Cameron Sees First Female Football Player Tuesday, September 18, 2012 By Tina Barnes - Advertising Cameron Football Coach Jeff White has coached for 9 years--4 of those years at Cameron-- and has always been impressed by the turnout of boys for the team. This year, however, he was surprised to see a girl out for the team. Brittany Cantwell, a junior at Cameron High School, decided that this was going to be the year she went out for the team. “I’ve wanted to join for a few years,” said Brittany, “I used to play football in my backyard with my cousins, and this year they [the coaches] finally let me join the team. So this year I figured ‘Why not?’” Brittany hasn’t been allowed to join the team before because past coaches felt it was unfair to allow a girl to play. This year, she plays defensive end for the junior varsity team. Coach White has seen programs that had females and thought nothing different of the subject. “I was surprised to see her at first, I’ve coached football for quite a few years, and haven’t had a girl on the team before. It was a first for me, but we told her it was fine with us, and we would just have to figure out certain arrangements for her to play,” said Coach White, “The boys on the team were also shocked at first, but they’ve really accepted her as a teammate and they don’t treat Brittany any different than they do one of the boys.” Brittany’s mother, MaryJo Cantwell, is extremely proud of her daughter. “I didn’t ever think she would play football,” MaryJo said, “but I knew she had left the ‘girly’ stage behind when she started climbing trees wearing dresses. I am proud of her though. She’s very enthusiastic and is really enjoying this. I’m glad no one is holding her back.” Having loving and supporting parents has been a real inspiration to Brittany. “We believe that nothing and no one should hold her back from what she wants to do,” said her mother, “especially because in today’s society, it is many times said that girls ‘can’t’ do or ‘shouldn’t’ do things that are considered to be for men only. We told her we would support her and attend all of her games, but if she was going to do this, she had to finish it. There was no quitting once she started.” Brittany knows what she is doing may seem controversial to others, because this is a male dominated sport, but she loves what she is doing and others’ opinions don’t matter to her. “I don’t care what other people think,” she said, “If I could say anything to people who may think it’s wrong for girls to play football, I would simply say ‘Go away.’ People can tell me a million times ‘I don’t want you to play football.’ But if my parents are okay with it, I’m still going to play football.” MaryJo said, “Brittany really is her own person. She’s unique, she stands out in a crowd. She always has.” It’s clear that Brittany loves what she does and is striving to do her best for Cameron’s football team. Good luck to Brittany from everyone at The Tank!

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