There is a 14-year old girl by the name of Kacy Stuart. She had lived in Henry County, Georgia a while ago, but her family moved to Spalding County, where she currently resides. She enrolled in Skipstone Academy, which is too small of a school to even have a football team. However, with the leg to be a kicker of such a sports team, she decided to try out for the New Creation Center Crusaders team in McDonough, 30 miles southeast of Atlanta.
Good idea? Seems like it. But what happens next? Let’s just say the administration of the Georgia Football League knocks on the door of the Stuart’s house. Angie Stuart, Kacy’s mother, answers the door, expecting good news from the Georgia Football League about her daughter being one of the few, if not, the only girl to ever play football in the Peach state. Instead, Angie hears the following words: “Your daughter, Kacy Stuart, will not be allowed to play football next year.”
Then, an imaginary car screeches to a halt as it tries to avoid hitting a jaywalker.
Angie’s thoughts were running in circles…err err WHAT??? Did I hear that correctly? My 14-year old daughter who might be as good as Jason Elam won’t be able to play football??? Now who in the name of Michael Vick would make a stupid decision like that?!?!?
Apparently, the reason Kacy can’t play is simple…she’s a girl.
Wait…A GIRL???!!?!?!? You’re going to kick a kicker off the football team simply because SHE’S A GIRL?!??!!? Okay who runs the Georgia Football League? People who think football is too manly of a sport for girls to play? I mean seriously WHO CARES IF SHE’S A GIRL?!?!??!
Okay take this for example: One of my friends on youtube is also 14 years old. And she’s a great athlete too! She is actually good enough to play with BOYS who are THREE YEARS OLDER THAN HER.
I’ve seen on ESPN’s Outside the Lines a report about a 14-year old freshman girl who made her high school’s VARSITY baseball team!
I’ve seen a couple of girls play football before as placekickers.
And here…the SAME situation. Same gender. Same age. Same results???? Noooooooooooooo.
You let her practice with the team for TWO months! TWO MONTHS!!! And then you kick her off. That was ANYTHING but an act of kindness towards the ladies (and no a super-act of kindness does NOT fall under the category of ANYTHING). How would you feel if you went up to the drive-thru at your local McDonalds only to find out your favorite burger got taken off the menu? How about if your birthday party came one day too late of ordering a Gotham City Pizza from Dominoes? WHAT IF YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT GOT CLOSED THE DAY BEFORE YOUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY????
Angie Stuart responded (for real), “We’ll file for an injunction if we have to. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep her on the team.”
Last Saturday, Kacy had participated in drills and even a scrimmage before executive board chairman Hank St. Denis found out that Kacy was a girl playing in a private school league. Even though New Creation decided to let her play, St. Denis said no.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tried to contact St. Denis by phone and e-mail, but to no avail.
Okay seriously what kind of chairman is St. Denis? Is he afraid that she’ll hurt her toenail upon kicking a football or that the helmet would mess up her hair? It’s HER decision if she wants to play, NOT yours! If you’re gonna make a decision about her playing football, you might as well make a decision about what your wife will eat at Hooters.
Now think about this:
In middle school, Kacy was allowed to play for her Union Grove team, which went to the state finals. Even public high school coaches wanted Kacy to kick for their team!
How does Angie Stuart reply? “There doesn’t seem to be anything in the [league] bylaws to prevent a girl from playing. No one else has a problem with it. The coaches, players, and other teams have accepted her. If she can play for a public school, why not a private school?”
And it’s totally understandable. If you can eat apples, why can’t you eat oranges?
If you can learn HTML, why can’t you learn C++?
If you can be a baby-sitter, why not be a preschool teacher?
If you can play football in middle school, why not play football in high school?
[...] Say WHAT??? By Brooks Laich I’ve seen on ESPN’s Outside the Lines report about a 14-year old freshman girl who made her high school’s VARSITY baseball team! I’ve seen a couple of girls play football before as placekickers. And here…the SAME situation. Same gender. … SportsFullCircle – http://sportsfullcircle.com/ [...]
Spot on! Keep after the rascal(s), especially “good ol’ boy” Hank St. Denis!
Hey, happy first day of football. You may be interested in this video with h.s. age girls at an NFL camp! And I had my day in the neighborhood too!
I’m no Brett Favre, but today’s my day too… … this is my day too!
Girls rule!
LET HER PLAY,
People for years have said that women should not play football. They are WRONG and have been proven WRONG. There are over 50 semi-pro women’s football teams in the United States today. Women are playing this sport of full contact football and being very successful in it. Men need to understand that women are athletes too and can play full contact sports. I agree with the issue of women and men playing against each other in most sports to include full contact football do to the difference physically and mentally. I feel however that at certain positions like a kicker should be exceptions to the rule. I say this because if I was playing defense tackle and there was a young woman playing offense line across from me, I would be concerned to hurt her as well as the moral inferences. This issue could cause many players on each side to get hurt for the young men and women. For this reason the young women I think should not play with the young men in most positions on the field no matter of their physical abilities but also because of the moral issues. However as a kicker the young women would not be in the position to have the hard full contact of the rest of the team. There are rules against hitting and or even running in to a kicker male or female. These rules do not need to be adjusted for a young lady to play. These rules keep the young lady safe from injury do to any physical shortcomings in which are obvious and also from moral issues because they are not allowed to hit the kicker anyway. So there are no physical or moral issues to be concerned in this whole situation. The ONLY issue I see in this matter not allowing her to play on the team as a kicker is the issue of sexist men not wanting women to play a mans sport. Give this talented young woman the opportunity to showoff her God given talents. I know it will be difficult for these men to admit a young woman is better then the young men at the kicker position, but face it men women are better then men in many areas of life. These men need to grow up and accept these facts and LET HER PLAY !!!!!
I hope this young lady gets to play and I also hope when she turns 18 she will make it up to Tennessee to play for the Clarksville Fox which is one of the BEST teams in Women’s Full Contact Football in the entire Unites States.
Sincerely,
Rob “Pops” Brown
Owner/General Manager for the Clarksville Fox
http://www.TheClarksvilleFox.com
CoachoftheFox@AOL.com
931-320-2976
I don?t usually reply to posts but I will in this case. I?ve been experiencing this very same problem with a new WordPress installation of mine. I?ve spent weeks calibrating and getting it ready when all of a sudden? I cannot delete any content. It?s a workaround that, although isn?t perfect, does the trick so thanks! I really hope this problem gets solved properly asap.