By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Girls’ wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports in America. Girls in Kansas have turned in dominating performances on the track, on the softball field, and on the volleyball and basketball courts. But despite a nationwide push for flag football, few options remain for girls to play the sport at the high school level. That is not stopping Otis-Bison freshman Brooke Elsen from playing for her school's junior varsity team.
“I started seventh grade doing tackle, and I decided to do it in high school,” she said. “They’ve just learned to have a girl on their team for the two years, and we’ve just kind of went along with that.”
Smaller communities around the state are battling to keep their football programs. Otis-Bison is tied for the fourth-smallest school in Kansas in the latest KSHSAA football classifications. The Cougar varsity team won a game by forfeiture last year and had a bye in another week. Chase, which is slightly larger than Otis-Bison, had four forfeited decisions last season. Elsen could later prove to be a vital member of the varsity team in the future.
“I just hope to at least start or be up there,” she said. “If they need someone to go in, I could be that person.”
Otis-Bison plays in the 6-man ranks. Elsen is one of three backs, so she acts as either a tight end or a ball carrier. She has no receptions this season, but does have an interception from her cornerback position on defense.
“This guy came out and I was just guarding him,” she said. “One of our lineman thought (the quarterback) was going to throw to him. It hit his hands and flew up. I ran for it and caught it.”
Elsen was tackled shortly after the interception but no fuss was made about tackling a girl. At 5-6, 135-pounds, she looks like so many other high school freshmen, minus the golden locks flowing from beneath her helmet.
“At our jamboree, there were kids behind my parents,” Elsen recalls. “They said I needed to cut my hair because they thought I was a boy.”
Elsen also plans to play basketball and run track for the Cougars. Football in the fall can only benefit her those other endeavors.
“Weights is helping, but football is making me get more physical,” she said. “Basketball is a pretty physical sport, too, so this just helps me.”
Elsen is hardly the first girl to play tackle football. Former soccer standout Kayci Huslig kicked for the Great Bend High School junior varsity team. Katie Hnida kicked for the University of New Mexico and Colorado, and in 2003, became the first female to score in an NCAA, Div. I football game.
Brooke is the daughter of Shane and Ashley Elsen.