‘90s FAMILY : Trying to Blitz a Girl’s Dream

Tina Arnds had never actually met another football player who was a girl. But never mind. This is 1995. She decided to go out for the freshman team anyway as a lineman.

Tina, 15, learned to play football from her father on the weekends and vacations he spent with her and her three brothers. Last summer, she learned blocking and tackling at a sports camp.

Those who don’t know anyone like Tina might be surprised to learn that girls have been integrating high school football teams for at least 15 years. Few play regularly, but some have excelled. In 1990, offensive and defensive guard Rebecca Andreas of Lee Vining, Calif., was named to an all-league team in the California Interscholastic Federation. This fall, receiver Lorenza Coronado scored a touchdown for her team at Jordan High School in Long Beach.

Tina said she didn’t expect to shine, she just wanted to play on the team at Irvine’s Woodbridge High School, which had never before fielded a girl. “I thought if I went out and they said I couldn’t play, I couldn’t,” she said. “But if I could, I had a chance.”

Her mother, Lori Ripple, wasn’t worried. At 5 feet, 2 inches and 150 pounds, Tina was as big and strong as many of her teammates and bigger than some. Besides, like most of us who listen to Nike commercials and career counselors, her mother thinks it’s a good thing for girls to compete in sports. “I have military experience so I know what it’s like to step into a world where you don’t belong,” she said. “Even in the business world, I see guys get promoted ahead of women or try and harangue you and make you cry. I think [sports] help women to deal in that environment.”

Coach Richard Peter was impressed. “She went all out, she didn’t hold back,” he said. “She didn’t ask to be excused or excluded from anything.”

Tina tried to fake out the opposition by braiding her long hair and tucking it in her jersey.

But when trouble came, it was from her own teammates. “A couple guys didn’t agree with me being on the team and said girls shouldn’t play football,” she said. “If somebody doesn’t like you, they’ll pick on you the whole season and nobody really says anything about it.

“You get bruises. Those go away. But when people talk about you when you’re trying to do something different from everyone else, that’s kind of hard,” she said.

Other teammates treated her with respect. And in some ways she did feel like part of the team. “When they won or when they lost, I was winning and I was losing too,” she said.

But in significant ways, the ways they say portend career success, she never did feel part of the team. “You know at lunch, they’re all together, all the team, talking. It’s not like I can say, hey guys, how are you doing? I was, like, a girl.”

If the ‘90s have not brought a level playing field for females, they at least have brought the realization that big girls don’t cry into their pillows if it doesn’t work out. They make their own decisions to stay or move on.

Whatever happened on the field, Tina had a good season. Kids she didn’t know recognized her in public places. Her friends thought what she did was cool. Her mom and stepdad videotaped every play. Her father flew out from Arizona to watch the last game.

Tina’s unsure whether or not she’ll go out next year. “I like playing football and I like learning how to do something. I like just being different from everybody else,” she said. On the other hand, she said, “If somebody doesn’t want you on their team, you don’t want to be part of their team.

“A lot of people said I shouldn’t quit, I should keep going.

“So I’m trying to think about it.”