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Fair Playing like a girl in Valley Stream
Alone among boys on the football field
Nicole Aresta decided she wanted to join the Valley Stream North junior-varsity football team two years ago when she saw the squad play, even though she had never tried the sport.
“It looked very fun and interesting,” she said, “so I wanted to try out.”
In August, Nicole, 15, a sophomore at North, tried out for the team. This fall, she took the field for a few plays in every game as wide receiver or cornerback.
“Even though she was new to the game, the coaches were great and made sure she played,” her mother, Doris Aresta, said.
But Doris had to be persuaded to allow her 95-pound daughter to play football, especially after she saw stories about players who suffered concussions. “For me, it was scary,” Doris said.
So, when Nicole was a freshman, her mother discouraged her from playing. “Last year she said I was crushing her dreams,” Doris recalled. “She really wanted to play last year.”
Instead, Nicole became the team manager, keeping the players hydrated and even helping them heal from injuries, because the team did not have a trainer at the time. “I was the only one that would help with injuries, and get the ice packs and bandage them up,” she said.
At the same time, she continued to twist her mother’s arm, until Doris relented and decided to allow Nicole to try out for the team last January.
According to Scott Steuber, the Central High School District’s athletic director, members of the opposite sex who would like to compete on a team must pass an agility test and meet with him for a recommendation before they can play, according to district regulations. The agility test comprised a one-mile run, curl-ups and push-ups. According to Doris, Nicole was not made aware that she would have to take the test until the day it was to be held, in mid-August, and didn’t have a chance to change out of her jean shorts. Still, Doris said, she finished ahead of some of the boys in the mile run.
Steuber said that he was not aware of any students taking part in jean shorts. “Normally when we do the testing,” he said, “most kids are told what to wear.” North High School’s athletic director, Michael Frazer, could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Once she was deemed fit to play, Nicole practiced every day before the season started. She credited those practices with keeping her injury-free this season. “I didn’t get injured at all because I was taught well how to tackle,” she said.
“She’s not big,” her mother said, “but she’s fast.”
Her coach, Michael Paolillo, said that she gave practices as well as games her best effort. “She hung in there, and she wasn’t afraid to butt heads with the boys,” he said. “She took it 100 percent seriously.”
Nicole isn’t the first female football player in the Central High School District. In 1991, Valley Stream Central High had two female kickers, Jackie Gainer and Susan Price. Four years later, Jami DeProspo was a kicker for a Nassau County championship contender at Valley Stream South High School. According to Steuber, more girls have become interested in playing football since then. And Nicole she said she hopes her experience encourages other girls to try out.
She hopes to continue her football career as a varsity player next September.
When she isn’t playing, she’ll be cheering the Spartans on. “She has the most team spirit of anyone,” Doris said.
