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Tough enough
By JON WILSON, Times Staff Writer
Harmony Wilkinson, surging from her linebacker position, drills the Dunedin running back so hard you can hear the collision in the fourth row of bleachers. A while later, Amanda Kolonick, the Jr. Rebels' fullback, takes a handoff and slams the Dunedin line, shaking a tackler and gaining 5 yards. It takes two players to bring her down. It's a typical Saturday scene in the Suncoast Youth Football Conference: intense play, parents bellowing from the grandstand, coaches glued to every nuance of every snap. What's unusual are the two girls on the field. Females playing the game has become less rare in the past decade. Some high schools have had girls on the roster. So has the occasional college; Ashley Martin became the first woman to play in a Division I game last year when she suited up to play for Jacksonville State. There are all-women football teams such as the Tampa Tempest or the Tampa Bay Force, which play in women's pro leagues. But two girls starting for the same team at any level is a bit of a wonder. Of about 5,000 youngsters ages 6 to 15 who take part in SYFC programs, including flag football, tackle football and cheerleading, perhaps five girls play tackle football, said Wayne Schmoyer, the conference president. About the same number play in the similarly structured Pinellas Youth Football Conference, said president Geneva Waters. "If you take a girl who is 7 or 8, she's usually faster than the boys. For a coach who has a girl who can run or catch the ball, she can be very dangerous to the opposing team," Schmoyer said. Amanda, who lives in Disston Heights, and Harmony, from Pinellas Park, are 12 and can play both offense and defense. They are good -- not good "for girls," but good for 12-year-old football players. Both made the conference all-star team for their age group, as did four boys on their team, which went 0-10 during the regular season. The conference all-star games are Saturday at Dunedin High School. Youth teams are organized by age and weight. Amanda and Harmony play for the Jr. Rebels' Mighty Mites team, which is for 11- and 12-year-olds who weigh 123 pounds or less. Harmony is 5 foot 3 and weighs 98 pounds. Amanda is 5 foot 1 and 113. Both are straight-A students, Harmony at Pinellas Park Middle School, Amanda at Transfiguration Catholic School.
"We have this saying about girl power," said David Cauchon, who coaches Amanda and Harmony. And the saying is just that: girl power. Both contributed consistently to the team, which drew high praise from Cauchon despite its winless season. "We stuck together. Played as a team. I don't think I had one player get mad, throw a fist or knock another player. We played as a family all season," Cauchon said after the team's last game, a 13-6 loss to Dunedin. The Dixie Jr. Rebels have had more girls play during the past few years than any other SYFC organization, Schmoyer said. "You get a girl who's 13, 14, still playing football, she's a tough little girl," he said. Harmony fills that bill, said her mother, Jessica Driver. "She can take me down," she said. And so does Amanda. Her father, Chris Kolonick, recalls a tackle his daughter made when she was playing quarterback, had a pass intercepted and went after the bandit. "She hit that kid harder than I've ever seen anybody hit anybody," Kolonick said. "I didn't think either one would get up. She got up. He was just lying there." The boy's mother came out of the stands and complained, Kolonick said. "That boy shouldn't have hit my son that hard," she said. An official told her, "That, ma'am, is a girl." The conversation ended. Even with such capability, it's not always easy for a girl to persuade boys that she ought to play. "You really have to work if you're a girl. You have to prove yourself more," said Amanda, who has been playing tackle ball for about six years.
Said Harmony, a two-year tackle player: "When I first started, I wasn't any good, and they made fun of me for it." Now that she understands the game, what's her favorite part? "I like to hit," Harmony said. Neither girl has had a serious injury, and their parents are very supportive. Chris Kolonick, 40, a divorced single parent, has at one time or another had all his youngsters involved in the youth football program. Andrew Kolonick, 13, played this season for the Jr. Rebels' Pee Wee team, one age group up from his sisters. He helped them to the conference championship game when he threw a 95-yard touchdown pass late in the game to beat Tarpon Springs 20-18. The team lost 20-8 to Clearwater in the final. But it isn't wins and losses that matter to Chris Kolonick. The sport is a way to help his children mature and to do something together, he believes. "When you're a single parent, you don't have a lot of money. You do the little things that don't cost a lot," he said. "I've gotten just as much out of this as they have. It's been great."
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