“Trading in poms for pigskin”
October 7, 2018
Tessa Kucharski traded in her poms and skirt for a pigskin ball and a jersey. Kucharski is a junior who decided to try out for Neuqua Valley football team. She has had a love for football since seventh grade. However, Kucharski wanted to do more than just watch from the stands. So, she participated in cheerleading. She quickly realized that she did not want to be on the sideline. Although she wanted to try out for the football team,, she was limited by her parents with their fears of her being bullied or hurt. She instead continued her career in cheerleading. However, after some encouraging words from Mr. Ricca, a health teacher and football coach, Kucharski got the courage to try out. She explained that she “went to off-season training and the Wildcat football summer camp.”
Kucharski made the junior varsity team as a free safety. “Caral, who is a safety, will play and then I will get in sometimes for a couple of series,” explains Kucharski.
Although she is on the junior varsity team, Kucharski has had some experience on the varsity team. She explained, “I played in the series for Jacobson. It didn’t even matter how I did; it was just so cool to be out there.” She informed us that when varsity is winning, they will try to let some junior varsity players in for a few plays so they can get experience playing for varsity. Kucharski hopes with hard work and dedication, she will achieve more playing time on the varsity team. Summarizing her experiences, Kucharski said , “It’s high school. If you have a dream, why let it sit there? You should just follow it.”