels of play. The team earned promotion into ECNL Regional League competition and reached the playoffs in their first season at that level. When Braden River merged with Florida Premier in 2024, Maddie continued with the unified program.

In middle school, she competed across all four sports seasons — cross country, soccer, basketball, and flag football, where she was one of only two girls on the boys' flag football team — and was voted Most Athletic by her 8th grade class. At the high school level, her soccer team won back-to-back district championships in 2025 and 2026. The 2025 squad went undefeated through the regular season before falling in the regional final in double overtime.

Her flag football career followed a similar trajectory. After being recruited to the high school team by her coach, she led all freshmen in the nation in flag pulls in her first season. As a sophomore, she helped her team claim the district championship and advance to the state semifinals, where they lost to Robinson High School — a program that has won the Florida state championship ten times.