WHILE THE Indy Ignite came onto the scene last winter, following up a spotlight stealing season by the Indiana Fever the summer before, the Indiana Valor now look to make a name for themselves among Hoosier sports fans.
The Valor, a full-contact professional women’s football team, recently completed its first season and has plenty to show for its inaugural campaign.
For founder Kristian Aleixo, this season was about laying the groundwork for a bright future.
“Season one was a lot about what we could do and what we’re capable of,” Aleixo says. “We learned a lot of what to improve on, not just from an on-field product, but also from the presentation and the entertainment of everything. … Women’s football is just scratching the surface of what it could be, so season one was about where to take it, lock in, and see where those opportunities are for the future.”
When it came to the decision to bring a women’s football team to Indiana, Aleixo says the reason was simple.
“It’s just such a special place,” he says. “You could just see that the soil was fertile. This is such a sports town. … I think it’s because Hoosiers just love sports. It’s a part of our culture, it’s a part of what we’re bred to do here, and it’s a part of being Indiana.”
The Women’s Football Alliance has been in operation since 2009 and along the way has broken barriers throughout women’s sports including the securement of a multiyear television deal with ESPN, a partnership with the NFL Alumni, and helping more than 30 players from its league move on to accept positions as coaches and scouts with the NFL.
Now with Indiana on the WFA map, the Valor is the 55th team operating within the league currently.
Valor linebacker Amanda Stranger understands the significance of what it means to bring women’s football to Indiana.
“It’s really empowering, and it’s really given me a sense of purpose because when I was younger, girls playing football wasn’t even an option. Now, to be in this position, it shows so many that this is something that can be done,” Stranger says.
Stranger, 32, got her start on the gridiron by recently playing flag football and was one of many on a roster made up of a wide range of ages, skill sets, and football IQ.
During the season, the team practiced twice a week along with an additional virtual film session while they adjusted to the player’s work/life balance.
As the season wore on, offensive coordinator Eric Anderson noted that the team’s overall improvement continued to develop.
“They grew exponentially, and you could see it from practice to practice and week to week. It’s a credit to their commitment to learning the game. A lot of them still have room to grow, but they had a baseline understanding of tackle football, and they committed to learning,” Anderson says.
Anderson was joined by head coach Ray Donaldson and defensive coordinator Tyler Harper.
The Valor finished their season with a record of 2-4 overall with wins over the Maine Mayhem, an 18-6 final, and a 41-8 victory against the Grand Rapids Tidal Waves, but their accomplishments didn’t stop at wins and losses.
By season’s end, they had two players in wide receiver Shay Powell and free safety Skyler Miles voted as First Team All-Americans, followed by offensive lineman Emmy Roys, who was nabbed as a Second Team All-American along with Third Team All-American recipients in quarterback Allie Allen and middle linebacker KT McCallister.
Powell finished the season fourth in total receiving yards in Division II and scored a touchdown in every game this season, while Allen notched the sixth most passing yards in Division II as well.
The Valor will hold a combine in October for prospects interested in joining their roster for the 2026 season but for Stranger, her offseason work has already begun with specialized training she’s coordinated on her own.
And as the offseason continues for Stranger and her teammates, the 2026 season can’t come soon enough.
“I’m most excited about the growth as a team, but also just seeing the new challenges that I have to face and trying to overcome them,” Stranger says. “Not just as a person, but as a group as well. I thrive on that family bond and I do consider the Valor as my second family. You go through things with these women that you typically don’t go through on a day to day basis and you build this unbreakable bond. You just can’t find that in many other places.”
