Football's feminine side
BUTLER TWP — The Lil' Tornado football program has a feminine touch this fall.
Two girls — 10-year-old Aubriaunna Kuriger Steele and 11-year-old Lexie Fiscus — have hit the gridiron for the first time.
“I've been coaching youth football for 28 years and have only had four girls play before,” Lil' Tornado founder and coach Bill Halle said. “It's still a pretty rare thing.”
Aubriaunna is playing for the age 9-10 team while maintaining her spot on the cheerleading squad for the 11-12 team.
“This is definitely the first time I've had a girl do both,” Halle said.
It was through cheerleading last year that Aubriaunna learned about football.
“It looked like fun and I wanted to try it,” she said.
Now she's not sure she wants to stay with it, though her mother asked for a two-year commitment to the sport before signing her up.
Aubriaunna is playing offensive and defensive end this season.
“It's a lot harder than I thought,” she admitted. “You get a lot of headaches because your head keeps banging against your helmet.”
Deborah Steele, her grandmother, is happy to see Aubriaunna on the gridiron.
“She's showing that a girl can do anything she wants to do as long as she sets her mind to it,” Steele said. “When it comes to athletics, that girl tries just about everything.
“She's done soccer, cheerleading, dance ... I'm not at all surprised she's doing this.”
Aubriaunna and Lexie have had no problem being teased by their male teammates, either.“They just want to be treated like everybody else on the practice field,” Halle said.“Besides, our coach (Allen Alston) said they'd have to do laps if there was any teasing,” Aubriaunna said.While Aubriaunna doesn't plan to stay with football for too long, Lexie hopes to stick around for a long time.She's entering sixth grade at Northwest Elementary this year and said she will try out for Butler's junior high team next year.“I love aggressive sports and football looked like a lot of fun,” Lexie said. “I know a lot of the boys from school, so I've had no problems with anyone.”Lexie is one of the biggest players on her team physically. She plays nose guard on defense, weak-side guard on offense.“She knows all of the terminology,” Halle said. “Lexie is very into this.”She's played basketball and baseball before, but Lexie wants to concentrate on football for the time being.“Tackling is my favorite part of the game,” she said. “You get an andrenalin rush when you're in on part of the tackle because you know you just made an impact play for your team.”Lexie doesn't anticipate being able to play high school football down the road. She won't rule it out, either. However, she does have a contingency plan.“When I'm done with football, I'll switch to either dek hockey or lacrosse,” she said. “Those are next on my list.”
