Last week, Becca Longo signed with Division II College Adams State University. She is believed to be the first female to receive a football scholarship to a Division II school or higher. However, ESPN pointed out there has been about a dozen women who have played college football, none with a scholarship though.

                From the TODAY article about Longo’s story, when asked her reaction to hearing she made history when she signed to play at Adams State University Longo said, “My jaw dropped. I was just shocked.” You would think she has been kicking for a couple of years now. Actually, she began to play her sophomore year in high school. This past season, she successfully made 35 out of 38 extra point attempts.

                To get to where she is, Longo sent a highlight reel last year to a few schools and starting following Adams State head coach Timm Rosenbach on Twitter. Adams State’s offensive coordinator Josh Blankenship wrote Longo back saying he would keep an eye out for her. Not long after, she had a tryout in February where she kicked about 20 times from different distances. Rosenbach said, “She’s  really accurate as a kicker and is strong enough to compete at our level. I just wanted to see what she was capable of.” He also commented he wasn’t really thinking about her gender one way or another.

                You would think everyone would be proud and happy for her. This isn’t the case. In the interview with TODAY, Longo said, “I get a lot of negativity and I feel it’s going to keep building up from there. But the positivity outweighs all of that, so I don’t really pay attention to it.” As another female football player, I understand that. I have gotten some negativity from people saying girls can’t play football or I’ll will get hurt and cry. I read the comments to an article about her on Facebook and some comments said she can’t play, what will happen if there is a roughing the kicker penalty, and she will cry and get hurt playing.

                Becca Longo is paving the way for female football players. She is proving girls can play football and compete with guys. Not only that but also that girls can play football in college, which is rare. Longo has inspired a many girls who play football. Her story has inspired me to keep working on kicking. Someday I hope to be like her and get a college scholarship to play somewhere.

Source

http://www.today.com/health/becca-longo-arizona-teen-first-woman-receive-ncaa-scholarship-t110516