DEL.ICIO.USGirl kicker booted off school football team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, August 29, 2008
Kacy Stuart was a kicker on a public school football team last year but apparently doesn’t have what it takes to be a part of a private league. She’s not a boy.
The 14-year-old high school freshman from Spalding County learned Thursday night — while team pictures were being shot — that she was being booted off the field. But her mother said she isn’t going down without a fight.
Kathy Jefcoats/kjefcoats@ajc.com
For two months, Kacy Stuart practiced with the school team, the Crusaders, at New Creation Center, a private Christian academy in McDonough, but was told Thursday she couldn’t be on the team.
Kathy Jefcoats/kjefcoats@ajc.com
Crusaders kicker Kacy Stuart at practice on Friday.
“We’ll file for an injunction if we have to,” Angie Stuart said Friday. “We’ll do whatever it takes to keep her on the team.”
For two months, Kacy practiced with the school team, the Crusaders, at New Creation Center, a private Christian academy in McDonough. She participated in drills and even played a scrimmage game Aug. 23.
But a couple of weeks ago, Angie Stuart said, Hank St. Denis, executive board chairman of the Georgia Football League, realized a girl had been accepted onto one of its football teams. St. Denis overruled New Creation’s decision to let her join the team.
“He said she can’t play simply because she’s a girl,” Stuart said.
When she heard the decision, Kacy cried.
“She has college potential,” her mother said. “And she’s willing to give up her life here to move to her dad’s [home] in south Georgia, enroll in public school there and play football. That’s how much she loves this game.”
Efforts to reach St. Denis Friday through phone and e-mail messages were unsuccessful.
Kacy, who also plays soccer, played football at Henry County’s Union Grove Middle School last year as kicker. The team went to the state finals, and Henry high school coaches were eager to have her join them this fall.
But the family moved to Spalding County, and Kacy had to change schools. She enrolled in Skipstone Academy, a small Griffin private school.
“I wanted her in a Christian environment and where the classes would be small,” her mother said.
But Skipstone is so small, it lacks an athletics program. So Kacy was allowed to join New Creation’s football team. The Crusaders play under the Georgia Football League, which supervises athletes who attend private schools or are home schooled.
Angie Stuart said she is perplexed by St. Denis’ decision.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything in the [league] bylaws to prevent a girl from playing,” she said. “No one else has a problem with it. The coaches, players and other teams have accepted her. If she can play for a public school, why not a private school?”
