U.S. National Women's Tackle Football Team Stands Up for Girls' Right to Play

Roseanna Smith is a member of the U.S. National Women's Tackle Football team. Roseanna, Adrienne Smith, and their teammates have launched a petition in support of girls' right to play football.

When I was 17, I joined my high school football team.

Even in 1999, it wasn’t very popular move, talent aside -- and I didn’t have much of it then. What I did have was a desire to test the limits of what I thought I could do. By lifting weights and training harder than I ever had before, I earned biceps, abs, and a spot on the team. I worked full-time in the summer between two-a-days and a part-time evening gig at the local newspaper. Every practice, my goal was to be a full participant in every drill, exercise, and conditioning session. I only finished last at the beginning.

I didn't understand the offense at first. Many days, I would draw up plays and ask questions in the coaches' office after practice. I made too many mistakes to count. Some of the most embarrassing were lining up in a three-point stance as a tailback in practice or forgetting the play on the way to the huddle during a game. But there were many positives, the two most important: I learned how to be a player by earning a role on the team, and the opportunity to play football changed my life.

I’m telling you part of my story because it’s vitally important to understanding why other girls need to play football.

Back then, the only girls I had ever heard of who played were kickers. Times have changed. Now, girls all over the country are stat leaders and game-changers for their teams. They play every position. They dominate. Their teammates accept them.

Mina Johnson’s story revealed that there are still many old-school hurdles.

Johnson, an eighth grader at Southampton Academy, sat out a JV game this fall because her team’s opponent threatened to forfeit if she was allowed to play. Johnson is a starting defensive tackle who made four sacks in a game this season. She, if given the opportunity to play, has unlimited potential. Learn more about Johnson here.

Our petition seeks to provide support for Johnson and all girls like her across the country.

Meet some of the other girls: Panama (N.Y.) Panthers senior Andrea Marsh was honored in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd this fall and was a co-leader in tackles as a two-year starting defensive back. Glamour magazine recently named Pinckney (Mich.) senior Brianna Amat one of 21 Amazing Young Women of 2011 for kicking her team’s winning field goal. The story was news also because Amat was named homecoming queen at halftime. The good part: she accepted the crown in her No. 12 jersey. Detroit’s Monique Howard of Pershing High is a starting right tackle who uses football to stay out of trouble.

There are many reasons girls need to play football.

I’ll give you the best one: we need to prepare the next generation for international play. In 2010, 45 players, including myself, represented the first-ever TEAM USA for women’s tackle football in Sweden. We went undefeated and came home with gold medals. I think our work has just begun.

At the Women’s World Championships, most European teams were composed of teenage girls. Meanwhile, talented girls in the United States are being asked to step aside or to sit out. Many of the thousands of adult women now competing in tackle football leagues around the country were fighting for access to play any sports when they were in high school.

Times have changed and we have a different future.

Johnson and her peers don’t play football year after year on a whim, a dare, or as a hobby. No man or woman who has ever played the game at a high level would say it was any of those things. Football is a sport that teaches its players how to challenge themselves beyond mental and physical limitations, to never give up, and to find a way to reach a collective goal.

TEAM USA’s mindset was simple. As the first 45 women to represent the United States to set the international stage (hopefully for the Olympic Games someday), it was our duty to make an unforgettable impression through talent, sportsmanship and hard work. Our mantra from training camp through gold medal ceremony was “One Team, One Mission.”

Our next mission is to ensure girls have the opportunity to accomplish their dreams.

Supportive coaches made my football dream a reality. Please consider signing the petition to support Mina Johnson.

The opportunity to play could change her life too.