A kicker with a ponytail
A tomboy at heart with her hair up, Spotsylvania High School graduate Lauren Luttrell has her sights set on becoming a kicker for the Virginia Tech Hokies and, if that materializes, the first woman to join the college football team. . Luttrell played soccer for the Spotsy Knights, but her passion for sports and her athletic ability was becoming a kicker for a varsity soccer team.
Last summer, before she came to the Virginia Tech campus as a freshman, Luttrell’s supervisor at Famous Dave’s BBQ, David Turner, was intrigued by her wish and encouraged her to try out for the Virginia Tech team. Luttrell thought that He was crazy, but Turner insisted and before he knew it Luttrell got in touch with the Hokies football department and they invited him to try.
Luttrell showed up at Lane Stadium during his first week of school and saw head coach Frank Beamer standing on the field. There were a handful of kickers, a few punters, and a few long snapper in the test. She was the only one with a ponytail, but once she started kicking, her nervousness lessened and she fit in perfectly. He only failed once during training. Although Beamer was impressed, he did not have a place for Luttrell and asked him to try again in the spring.
That winter, training for a second chance, Luttrell worked diligently with his kicking coach, Dave DeArmas, who attended training camps with the St. Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers after playing college football at the University of Connecticut. . Aside from practice and technique, DeArmas taught him things like how the wind at the bottom of a two- or three-tier stadium differs from the wind blowing over the flagpoles above the stadium. He took pictures of his form and showed him what needed to be fixed.
Luttrell is fairly comfortable kicking field goals within 42 yards, but he’s unfamiliar with a helmet and pads, not to mention the pressure of a winning kick in a stadium full of exuberant fans. Gaining experience in the true atmosphere comes with time invested.
Clearly, the Hokies needed a kicker. Redshirt sophomore Cody Journell was suspended indefinitely after being arrested for burglary and was charged with a Class 2 felony due to the alleged use of a dangerous weapon. Before the Hokies’ Orange Bowl game against Michigan, senior kicker Tyler Weiss, a graduate of Courtland High School, was sent home for missing curfew.
As a walker and one of ten kickers, Luttrell’s next test happened on March 31st. He made all four field goal attempts at the 20 to 25 yard range kicking his way into the second round at the 35 yard range making three of four attempts with one who fell short of the crossbar and thus did not advance to the third round. Impressed with her ability, trainer Frank Beamer thanked her for trying, encouraged her to keep trying, and explained that she just didn’t have the power to make the cut. Luttrell, discouraged, vowed to keep kicking his target; a goal to nail it between two studs, particularly at Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech, as a kicker for the Hokies.
If Luttrell had been part of the team, the media frenzy would begin. How could a young woman, with her hair in a ponytail, maintain and perform at the expected level in a “male” sport? Luttrell’s kicks on the field would definitely draw attention to the team both favorably by some and undoubtedly mockingly by others. Although the social sacrifices and other possible ramifications of Luttrell participating in a male-dominated sport are many; the benefits, if played well, can be relatively rewarding.