Last year, Cooper Thompson approached his Evans Middle School football coach during his 8th grade season, saying his younger sister wanted to kick for the team next season but wasn’t sure his parents were sold on the idea.
Coach Philip Armendarez didn’t think any more of it. When this season started, the team needed a kicker, Armendarez said. He approached Haddie Thompson, who’s in his social studies class and asked if she’d speak to her parents about being the kicker.
The next day, the coach got an email from Haddie’s dad.
“Basically, he said, ‘hey, we’re on board. If y’all are on board, just let us know what you need from us to make it work,’” Armendarez said.
She started kicking field goals and extra points the next day at practice. Coaches quickly decided she was their kicker.
Since then, Thompson has been a “weapon” for her team, said her coach, as her soccer skills translated to kicking a football.
Thompson’s been accepted by her teammates and now football has become another of the many sports she plays.
Getting her kicks
Thompson kicks field goals and extra points for Evans Eagles.
She missed her first extra point due to nerves, but once she felt comfortable, she’s made her other kicks, said Armendarez. The only other points she missed were blocked.
In middle school extra points are worth two points instead of one as in most levels of football. Thompson has put up points for the Eagles.
“That’s a big proponent … us being able to have that as a weapon, (it’s) been super helpful,” Armendarez said.
The Evans Eagles 7th grade “A” team is currently 4-3.
Thompson has only played the last four games, according to Armendarez, one a loss to Cooper Middle School.
‘The boys were a little bit hesitant’
Her brother Cooper came out to his sister’s first practice for moral support. Armendarez said it helped.
Other players on the team were hesitant of Thompson at first, said the coach, some not aware a girl could be on the team.
“The boys were a little bit hesitant. Whenever I started kicking … they were more like, oh, this really is happening,” said Thompson.
She was nervous at first because she didn’t know how people were going to react. What would they think? Would people be mean?
Despite being nervous, Thompson feels she’s connecting with the team. She doesn’t feel lonely being the only girl.
“It’s not like full-on conversations, but they all … say like good job and … all of that stuff,” she said.
Thompson doesn’t think it’s any different than her soccer team.
Armendarez said the boys have done a great job being supportive and embracing her being on the team.
The coaches treat her the same as the rest of the team. Having a girl on the team hasn’t changed how Armendarez holds everyone to the same standard. He wants everyone on the team to work hard.
“We’re gonna make sure that obviously she’s treated with the same amount of respect that we would with everyone else,” said Armendarez.
This is the first time Armendarez has coached a girl for football, but if she can kick, he’ll support her as he would any player.
‘I couldn’t really mess up’
The only time she felt she had to work harder than the rest of the team was in the beginning.
“It felt like I couldn’t really mess up or … they were all gonna think I wasn’t good enough. That was the only part I felt like I really just had to, like, do like, the best ever,” Thompson said.
She plays lots of sports
Football is not completely foreign to her.
“I played flag football, in like fifth grade and I enjoyed that,” she said.
Thompson is competitive.
“Just getting to compete … is really fun for me,” said Thompson.
Playing many sports feeds Thompson’s competitiveness. She also plays volleyball for the school and soccer outside of school. The cross-country coaches also want her to run cross-country.
Out of all the sports she plays, soccer is her favorite. She’s been playing it since she was little and maintained lots of relationships through soccer.
Soccer skills helps kick football
Soccer’s helped with kicking a football. The technique is the same when it comes to kicking.
The only difference between kicking for the two sports is how she shapes her foot.
“Instead of … inside of your foot, you have to kick it with, like, the laces part of your foot,” she said.
As for the future …
Thompson is unsure if she wants to continue playing football after this season.
“If they needed me for eighth grade, I’d probably do it. Maybe not in high school since … it’s harder to play multiple sports at once in high school,” Thompson said.
