Girls in Football : IT ISN’T WORKING OUT : They worry about broken bones more than broken fingernails, not to mention coaches and players with chips on their shoulders. : Danger Keeps More Girls From the Challenge

Tom Tutko, a sports psychology professor at San Jose State, says there is a poignant yet simple reason why females try out for high school football teams.

Girls, he said, just want to have fun.

“It’s like guys who cook,” said Tutko, who has taught two female students who went out for football. “It seems offbeat, but it can be done.”

Statistics indicate, however, that girls have been less successful at taking hits on the football field than guys have been at taking souffles out of the oven. Girls usually aren’t successful in their attempts to play football because they find the sport too physical, authorities say.

A recent survey by the National Federation of State High School Assns. reported that only eight girls were members of varsity football teams during the 1984-85 school year. Three were in California, five in Mississippi.

Of the eight girls mentioned in the survey, none played a down for the varsity; a few played sparingly for lower level teams.

Most girls served as trainers for the teams, said Bruce Howard, publications director for the federation. “Playing,” he said, “is another matter.”

Since the study was released, courts in New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas have allowed girls to play after individuals fought state high school associations opposing their participation.

“The states hold out as long as they can until the court rules,” Howard said.

Dee Shepherd-Look, professor of adolescent psychology at Cal State Northridge, said she thinks that playing football is a girl’s right.

“I think it’s terrific,” she said. “In terms of self-esteem development, I think it’s great. Girls should make a choice based on what they want to do as opposed to sex-role stereotypes.”

Girls can compete equally with boys in sports such as cross-country, Howard said. More girls participate in sports such as soccer and softball, however--a result of the rapid development in girls’ programs in recent years.

The national high school federation is generally opposed to girls’ participation in football, Howard said. “Just from a safety standpoint, it’s a boy’s sport,” he said. “They’re not made to compete against guys.”

But curiosity and a sense of adventure that “would make anyone want to climb a mountain” has prompted several girls to try football, Tutko said.

“They see it on TV. It’s so much excitement. It seems so great, they figure, ‘Why not do this?’ The ones I talked to wanted to know the experience--what was tackling, blocking. They’re the kind of people you admire.”

Tutko lays the advent of girls on football teams to the women’s movement.

“I don’t think you would have had women years ago attempting this,” said Tutko, 55, who has taught at San Jose State for 25 years. “In the past, they wouldn’t be so braggadocio, so open about it.

“They’re willing to risk it. They don’t care about social embarrassment.”