Standing at 5-foot-2 and 170 pounds, with four sacks in a 30-24 victory, Mina Johnson is Southampton Academy’s biggest defensive threat. But wait, isn’t Mina a girl’s name?
An eighth grader at Southampton Academy in Courtland, Va., Johnson is the first girl to play junior varsity football at her school. Her skills have proven to her coaches and teammates that she has earned her reps on the field.
“During conditioning, I often refer to Mina as an example to the team of how to hustle and work hard on the field,” head coach Brian Parker told The Tidewater News. “She really does deserve to play.”
Apparently, some teams in the area do not agree with a girl playing football. Northeast Academy in Lasker, N.C., threatened to forfeit its last game unless Johnson did not play, according to the Tidewater News. She sat out, and Northeast Academy lost 60-0. And it probably would not have been much better had Johnson played.
Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, N.C., has also told Southamption Academy’s athletic director Dale Mirks that either Johnson sits or the game is forfeited.
Maybe more upset than Mina is her mother, Mona Johnson, about opposing teams taking issue with her daughter’s abilities.
“There is nothing in the rule books for junior varsity football in North Carolina or Virginia that says a girl can’t play,” she said. “No one is breaking any rules by allowing her to play.”
That rule does exist according to the North Carolina Indepedent Schools Athletic Association, but Southampton is located in Virginia, and does not abide by the same rules, making Mina a completely eligble player.
