THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410150041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 136 lines
IF FIELD HOCKEY were played with Nerf balls, Nicole Frey probably wouldn't see much point in spending her afternoons hurling her body in front of them.
And if girls were on every high school football team, Frey would probably just stay at home these fall Friday nights and leave the kicking to someone else.
But a field hockey ball is more dense than a baseball, and it zooms toward goalkeepers at more than 30 mph. And before this season, no girl had played varsity football in the 18-year history of the Beach District.
These are the types of ventures Frey can't resist.
``I'm always looking for a challenge,'' said Frey, Kempsville High's senior goalie/placekicker. ``I've never been afraid to try something different.''
This is a child, who, in fifth grade, took up the viola because, ``When you look at an orchestra, a lot of people have a violin. But how many violas do you see?''
A girl who, upon witnessing the media crush surrounding Sasha Young's emergence as a female placekicker for Great Bridge two years ago, tore up her Christmas wish list and asked her parents for a football instead.
And while most kids dream of getting a new car when they graduate, Frey is hoping her parents will allow her one bungee jump.
``This child is just fearless,'' said Nancy Frey, Nicole's mother. ``Once she gets something set in her mind, she's going to do it, and no one's going to stop her.''
Two-sport athletes are nothing new in high school. But someone who kicks out field hockey shots on Thursday, then kicks field goals on Fridays? South Hampton Roads has never seen anything like it.
Nor has anyone seen anything like the performance Frey turned in two weeks ago against Cox, the five-time Group AAA field hockey state champion and arguably the most dominant high school team in the state. In any sport.
So talented are the Falcons that most teams compete against them the way the United States soccer team took on Brazil in the World Cup - by sucking in the defense and hoping for a break.
Kempsville sucked it in. Frey blocked, kicked, gloved, stuffed and snuffed an incredible 70-shot volley Cox unloaded. It took 60 minutes of regulation and nine minutes of overtime before the Falcons scored against her.
``She was like some kind of woman possessed,'' Cox coach Nancy Fowlkes said. ``It seemed like the more we shot, the better she got.'' Despite losing the game, Frey said she was proud of being able to shut down the Falcons. But she couldn't afford to take much time to celebrate.
Not with a football game the following night.
Kempsville would seem to be one of the last places a rookie kicker - male or female - could crack the varsity. As the home of one of the state's finest soccer teams, the halls are full of boys who would find the less-than-20-yard kick after a touchdown about as challenging as the dialogue in the average TV sitcom.
Soccer star Kurt Niepraschk, who kicked brilliantly for the team last year, was the exception. But when Niepraschk graduated, he left coach John Bowles searching for someone who could make a Kempsville touchdown worth seven points instead of six.
``Forget field goals,'' Bowles said. ``I just want to make an extra point.''
He shouldn't have asked for so much. On opening night, Kempsville kicker No. 1 missed all three of his extra-point attempts in a upset loss to Great Bridge, generating a search for Kempsville kicker No. 2.
After a promising start, kicker No. 2 shanked his opportunity.
The search continued.
By this time, Frey, who has played soccer since age 6 and learned field-goal kicking with her Christmas football, was ready to give it a shot. But she received a cool reception from Bowles when she approached him for a tryout.
``When I asked him about it, he said `We already have a kicker' and walked off,'' Frey said.
Frey wasn't going anywhere, though. Neither was Jennifer Baker, a sophomore and another would-be answer to the Chiefs' kicking woes. So Bowles agreed to let them both have a shot.
Baker did fine in a brief stint. But Frey, as usual, was something else.
``She kicked a 35-yard field goal right down the center with about 20 yards to spare,'' said assistant coach John Clouser. ``I about jumped out of my skin.''
The search was over.
Frey was so excited about making the team that, before her first game, she giddily followed the rest of the players through the school's gym until someone told her a few more steps would land her in the boys locker room.
Not even Frey was ready for that kind of challenge.
Still, her debut was hardly a success. She missed both of her extra-point attempts. But the Chiefs won anyway, and Frey had already shown enough in her twice-a-week practices for Bowles to believe, once her nerves settled down, her kicks would start finding the mark.
``She's still my kicker,'' Bowles said.
That night, Frey went home and popped a tape of the game into her VCR and uncovered her kicking flaw - leaning back slightly on the attempt, forcing her to reach for the ball. It was a mistake she would not repeat.
The following week, Frey justified the coaches' faith. She nailed all five extra-points attempts in a victory over Cox.
Frey frenzy hasn't reached the extremes of Sasha-mania, an all-out media blitz that culminated in Young appearing on the Montel Williams show.
But Frey has been noticed, although she could have faced 170 field hockey shots, and it wouldn't have brought her the acclaim that's accompanied a few successful kicks on an all-boys football team.
Charlie Frey, Nicole's father and a Naval supply officer, has seen his co-workers take bets on how many kicks Nicole will make each week. Last week, Kempsville's principal sent Frey a note saying how proud he was of her.
``A month ago, the principal probably didn't even know who Nicole Frey was,'' Denise Frey said.
And Wednesday, while talking to a college field hockey coach, Frey casually mentioned she moonlights as a field-goal kicker.
The coach's eyes widened.
``That's the kind of girl I want playing goal for me!'' the coach declared.
And that's probably where you'll find Frey after she leaves Kempsville. In the nets. For while the football has been fun, field hockey is the sport she plans to play in college. When the Chiefs hang up their pads this season, Frey will say goodbye to competitive football.
But between the last football game and her next bungee jump, there are still a few challenges left for Frey.
Take wrestling. A handful of girls took up the sport last year, but none made a significant impact on a varsity team. The Chiefs could use a good 135-pounder, and with a little work, Frey could no doubt. . .
``Oh, no!,'' she said. ``I don't want any part of that.''
Some challenges, it seems, even Frey won't grapple with. ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/ [Color] Staff photos
RIGHT: Nicole Frey practices kicking with assistant football coach
John Clouser at Kempsville High.
ABOVE: Frey has a few words with teammate Kate Sullivan, 15, after a
field hockey game.
RIGHT: Frey puts on her mask during field hockey practice.
MOTOYA NAKAMURA Staff
Placekicker Nicole Frey, No. 11 for Kempsville, cheers for her team
during a game against Cox.
by CNB