Source: Thomas Northcut / Getty
In West Jordan, Utah, fifty 5th and 6th graders came out to play the first ever girls tackle football game.
The new football league was launched with the blessing of the USA Football and the NFL leagues together.
“The ultimate goal is for women to get paid to play,’ said Sam Rapoport, the director of development for USA Football. “We’d love to see women’s tackle football played at the pro level.”
One of the players who was a hit when she was barely 9-years old is “Sweet Feet.” Who is she? “Sweet Feet” or Sam, was the little pint-sized football player who’s video went viral. She ran faster than all the boys she was playing with.
Now, she is 12-years old and she’s one of the girls happily playing on the tackle team.
The idea came about sometime last March, Sam asked a group of girls while she was speaking at a school, how many girls out there would want to play tackle football?
She received a lot of hands in the air agreeing with this and it was there that her dad Brent Gordon decided to give it a try.
Brent said, “I thought, ‘Let’s do one division, 50 girls. Let’s see what happens.’ By the time we got the website up, we only had five days to promote it and it still filled up in that time frame.”
Brent called up former woman’s football player Crystal Sacoo and Samantha “Sam” Rapoport, who had once worked for the NFL and played quarterback for the Montreal Blitz.
“Tackle football is the most popular sport, “Rapoport said. “Boys want to play it and it’s America’s passion. Regardless of my gender, that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be like troy Aikman. That’s what you want to do and experience.”
It’s “extremely supportive” that Roger Goodell is on board with the girls’ football league and it’s made it a done right.
Injuries can be the same for both boys and for girls, the risks are the same, but Rapoport has assigned a “player safety coach”, she says, “everyone will have eyes on the safety of the sport.”
Via:yahoosports.com
