Tackle football is America’s sport. Not restricted to the pull of its halftime performance, The Super Bowl remains one of the planet’s most watched sporting events, and the NFL averages the highest crowd attendance of any professional sports league worldwide. Yet historically, this is a sport that is closed to women. An unofficial second to national sport, baseball, yet exceeding its popularity, tackle football is a symbol of America – and with this, it bears unbreakable ties to the country’s hegemonic values, and the fierce current of toxic masculinity that runs through it.

Flanked by the Rocky Mountains, Salt Lake City, Utah is home to America’s first – and only remaining – youth girls’ football league. In short film First Down, U.S. director Carrie Stett follows the West Granite Quakes, the underdog team breaking barriers in male-dominated sport. Navigating matters of identity, on and off the field, the team is singular in its diversity. For its underrepresented voices, the game and the sense of family it creates have become an outlet through which to process and overcome difficulties experienced in their personal worlds, from mental health, gender identity, and body image, to depression, addiction, and adoption.

An inspirational force of authenticity among them, central to the team is guiding light, Coach Crys. His female to male transition anchors the film, and through the openness and frankness of his experience, his transgender story threads together the individual realities of each of the team’s players. Told through the West Granite Quakes' young members, Stett explores the role this small community plays in deconstructing the antiquated value system the game represents on a national level – a story of humanity, in which taking to the field can secure a brighter future.