State-Journal.com - Picked to kick

Photo By Hilly SchifferWestern Hills senior Desiree Riley practices kicking extra points as sophomore Anthony Gibson holds the ball during practice Wednesday.

Photo By Hilly SchifferDesiree Riley is tackled during drills at practice Wednesday.

Photo By Hilly SchifferDesiree Riley laughs with teammates before practice Wednesday.

Desiree Riley botched everything the first time she stepped into her football uniform – her belt was too short, and she had to cinch the pads tight to fit her 5-foot-1-inch frame.

“And my helmet was all a mess,” said the 17-year-old senior, a kicker and defensive tackle for the Western Hills High School football team.

“I had to figure out how to put my hair up in it.”

Desiree joined the team in September, after her senior soccer season ended. The Wolverines needed another kicker – they’d had trouble scoring extra points.

The team is 8-3 this season, heading into the second round of Class AAA playoffs Friday in Louisville.

“I had heard some people talking about how she had a good leg in soccer, and a lot of times we look for someone who has a soccer-style kick,” coach Don Miller said.

He asked the blue-eyed teen to try out, and she did. She’s the first woman to take the field since Miller became the team’s coach four years ago.

“It’s a guy’s sport,” she said, sitting in the bleachers before practice Wednesday afternoon.

“Most girls don’t play football, but it doesn’t hurt to try something new.”

Desiree is a lifelong athlete, playing soccer for eight years, running cross-country and every track event except the 2-mile run.

“If you’re having a bad day or something, you can just go run,” she said. “To me, sports are a stress reliever.”

But the self-proclaimed tomboy had no interest in football until she joined the Western Hills team. The first game she ever watched was the Superbowl in 2007.

She started attending games at her school last year, but she spent more time talking to her friends than watching the plays. When she asked for permission to play football, her mom, Wendy Riley, thought she wanted to join the girls’ powder puff team.

“I wasn’t really into the football game because I didn’t really understand football,” Desiree said. “But now I feel like I watch football all the time.”

Even though she’s a seasoned athlete, football was a different animal.

“You get to go out there, and if you’re angry, you can hit other people and not get in trouble for it,” she said, laughing.

There’s less running, and more waiting on the sidelines. There are dozens of plays to memorize, and rules she admits she still doesn’t understand.

“In soccer, you just take the ball and go score,” she said. “That’s it.”

Kicking a football and kicking a soccer ball are completely different, she said. In soccer, she leaned back and scooped the ball with her foot. In football, she takes a few steps backward, tilts her head down and kicks near the middle.

When she first joined the team, she would get to the field early to practice kicking.

“I wasn’t really nervous about getting tackled,” she said. “I was more nervous about how well I could kick the ball.”

She keeps her head down during kickoffs for another reason too: She doesn’t want to see the pack of “huge guys” running toward her.

Desiree and her coach agree that her teammates have accepted her as a Wolverine. They watch out for her, she says, and make sure she doesn’t get hurt on the field.

“At first it was really different because we didn’t know what to think about it,” said her teammate and friend, 17-year-old junior Jacob Sharp.

“But we accept her and have fun with her, and we act like she’s just one of the other guys.”

On senior day, players get to choose two teammates they want to tackle. Desiree picked Jacob – he says she hit him pretty hard.

“During drills, we’ll be hitting and tackling, and she’ll go in and do the same exact thing,” Jacob said. “She can hold her own against the other players. It’s cool to watch.”

Miller says it’s unfortunate Desiree waited until her senior year to join the team.

“A lot of times you wonder how that’s going to work out, but we feel like our guys on the team have really accepted her,” Miller said.

“She’s definitely not intimidated, she’s definitely got the mental toughness.”

With bulky pads, a facemask and her hair pulled back into her helmet, her opponents don’t always realize they’re up against a girl.

“They don’t really know I’m a girl unless their coach tells them,” she said. “I’ve gotten some weird comebacks, but I just laughed.”

Still, there are times the gender difference is apparent.

As her teammates gather in the locker room to put on their green and white uniforms, she changes clothes in the public women’s restroom outside the stadium gates.

And when the team travels, she wanders through empty school buildings until she finds a place to get dressed.

One time, she walked into the restroom to find four cheerleaders, their eyes wide and mouths agape. She still had her helmet on, and they thought she’d missed the skirt-clad stick figure on the door.

To the other young women who dream of playing under the stadium lights, Desiree says she would encourage them to try out for the team because it’s fun.

“If some people make fun of you for playing football, there are more who support you.”

But she would warn them of the possibility for injuries, and of the certainty that teenage boys say the grossest things.

“Guys always say weird stuff,” said Desiree, who grew up with three brothers. “So you just have to go with it, I guess.”

Desiree is a member of FFA, National Honor Society, Beta Club, Pep Club and Ecology Club. She’s been accepted to Murray State University, where she plans to study agriculture education and psychology.

She wants to be a teacher and maybe coach soccer someday.

“I like to stay busy,” she said. “I don’t like sitting at home and watching TV – I feel like I should be doing something.”

She decided not to play soccer at college because she wants to focus on being a freshman. She plans to go to football games, join clubs and play intramural sports.

“It would just take up too much time,” she said. “I figured it was better just to experience everything.”