Former basketball standout Raymond-Young ready to try her luck at professional football

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - She’s broken many records on the basketball courts with Rockford Lutheran and Northern Illinois, but now Rockford native Stephanie Raymond-Young is ready to break glass ceilings on the football field.

“Coming back to Rockford to showcase a different sports is very important to me,” said Raymond-Young. “I want to show them that I’m capable of doing something other than basketball.”

Raymond-Young was a first team all-state performer at Rockford Lutheran, and with more than 21 hundred points, she remains the school’s all-time leading scorer.

The point guard went on to star at NIU where she remains the all-time leader in free throw percentage; 2nd in steals, 3rd in assists and 6th in points. Raymond-Young was the 20th overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky.

Now she’s going to try her luck at a different Chicago professional team in the Mike Ditka led Extreme Football League. It’s a new national women’s full-contact tackle football league. Raymond-Young had never played more than flag football and never played quarterback before being asked to become the Chicago Blitz’s starting QB.

“I was like ‘Oh yeah, I could quarterback’ even though I couldn’t throw the ball to save my life,” said Raymond-Young. " But I was determined to learn a new position. Because of my basketball and point guard capabilities, I thought that would be a good position for me.”

Raymond and the Chicago Blitz will make their debut right here in Rockford, at the BMO Harris Bank Center, Saturday, August 6 at 7 p.m. against the Seattle Thunder.