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November 20, 2008

NFL taps Peabody High senior to start girls flag football program

By Stacie N. Galang

PEABODY — Kenia McKeon is taking calls from the NFL.

The famed football league has tapped the Peabody High senior and nine other girls across the nation to start girls flag football programs in their high schools.

The NFL zeroed in on Peabody after surveying the country for established programs. In Tanner City, they found McKeon and a growing number of girls participating in a sport long the bastion of boys and figured she would be a good leader to launch a new high school team.

She could also be a factor in helping the NFL reach its ultimate goal — building its female fan base.

"Obviously, it's an honor to be approached by the NFL to do something like this," McKeon said. "It was an amazing thing."

In seventh grade, McKeon accompanied her younger brother to flag football sign-ups and was asked if she wanted to play, too. She's been playing ever since.

The Peabody High senior recalled her first year playing. Then the lone girl in the league, McKeon played center.

After the snap, the running backs would go deep, taking defenders with them. And that's when the quarterback would hand the ball to McKeon, who ran up the field unfettered.

"No one would ever cover me because I was a girl, and everyone underestimated me completely," she said. "I was never intimidated because the boys never took me seriously."

They're taking her seriously now.

When the NFL calls

Samantha Rapoport of the NFL said the league started its girls flag football leadership program earlier this year. The organization also offered to supply equipment like belts, flags, footballs and manuals.

"We've had a lot of early success," Rapoport said. "We went into this without high expectations."

Rapoport has spoken to McKeon throughout the process.

"She has that kind of go-getting mentality," she said.

The program director said she was pleased with athletic director Phil Sheridan's openness to the idea at Peabody High.

"We really didn't expect the ADs to take to the idea as quickly as they did," she said. "They really saw the value."

Sheridan said he's always willing to try.

Girls flag football is also a way for the NFL to grow its audience and develop the female fan base.

Rapoport surveyed women about why they didn't watch football. Often, the reply was they didn't understand the game.

"One way to combat it is to get women involved," she said.

Before that, they're starting at the grass-roots level and hope to build flag football into physical education classes, high school leagues and eventually college.

Rapoport said the NFL would continue to work one-on-one with pioneers like Mckeon to promote the program for future years and see it develop.

As for McKeon's goals, she wants to introduce the sport to more of her peers. About 40 girls signed up to play this fall, the three-sport athlete said.

"I know a lot of girls my age who weren't exposed to flag football," she said. "This year, I'll be graduating. There are so many girls coming up from the Higgins (Middle School) that have all been playing for a long time. It's more popular because the younger girls are exposed now."

Girl power

One of the offshoots of the high school intramural teams is that they can field a Powder Puff team for the first time. They will play Revere on Saturday at 1 p.m.

McKeon, ordinarily a receiver, will anchor the Tanners as quarterback.

Her softball coach Brooke Randall is the head coach. For the game Saturday, they recruited 18 seniors, including two other experienced players, MacKenzie Carpenter and Emily Milewska.

Most of the girls play a sport already, but a handful aren't typical team athletes.

"Some girls just came out because it's a cool thing to do," Randall said. "It's 11-on-11. So it's real football."

Principal Edward Sapienza, a longtime football coach, has been standing in as offensive line coach. He said the kids who have been coming are very serious.

"It's like 'A League of their Own,' and I feel like Tom Hanks," he quipped.

In the hours before sunset Monday, as the temperature hovered in the high 30s, the girls ran plays on the soccer-field-turned-practice-space.

It's their third week of practice. Huddles took 15 minutes as Randall went over plays.

McKeon said her teammates were catching on quickly while also having fun. She said Saturday's game could go either way, but she's hoping the Tanner's fledgling team will hold its own and inspire more girls to give flag football a try.

"I think we have a lot of talent on our team," she said.

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