First Girl to Get Tryout : Lizzie Hits Pay Dirt in City High School Football

Lizzie Luna might not make it into a football hall of fame, but the 14-year-old Westchester High School freshman will go on record as the first girl ever to try out for a Los Angeles Unified School District football team.

District officials agreed Monday to allow Lizzie to try out for the school’s B football squad, revoking an unofficial school board policy barring girls from competing with boys in football, wrestling and water polo--contact sports thought to be too dangerous.

“From now on it is up to the parents to decide whether or not they want their children to play football,” Sidney Thompson, associate superintendent for school operations, said Monday.

Thompson said he decided to revise the policy, adopted informally by the board 10 years ago, after a district lawyer described it as “legally unsound.”

“The argument that girls are more prone to injury may be true if you are talking about the average girl or average boy,” the lawyer, Steve Caravelli, said. “But that doesn’t mean that every girl is more prone to injury than every boy. That’s the rationale used by the courts.”

Alternative Team

Citing four cases tried outside California, Caravelli said federal courts have found that school districts cannot bar girls from playing contact sports with boys unless they provide an alternative team in the same sport or establish uniform eligibility standards for both sexes.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which regulates inter-district sports, recommends that districts allow girls to compete with boys in sports where there is no girls-only team. The Los Angeles Unified School District allows coed teams in some sports without girls’ teams, including soccer, tennis and swimming.

“But the football field was out of bounds for girls, period,” said school board member Alan Gershman, whose district includes Westchester. He said he favors the new policy, calling the old one “socially outdated.”

The Los Angeles district was one of only a few in the state to prohibit girls from competing in contact sports. Scott Cathcart, a CIF spokesman, did not know how many girls statewide are competing with boys in contact sports.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, Lizzie, who aspires to be a quarterback, was surrounded by reporters, photographers and onlookers Monday afternoon as her teammates ran wind sprints. Despite her victory with school officials, Lizzie said her battle is not over--she still has to make the team.

“I really want to play, so I hope he will give me a fair tryout,” she said, referring to coach Bill Gino.

But the coach was not excited about the prospect.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Gino said. “Would you want your daughter to play football?” The coach feared that the media attention might distract the team, which has shut out opponents in its first two games.

Sideline Job

Lizzie, who attended Westchester’s grueling five-week, non-contact football conditioning camp, won a sideline position on the B squad roster as manager but could not practice or play with other players. Though the 5-foot, 4-inch, 140-pound freshman has no experience in an organized football program, she has played softball and basketball in city recreation leagues and plays football with children in her neighborhood.

The Luna family had vowed to challenge the policy before the school board and in court, if necessary.

The three boys who hold the quarterback positions showed little concern Monday.

“Let her try,” said Brian Bowers, 14.

“That’s up to her, but I don’t think she can beat any of us out,” Kevin Owens, 15, added.

Even Lizzie doubts that she will be able to sail right into a starting role. But she said she would settle for a real jersey and a chance to play, instead of just cheering on the sidelines.

“I might be able to beat out one of them,” she said, “but I’ll settle for fourth string, if I get a chance to play.”