The Beginning: Being a Female Football Player

So, you want to know the reality of being the only female football player on a high school football team…. ?

If you told me when I was little I was going to play American football, I would’ve thought you lost your mind. All my life I played soccer and grew up with my teammates. After a while, I realized I wanted to do something different. The summer of 8th grade, soccer being at a halt, I wasn’t in any sports. Always a sports person growing up, I felt I was missing something in my life. The beginning of 9th grade rolled around and football season was at full speed. One thought led to another and I showed up to football practice ready to play. From then on, I was the girl on the football team.

Just watching football games, you’d never imagine how hard they actually work. Not having played sports in months, I was slammed in the face with the rigorous conditioning of high school football. Not only the conditioning, but having to keep up with guys was a challenge for me then. Starting my freshman season as an offensive guard (now a tight end & D-lineman), my passion for football grew strongly. Being a girl isn’t an excuse to not try to the best football player I can be. My passion for this sport has led me to change my routine, body, and mindset. To my teammates, I went from being “the girl on the football team”, to “one of my teammates”.

Now it’s the summer before 10th grade. My sophomore season is right around the corner, one week to be exact. Being with guys every day for summer workouts is definitely interesting, but you learn to love the environment of the intense weight room lifts and practices.

All the training, hard practices, summer football camps, and mental focus will pay off.

July 19th, 2023