You hear about child prodigies in the news all the time, but they're not usually football players (it's the sort of sport where a little bulk goes a long way). And, they're almost never 9-year-old girl football players! But 9-year-old Sam Gordon is breakin' all the rules and being an inspiration for young girls everywhere at that.
At first, the coaches of her Salt Lake City kids' team let her join in practice because they thought it would be a fun drill for her male counterparts to outrun her. Too bad they couldn't. Sam turned out to be quite the star player, and her coach says she's at the level of a college football player.
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If the thought of a 60-pound girl playing with a bunch of dudes who are close in age but still surprisingly bulky (apparently there's one strapping fellow who weighs in at 150) makes you uncomfortable, we don't blame you — but apparently she's doing just fine. Her biggest problem is the fact that the games are riding almost solely on her, so she's feeling quite a bit of pressure, though not so much that she can't kick into super-athlete gear when she needs to.
Football is the last bastion of male domination (in terms of players, at least). But maybe Sam will keep playing in high school, maybe the scouts will see her racing down the field and realize it would be just stupid to turn down such a star player based on gender. Fingers crossed. (Yahoo! Sports)
Image via Yahoo! Sports.