Awesome 13-Year-Old Girl Joins Football Team As Linebacker And Her Tackles Bring Opponents To Tears
Paige Smith, an either grader at Gladewater Middle School in Texas, is revolutionizing the role of women on the football field as a linebacker on her school’s team. It’s not unheard of for girls to join their high school or college football teams, but rarely do they play linebacker. In case you’re someone who has no idea what’s happening on a football field (ie: ME), a linebacker is the person who tackles the sh*t out of people. They’re tough, agile, aggressive and are constantly running into the opposing players. In Paige’s case, she took some of her competitors by surprise. “They’re like, ‘No way, you’re going to get yourself run over,'” she told KETK. “And all of a sudden I’m running them over.”
YAS GURL. You run those dudes over like the bad-ass football playing rockstar that you are. “I felt kind of good tackling him because he was twice my size,” she said of a play in her first game. “It shows me I can do anything I please or what I want without anyone stopping me.”
Damn straight.
Paige tried out for the team in sixth grade and was told that it would be “impossible” for her to play. But she gave gender stereotypes and biased thinking the finger and showed up to try outs a couple years later, earning her spot on the team. Now, I am an expert on Texas football because I watched Friday Night Lights when my daughter was a newborn, and so I can tell you that it’s rare for a girl to be welcome in such a dude’s club. From Steubenville to Ray Rice, football has been downright horrible in its treatment of women. One can only hope that Paige’s fearlessness inspires other girls to join her on the field (or the roller derby rink or basketball court) – and pushes others to change their backwards thinking about the treatment of women on and off the field. Don’t let anyone bring you down,” she said. “They’re just going to try to intimidate you, they’re going to say all of these things, but once you get the hang of it, you’re going to be running them over and they ain’t gonna be running you over.”
Paige is a motherf*cking queen, guys. In her first game her fierce tackling skills even made a dude on the opposite team cry, because that’s what kickass jock girls do. Clear eyes, full hearts, awesome 13-year-old girl playing linebacker on your football team…can’t lose.
[Photo: KETK]
