Venus Powers

Venus Powers

Promotional of Venus Powers for the Portland Pythons
No. 3 – Philadelphia Liberty
Position:	Kicker/Punter
Personal information
Born:	(2011-11-05)November 5, 2011 (aged 51) Alamo Heights, Texas
Height:	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:	210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school:	Reagan High School
College:	United States Air Force Academy
ISFL Draft:	2035 / Round: 2 / Pick: 4
DSFL Draft:	2034 / Round: 5 / Pick: 4
Career history
Norfolk Seawolves (2033 (S18)) Portland Pythons (2034 (S19)) Philadelphia Liberty (2035 (S20) - )
Roster status:	Active
Career highlights and awards
2031 All-MWC First Team 2032 All-MWC Second Team 2033 All-MWC First Team 2033 All-MWC Special Teams Player of the Year 2033 All-American 2033 Lou Graza Award 2033 Vlade Award

Venus Powers (born November 5, 2011) is an American football kicker/punter for the Philadelphia Liberty. She played college football for the United States Air Force Academy before being picked up on waivers by the Norfolk Seawolves after the trade deadline. Powers was selected 20th overall in the S19 DSFL Draft by the Portland Pythons. After playing a full season for the Pythons, she was selected 14th overall by the Liberty in the S20 NSFL Draft.

Early years

Venus Powers was born on November 5, 2011 in Alamo Heights, Texas, the only child of Simon and Loretta Powers. Her mother worked as a police officer while her father taught 5th grade. at the local Cambridge Elementary School. Venus was bright from a young age, displaying a prodigious aptitude for math and science. Her parents enrolled her in Cambridge Elementary, where she quickly made friends and rose to the top in grades. Simon and Loretta provided Venus with every opportunity they could afford.

Then came tragedy. On November 19, 2019, on the way back from a late birthday family trip to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, a drunk driver crashed into the Powers’ car, resulting in Loretta’s death. Simon Powers continued to raise Venus as a single father, supporting her throughout school and into secondary schools. It was in middle school that Venus discovered her love of athletics, particularly soccer and football. The latter sport drew Venus as a freshman in high school, where she competed for and won the kicker spot as a freshman for the Rattlers. In her four years of kicker for the Rattlers, Venus went 50/54 on field goals and 77/79 on extra point attempts. During her blooming athletic career and interest in football, Powers and her father became ticket holders for the San Antonio Marshals. Venus earned a nomination into the United States Air Force Academy and was accepted as part of the class of 2034.

College career

Fourth-Class Cadet

In her first year at the Academy, Powers excelled in her academic studies and went through the same rigorous military and leadership training as her fellow cadets. On the football field, she tried out for the team and rode the bench for five games behind incumbent first-class kicker Brett Longwise. The sixth game of the year saw Longwise out for the year after a leg injury, thrusting Powers into the starting role for the remainder of the season. In her six and a half games of action, Powers kicked for 9/11 (81.8%) on field goals and 13/13 (100%) on extra points.

Third-Class Cadet

Powers returned for the 2031-32 season as the undisputed starter for the Falcons. In eleven games of action, the Falcons rode a 9-2 wave and claimed the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy by defeating Army. Venus herself had a great year, kicking 23/25 (92.0%) of her field goal attempts through the uprights and adding on a perfect extra point record on 31 tries. When punter Leon O’Sullivan dropped out of the Academy, Powers also took on punting duties for the final three games of the year. She punted 18 times for 819 yards (45.5 avg) and pinned the opponent inside the 20 on two of those attempts. Powers earned First Team on the 2031 All-Mountain West Conference team for her efforts.

Second-Class Cadet

In the offseason, Venus attended an open practice for the Marshals next door, who had just come off the 13-1 season of “Marshal Law”. It was in this time that Venus met with team kicker Spencer Lawes and running back Morgan Marshall. Once again, Powers entered the season as the starting kicker and punter, kicking an almost perfect season with 17/18 (94.4%) field goals and 24/24 (100%) on extra points. She punted 51 times for 2,261 yards (44.3 avg) with 8 inside the 20. Powers’ season was cut short in the Week 8 match against Navy, where she suffered a torn ACL that sidelined her for the rest of the season. Despite the injury, Powers still got the nod for the 2032 All-MWC Second Team.

First-Class Cadet

The fourth and final year of Powers’ college career was an emphatic comeback for the star kicker. Off of her torn ACL, Powers played all 11 games of the Falcons’ 2033-34 season as the starting kicker and punter. As the team went undefeated on the season and claimed both the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy and the MWC Championship, Powers kicked 33/36 (91.7%) field goals, both a school and NCAA record, and again went perfect on all 26 extra point attempts. She also punted 62 times for 2,649 yards (42.7 avg) and 18 of those inside the 20 yard line. By the end of her career, Powers held the Air Force Academy records for field goal completions (82), field goal percentage (91.1%), and single season field goals (33, an NCAA record). Powers received a bevy of awards and recognition for her accomplishments in the 2033 season, including unanimous First Team All-American, Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Year, First Team 2033 All-Mountain West Conference, the Lou Groza Award, and the Vlade Award.

Due to her incredibly prolific college career, Powers began attracting interest as early as junior year from scouts in the DSFL, in particular those from her hometown of San Antonio. After her senior year was concluded and Powers prepared to graduate, she officially declared for the DSFL on November 19, 2033, the first college recruit to declare for the S19 DSFL Draft.

