Sarah Fuller’s groundbreaking kicking will inspire others to follow in her footsteps

Late last month, Sarah Fuller took her historic first steps onto a college American football field. Her Vanderbilt University helmet emblazoned with the words “play like a girl”, she became the first woman to play in the Power 5, the highest level of US college football. 

Then, last weekend, she became the first woman to score in the league. It marked the end of her college football career, as Fuller will be transferring another university to continue pursuing soccer next season, but it also made a massive statement.

Less than 20 women have acted as kickers in all levels of college football divisions in the sport’s history, and Fuller’s own participation was itself a last minute development. In classic 2020 style, members of the men’s football team were isolating due to coronavirus and it left them down a kicker for their game. They approached Fuller because she is the women’s soccer team goalkeeper who helped her team become conference champions in November, Vanderbilt’s first title in 16 years.

An hour after receiving the call from Vanderbilt’s football coach, Fuller was on the field for a quick kicking session to prove she was up to the job before making her debut. In the weeks since, her profile has skyrocketed; Instagram following rising from 1,000 to nearly 175,000, and taking interviews at international newspapers.

Besides producing two points on the scoreboard, her contribution will be earmarked as a moment of validation for women in the sport. One, that they can exist in male spaces and succeed, and two in helping further denounce the myth that women cannot kick.

In rugby, it is the age-old preconception that women cannot produce the same quality kicking as the men’s game does. Statistics have shown that women at the top level can be less consistent, but few point to the years of prior specialised coaching that have boosted the men’s percentages. It is a similar story in women’s football goalkeeping, where their power and accuracy are often questioned. To know that 21-year-old Ellie Roebuck is the first England No 1 to have grown up with consistent goalkeeping coaches throughout her career is a measure of the disparity with the men’s side.

Last year, US women’s national team football player and two-time World Cup winner Carli Lloyd drew similar attention as Fuller, when she struck a perfectly weighted 55-yard field goal at a Philadelphia Eagles training session, prompting offers from team across the rest of the NFL for try-outs. Other players in the women’s top division in the US have histories as kickers for their high school American football teams, and with the skills so clearly transferrable it should not be such an oddity.

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