Should Women be allowed to play Football?

By: Taylor Cook

This was a topic that we covered in class that I felt I could really relate to. While I was playing midget, Jr. High and High School football I always had at least one girl who participated on the team. I was always taught when playing to treat the girls who were on the team like everyone else, but not to get to aggressive with them because they are girls. I never quite understood this until I got to high school and saw how much stronger and more physical guys were compared to girls. I have always been a firm believer that if a girl wants to play football and accepts the risks of the game just like everyone else then more power to them. Now that being said, it is important to understand that if a girl takes the risk and decides to play she is responsible for anything that might happen on the field and if she gets injured that it is just apart of the game.

I had two girls participate on my high school football team and they made it through all four years without the slightest complaint. I had a tremendous amount of respect for both of them because they continually showed up for practice and wanted the all of the guys to treat them like they were a regular player. I will never forget the day that one of the girls screamed at us in the huddle and told us to "hit her like we hit everyone else." I will tell you what, everyone listened to her and from that day on we persisted to blow her up like she was any other player.

The only problem that ever came up with the two girls playing on my team was the locker room situation. It always seemed like they were never able to partake in the locker room "hoopla" because there was always someone with their shirt off, or getting into the shower, etc. It really wasn't fair to the girls on the team the more that I think about it, but they were very content with their role on the team and were just happy to be apart of it. I think that it is very important for future teams with girls participating that they make proper locker room arrangements for the girls on the team so that they do not miss out on some of the best moments that high school football has to offer.

No matter what your viewpoint is on girls being able to play football at any level, just know that no one is the same and some girls may like more physical sports just because thats what they want to do. I know I will never forget when one of our girls caught a pass in the varsity game and the entire team went nuts because we knew how hard she worked all year long. That was the moment that I knew even if she was a girl she was just as much a football player as anybody else on the team.