College career statistics

Career statistics			Kicking							Punting
Season	Team	Games	XPM	XPA	XP%	FGA	FGM	FG%	Long	Punts	Yards	Avg	In20	Long
2030	Air Force	7	13	13	100	11	9	81.8	42	-	-	-	-	-
2031	Air Force	11	31	31	100	25	23	92.0	51	18	819	45.5	2	56
2032	Air Force	8	24	24	100	18	17	94.4	57	51	2261	44.3	8	65
2033	Air Force	11	26	26	100	36	33	91.7	59	62	2649	42.7	18	63

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	40‑yd dash	20‑ss	3‑cone	Vert jump	Broad
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)

DSFL career

After declaring for the DSFL Draft, Powers was picked up by the Norfolk Seawolves on waivers on December 4, 2033 after the end of the DSFL trade deadline. Because the Seawolves were 3-9 and out of playoff contention, Powers would only play the final two games of the 2033 season for Norfolk. Her first professional game action was a home game against her hometown San Antonio Marshals. In an inglorious 41-0 loss at home, Powers attempted and missed a 41-yard field goal, the only kick of the game for Norfolk. She would also finish the game with 5 punts for 185 yards. In her second game of the season, a 34-20 loss to the Kansas City Coyotes, she went 2/2 on extra points and also successfully made both of her field goal attempts, from 37 and 26 yards. Powers punted 6 times for 237 yards.

Powers originally intended to hold out until drafted by her hometown team, the Marshals, in the upcoming S19 DSFL Draft. However, that plan changed when the Marshals relocated and rebranded as the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Powers and her father canceled their status as season ticket holders, and Powers publicly announced her willingness to be drafted by any interested DSFL team. She was drafted at the 20th overall pick at the end of the 5th round by the Portland Pythons, one pick after the Grey Ducks selected kicker Silver Banana.

In her lone season in the DSFL, Venus Powers played all 14 regular season games and 1 playoff game for the 2034-35 Portland Pythons. She shared snaps with fellow kicker Diego Espinosa, with Powers handling all field goals and extra point attempts while Espinosa handled kickoffs and punts. In the Pythons’ 8-6 campaign, Powers attempted 24 field goals and made 21 of them, good for an 87.5% field goal percentage, with a long of 47 yards. She also kicked 39 of a possible 42 extra points through the uprights, leading the league in extra points made and good for a 92.9% accuracy rate. In the Pythons’ 30-27 loss to the Grey Ducks in the playoffs, Powers connected on both extra point attempts and on a 39 yard field goal. She lost the nod of S19 DSFL Kicker of the Year to Tijuana kicker Jordan Jackson.

Going into the S20 NSFL Draft, Powers received offers of interest from multiple teams. However, many of her suitors were concerned over her choice of position, offering to draft her much higher in exchange for a potential position switch away from kicker. Powers repeatedly and vocally denied such attempts, publicly reasserting her commitment to pursuing a career on special teams. She was drafted 14th overall in the 2nd round by the Philadelphia Liberty, the first kicker off the board in the draft.

2035-36 season

Over the 2035 offseason, Venus Powers worked with private trainers in Philadelphia to improve her kicking mechanics, especially the power she was able to put into each swing of the leg. She inked a 3 year, $3 million contract with the Liberty shortly after the NSFL Draft, taking a league minimum rate for her rookie contract with a mutual option on her last two seasons and a no trade clause specifically towards the Chicago Butchers.

The Liberty came out of the gate with a 23-10 victory on the road against the Butchers. Powers went 2/2 on extra points and 3/5 on field goals for the night, with completions from 19, 40, and 41 yards out, as well as punting 7 times for 313 yards. In a tough home loss to the Baltimore Hawks, 27-20, Powers added 2 extra points and 2 field goals on a perfectly accurate night, including a career-high 56 yarder. She also punted 9 times for 402 yards, twice inside the 20, as the Liberty offense struggled to get going as they neared the red zone. Powers went perfect on limited opportunities in Week 3, 1/1 on extra points and 2/2 on field goals as the Liberty lost again at home to the New Orleans Second Line 23-13. She added 8 more punts for 375 yards and another inside the 20. Her busy punting load didn’t lighten much in the road loss the next week to the Yellowknife Wraiths, with another 6 punts for 323 yards (2 in the 20), 1/1 on the only Liberty touchdown of the night, and 1/2 on field goal duty.

Professional career statistics

Career statistics			Kicking							Punting
Season	Team	Games	XPM	XPA	XP%	FGM	FGA	FG%	Long	Punts	Yards	Avg	In20	Long
2033	Norfolk	2	2	2	100	2	3	66.7	45	11	422	38.4	0	48
2034	Portland	14	39	42	92.9	21	24	87.5	47	-	-	-	-	-
2035	Philadelphia	4	6	6	100	8	11	71.7	56	30	1413	47.1	7	67

Professional playoff statistics

Career statistics			Kicking							Punting
Season	Team	Games	XPM	XPA	XP%	FGA	FGM	FG%	Long	Punts	Yards	Avg	In20	Long
2034	Portland	1	2	2	100	1	1	100	39	-	-	-	-	-

Achievements and records

Collegiate

2031 All-MWC First Team

2032 All-MWC Second Team

2033 All-MWC First Team

2033 All-MWC Special Teams Player of the Year

2033 All-American

2033 Lou Graza Award

2033 Vlade Award

School record, field goals completed (82)

School record, field goal percentage (91.1%)

School record, single season field goals completed (33)

NCAA record, single season field goals completed (33)