Kara, high school student's story

My name is Kara. Next year I’ll be a junior in high school. This year I’ve been through a huge learning experience because I’m learning how to work within the school to get something I want and which I have a right to have. I want to play football. I’ve been interested in football ever since I’ve been a kid. My mom watched a lot of football on TV and that’s how I learned the game. Later I moved in with my dad, who is not into sports but by this time my friends would watch games on TV and play during the weekends. I started playing with my friends and I got good.

I thought about trying out for the boys’ team and the school would have let me, but my chances of getting on weren’t likely. They’d look down upon me for trying out and even though I probably have the same experience (or more) than some of the boys, because I’m a girl, my chances weren’t good. So instead of fighting the boys, I decided I’d start a girls’ team. I talked to my dad, who as I said earlier isn’t into sports but he advised me to contact an organization that could help me. I called several places and everything led me back to the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF). I told them how I was feeling and what I wanted to do. They gave me some booklets and talked to me about the rules of starting a new sport; including that I had to find out how many girls teams and boys teams were at the school and when the school had added a new sport. The answers to those questions would help me find out if my school was in violation of Title IX and if so, it made my chances better to get a girls football team going.

I did a lot of research and found out that in my school there are many more boys’ sports than girls’ sports and we haven’t added a new girls sport in a long time. I wrote letters to schools and told them that I wanted to add girls’ football and also told them about their possible Title IX violations. This was a mistake. The administrators got upset said they wanted to talk to me. They thought I was just some kid who didn’t know what she was talking about and they didn’t want any trouble from me. They told me that if I wanted to add a sport I’d have to get a coach, find a field and figure out when we’d play. That scared me a bit so I called the WSF again and they told me that it’s not up to me to do these things, it is the school’s job. In the meantime I was asking people to sign a petition about the team and if they wanted to play. The administration stopped me and told me that if I kept on I would have problems with the school. I called the WSF again and they told me it was time to talk to a lawyer, which we did. It was very helpful.

Together, we came up with a compromise. My school would allow the girls to practice football and if girls from other high schools could get their schools to let them practice, then they’d let us play games against each other. So far there are 6 other schools that are practicing. Next year we hoping that 4 of the six team will play, but if it doesn’t happen then, the school promises it will definitely happen the following year. The school keeps asking how we’ll pay for this, but we tell them we’re willing to raise the money, just like we do for other things we want in school. We’re not worried.

I’ve made mistakes along the way but now I know what to do… talk to experts – like the WSF do research, write letters, ask questions and get your friends involved. Now they see that I wasn’t just one girl, the effort has grown to six schools, lots of girls and some boys.

Doing all this work makes me feel really good. When I first started it was discouraging I wasn’t getting anywhere. Now it’s not just one girl, it’s six schools, lots of girls and some boys, too. We’re making progress and it’s not just for me, it’s for other girls, too.

My dad is very proud of me. He never did anything new. He’s proud that he’s raised a daughter who has the courage and strength to fight for what’s right. When I go to college I’m going to start a girls' program there and after that I’m going to law school. This experience has given me the confidence that I can achieve a lot.