Jacobs kicker shows off girl power

Algonquin fifth-graders got a lesson in sports and gender equity Friday from an unexpected teacher -- a teenage girl who plays high school football.

Mandy Platt, a 17-year-old senior, is a varsity kicker and junior varsity linebacker for Jacobs High School.

Platt made a surprise appearance at Eastview Elementary School, where she gave the morning gym class a kicking exhibition, showed off her football equipment and talked about being a girl in a male-dominated sport.

Fifth-grade teacher Kevin Pokorny and gym teacher Barb Taylor decided to invite Platt when they noticed their female pupils were uninterested in the class's football unit.

"When we start football, all the girls roll their eyes," Pokorny said, "because they don't think they'll ever play football again after elementary school.

"Mandy's here to show them they can go on playing if they want to," Pokorny said.

Platt, who also plays goalie for the soccer team, told the class about some of the unique challenges for a girl in football.

"I've wanted to play football since kindergarten," Platt said. "Both my mom and dad said it was a bad idea at first, and I had to do a lot of convincing that I'd be OK."

While the goal Friday was to encourage girls to pursue sports in general, the questions focused on specifics: whether Platt has ever broken a bone on the field (she hasn't), what was her longest field goal (40 yards in practice), and where Platt changes (in a separate locker room for home games, sometimes in a commandeered classroom for away games.

In addition to curious fifth-graders, Platt already has earned the respect of maybe the toughest audience: her teammates and opponents.

"I took a lot of teasing at first," Platt said, "but now it's OK.

"Most people who have heard about what I do think it's pretty cool."