ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996 TAG: 9610110024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
A veteran official of a football chain crew recently watched members of a team return from halftime at a leisurely stroll, helmets in hand.
``Never seen a winning team not run out on the field,'' a crewman growled.
True, one mark of a winner is his brisk pace to and from his daily labors.
What does one make, then, of a football player whose joy in going to practice was made apparent by their skipping en route to the field?
A recent visitor to Shawsville High was startled to see this charming spectacle and moved in closer to investigate. Startled wasn't the word for the reaction when it was discovered the happy-footed footballer was a young lady, eighth-grader Rebecca O'Quinn by name.
Girls who play football, especially at the lower levels of the sport (O'Quinn plays for the Shawnees junior varsity) isn't major news anymore. Lots of them have broken through barriers that only a few years ago their older sisters did not dare to challenge. Nevertheless, we must continue to admire the pluck of girls such as the bespectacled young Miss O'Quinn.
Jeff Maynard, one of her coaches, does.
``She's hard-nosed,'' he said. ``She's taken a a few hits, gotten up, shaken them off, and gone on.''
Her motivation to go out for the team was simple enough.
``Everybody in my family has played football and I wanted to, too,'' she said.
Many parents might have gone through a fainting spell had their daughter come home with a plan to don pads and knock heads with the guys. The reaction of Rebecca's parents Randy and Carolyn O'Quinn was mild enough.
``They said it was OK with them,'' said Rebecca, 14. ``They were kind of glad because I was going to be the first girl ever to play for Shawsville.''
O'Quinn has some athletic ability, judging from the way she goes about running team drills. She keeps up with the guys and whacks them smartly with her shoulder pads when the situation calls for it.
She has been deployed at wide receiver and defensive back, positions that require speed and skill.
``We have a young team here and she's learning just like everybody else,'' Maynard said. ``It isn't as though she sticks out like a sore thumb.''
O'Quinn had heard that the team was going to be short of players and decided she wanted to be a one-girl rescue unit.
``I wanted the action,'' she said.
Action, she's had plenty of.
``We never figured she'd last,'' quarterback Josh Hatfield said. ``She's surprised us.''
Added fullback Jessie Nester, along with Hatfield a co-captain: ``We've hit her as hard as we've hit anybody and she's kept coming back.''
Which is not to say that she hasn't represented something of an inconvenience for them.
''We used to be able to go to the team meetings in the locker room with our underwear on,'' Nester said. ``Now we have to get dressed.''
Team meetings, practice, drills, O'Quinn has enjoyed it all.
``It's been awesome,'' she said.
Really, so has she.
``I'm proud of myself,'' she said. ``I think my parents and coaches are proud of me, too.''
A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE: So said the Hollywood warden to the chain gang and I to the good citizens of Floyd County.
Word was recently received that musings in this space on Floyd County's rampagingly successful girls basketball program caused great unhappiness there. It seems an old-fashioned necktie party has been convened and I am to be the guest of (dis)honor.
This is not the first such invitation delivered to this mailbox over the years so I'll stay with established practice and respectfully send regrets.
To our neighbors in Floyd, I'll also say this: So sorry. No offense intended.
The new concession stand is terrific, which is obviously the reason the path to its delights is one big traffic jam.
The loud and crowded gym is justifiably the pride of the county. You can't blame opposing teams for feeling more comfortable elsewhere, though.
The girls of the Floyd County basketball team are first-class young people. You just might not enjoy the scary prospect of challenging their tough full-court press.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB