Sahuaro High School has a female football player, Cecilia Rodriguez Estrada. Cecilia plays on the JV team and is a sophomore that finds football to be something new, exciting, and fun. Her reason for starting football is, “During the summer I was deciding whether or not to play volleyball or football.  When volleyball season came around I was out sick, so I figured it was my fate to go ahead and try football.” Cecilia explains how playing a “man’s” sport is very different and weird but, “Why can’t a girl play it?”  When it comes to being the only female on the team, things can get very interesting.  “Of course, I have other parts than a boy, and because of that I change in a different locker room, which is fine, but it’s so annoying to carry around my football stuff all day every day when the boys get to leave it in their locker room and know it will be there for them after school.”

Being on the field every day can be fun and tiring, “Practicing, working out, and games can get hectic but it’s bearable. I find myself sleeping on my downtime, at this point, it’s like a hobby.”  Besides being on the field every day, Cecilia enjoys baking, reading, writing, volleyball, video games, journaling, and meditating. When it comes to school, Cecilia explains how she balances her work and football, “When it comes to school I practically live by this: when I’m in school I don’t think about football, and when I’m in football I don’t think about school.  It balances my mental state and I find it easy to complete work and study when my mind is set on one thing at a time.”

Cecilia hopes to change her position in football and continue to play the game.  She expressed that if she could tell her younger self something she would say, “It’s ok, these men aren’t ready for you, they think this is a man’s game but in reality, they are all competing with you because they are nervous, so if this was really their game they wouldn’t be trying to prove it to everyone.”  To young girls all around the world, Cecilia wants them to know, “If you feel like they won’t like you or accept you, I am being honest they won’t…but you have to know how good you are and how worthy you are, so never give up, show them who you are and how much damage you can do.”