Breaking the Football Barrier
Breaking the Football Barrier
In a historically male-dominated sport, two Fayetteville-Manlius players are paving the way for women in the sport.
Players joke and laugh inside the Fayetteville-Manlius football locker room. All except two, who listen from outside the doors. Their hair flows out the back of the Hornets’ white and green helmets.
Mara McBride and Julia Leary, both juniors and varsity football players at F-M, wait for a coach’s key to open a separate changing room, a routine they’ve done together after every practice and game for the last three years.
While they remove their cleats and change in a separate space, McBride and Leary play on the same Hornets’ varsity football field as the other male players. McBride, who plays on the offensive and defensive line, and Leary, who switches between free safety and running back, provide a glimpse into the evolving future of high school football.
According to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations, football participation numbers have dropped over the last 10 years despite more schools offering teams nationwide. Jamesville-Dewitt, a district less than seven miles away that traditionally plays in Section III’s Class A division against F-M, did not field a football team in 2021 because of low turnout numbers.
“There’s definitely a trend of more girls trying to join and being more competitive,” Leary said. “They don’t have to just sit and play a sport that they don’t like because all other girls are playing it.”
Leary learned that McBride played for the co-ed program and went out for the team her freshman year. McBride, whose love for the sport developed while watching the Syracuse Orange and NFL football on weekends with her dad, started playing in seventh grade.