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Newsome kicks through barriers
By JAMAL THALJI © St. Petersburg Times, published May 18, 2001 DADE CITY -- Ask Pasco coach Ricky Thomas about the Pirates' spring and watch his eyes light up. He'll talk about the maturation of quarterback Ben Alford. The great spring lineman Donnie Woods is having. The breakout of fullback Devon Hicks. He'll say a new attitude has infected Pasco's spring camp after back-to-back 4-6 seasons. That his players walk and talk with a swagger W.F. Edwards Stadium hasn't seen in three years. Eventually, Thomas gets to Amanda Newsome. Because here, she is just one of the, well, guys. That's how readily the Pirates and their coaches have accepted the 15-year-old sophomore placekicker, who is bidding to become the first female to play varsity football in Pasco County. A three-sport letterman, Newsome's bid for her fourth letter has attracted little fanfare in Dade City, the county, or even on her own team. "I don't want to say she's been just another one of the guys," Thomas said. "But that might be a fair word for it. None of the other kids have said anything, because she's a hard worker, she just fits in. "The only way you know she's a girl is because her ponytail is sticking out the back of her helmet." Newsome's first love is soccer, playing forward and midfielder for the Pirates. She's also on the weightlifting team and runs track. But football has always intrigued her. "I've always wanted to play since I was in middle school," she said. "All the guys played and I wanted to go out and play too. I was this close (holding her fingers slightly apart) to going out and playing. "This year I just got the nerve, I guess, to come out here and try it." Newsome was practicing for powder puff football a few months back when some football players got her to kick field goals with them. When she showed up at the first spring meeting, the word was out about her leg. Forgive Thomas if he was skeptical. "Over the years I've always had girls come in and say they're going to play," Thomas said. "But when practice actually starts they don't show up." When Newsome made it to the third meeting, Thomas was encouraged. But never did the coach imagine that weeks later, Newsome would take part in tackling drills, kick 45-yard field goals and play for the white team in today's scrimmage. "I never thought that would happen," he said. "But I've never met a young lady with Amanda's attitude. Her work ethic is second to none. It's unbelievable how she hangs in there. "She's just a competitor." So what kind of football player is Newsome? How can she contribute? Playing soccer year-round, Newsome came to camp in excellent shape. Conditioning sprints are no problem. Her kicking leg is strong as well. But physically, the coaches do not match her against the lineman or any of the top backs. And everything is new to her. The rules. The strategies. The techniques. She's also new to kicking off a tee. "I'm used to kicking off the ground," she said. "Having to move off the ground a couple of inches, I'm starting to get used to it. If I can get my timing right and everything ... "I'm steadily improving. I still have a lot to learn." Newsome is already automatic from 5 to 10 yards. Thomas said she's consistent from 35, though Newsome thinks it's more like 40. In camp, though, she is only the second-best kicker. Gabriel Montelongo has better range, accuracy, is better suited for kickoffs and is the front-runner. Thomas believes Newsome, right now, is best suited for point-after attempts. So how does she get along with her teammates? Newsome dresses by herself before practice, but hangs out with the team constantly, lifting weights, running sprints and participating in drills. "She's the first one in," Thomas said, "and the last one to leave." For 23 years, Thomas has run a tackling drill called "tubes". Two players lie on their backs, one with the ball. At the whistle, they pop off the ground, one tackling the other. Wednesday, Thomas said, "she made a heck of a tackle." "He hasn't put me up against someone like (6-foot-2, 235-pound) Devon (Hicks)," she said. "But for who I'm going against I do all right." The coaches have certainly been won over. Coaches Ricky Giles and Jim Ward nodded approvingly one day as Newsome hit the weights enthusiastically, then watched as she showed Thomas The Game and the Glory, the autobiography of her idol, American soccer star Michelle Akers. "There's a few guys who don't want to be out-done," Thomas said. "If I have to say something about them loafing in the sprints or the weight room, they have a tendency to pick it up without me mentioning Amanda's name." If Newsome is different, it's in her silence. The Pirates love to brag, love to talk and love to get in each others' faces. "I don't really talk trash," she said. That will have to change, according to Woods. "She's one of us," the star lineman said. "She'll get to a point where she (talks trash). We'll do some after-hours sessions in talking trash, Pasco 101." Newsome takes football seriously. She wants to contribute any way she can. But realistically, she knows her future is in soccer. Come August, she will be practicing for two sports. "A goal for me is just to play," she said, "to have fun with it and not get hurt, because soccer is my main sport." In 1968, Thomas helped break some barriers of his own as one of the first three black students to enroll at Pasco. "It's an experience you never forget," Thomas said. "I was never treated any differently and pretty much accepted by my peers. I'm hoping that can be the same experience for Amanda." Not everyone starts, and not everyone plays. But football can still be a rewarding experience, Thomas said, and hopes it will be so for Newsome. "Football is a lot like life," the coach said. "It's just another learning experience. You can't win them all, but you've just got to keep on trying."
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