A New Hampshire seventh grade girl who was bullied for playing quarterback scored the surprise of a lifetime this week — a personal invitation to the Super Bowl from the New England Patriots.
Dejah Rondeau, 13, was invited to visit the Pats soon after New England’s Jan. 19 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game — and played catch with her favorite player, wide receiver Julian Edelman, a video released by the team shows.
The team reached out to Rondeau after they had learned about the bullying — which was mentioned in a November profile by Sea Coast Online.
Edelman then handed off the ultimate gift — tickets to Sunday’s Super Bowl in Atlanta, where the Patriots will face the Los Angeles Rams.
“I heard we got a quarterback here to take [Tom] Brady’s spot,” Edelman said to her in the video. “We’re going to bring you to the Super Bowl too, if that’s cool? My respect level for you is just through the roof because you ignored all the noise and you played the game we all love and that’s football.”
Rondeau, who wears the number 11 in honor of Edelman, told Seacoast Online that she was a little starstruck when she met the receiver, as well as Patriots owner Robert Kraft, at Patriot Place, an open-air shopping center built around Gillette Stadium.
“I feel super happy, I feel like I’m known and people [now] know what some people go through to get to where they want to go,” Rondeau told the outlet Thursday. “When Julian pulled out the tickets, I didn’t know what to say. I never in a million years thought I would go to a Super Bowl.”
Rondeau told the outlet she first became interested in playing quarterback when she used to play catch with one of her best friends. She doesn’t see the game in terms of gender, she said, but only wants to be the best player and teammate possible.
Before Rondeau could even step onto the field of her local youth football league, she first had to convince her mother, Nichole Brock, the now-proud mom told the outlet back in November.
“I made her write me a letter explaining why she wanted to play,” she said. “She said it would make her the happiest girl in the world and she really believes she’ll be the first female quarterback to get a scholarship and play in the NFL.”
Rondeau told the outlet she was too excited to make a final score prediction, but she was sure the Patriots would make it out on top.
“I don’t know, I just know we’re going to win,” she said.
