Women in Football

A woman playing football. How is that for a new idea in the game of football?

This past week I finally had an opportunity to meet some of the incoming freshman football players that I would be coaching this fall as they were doing there weight lifting regimen. Much to my surprise, one of them was female! Through my years as a player, I have seen girls say they want to play and then never follow through, but this particular girl is actually in the weight room working towards becoming a football player. I talked to another coach who said that he has seen this before and that she'll quit before long. For me, I believe that she is serious about doing this, and the only question is whether or not she can take a hit. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. If she makes it past her first hard hit, then we'll know this is for real.

But what about women playing football? Certainly it is physically difficult for women to compete against men but there are always exceptions to the rule. We are always looking for ways to use different players in different situations to give us a competitive advantage. Is there anyway to use this with women on the team? If you're a small school could it be advantageous to have a female track star or basketball center on your team?

Maybe women can't compete, but you won't know unless you let them have a fair shake.