Naples News
By Jerome Alexander Reed
May 16, 2013
After her first game as a football player, Emily Culvahouse left a hero. She just didn’t realize it.
The 35-yard field goal she made in the final seconds lifted Estero to a 10-8 win over Bishop Verot in a freshman game. However, Culvahouse did not notice the score right away.
The 15-year-old place-kicker laughs about it now. Almost a year after that game-winning kick, she admits she thought field goals were only worth one point.
“I have to be honest, I didn’t know what was going on,” Culvahouse said. “They called field goal, I went out there and I kicked. Then, after the game, they were all chanting my name. They carried me to the sidelines. I was like ‘What is going on?’ (They said) look at the score. It turns out field goals are worth three points. I didn’t know that.”
“It was exciting. I definitely felt like a part of the team then.”
Culverhouse is vying to be the starting kicker on the junior varsity team. She might even have a chance to play varsity.
Today, Culvahouse and Estero travel to Fort Myers to play Riverdale in their spring game. She said the recent publicity has been overwhelming, but she’s more concerned about everyone else’s perception.
“I’m doing this for the team,” Culvahouse said. “I’m not doing this for myself. … The Estero High School name is getting out there, through me.”
The players and coaches agree with her being on the gridiron. The rising sophomore said her teammates have been supportive of her, while some students have ridiculed her for being a girl playing a boys sport. The harsh words only add fuel to her fire.
“When they say something negatively, I turn it into something positive,” Culvahouse said. “I use it as something to get better, something for me to strive for, something to make me drive. I take it all out on the field.”
Along with the ridicule comes the idea that she may not be a “typical girl.” Culvahouse likes to dress up, wear makeup and do things 15-year-old girls usually do.
“I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal to them,” she said. “When people see me, they’ll just be like ‘Oh well, I didn’t know you were that type of girl,’ and I’m like ‘What do you mean?’ OK, I play football. I can’t wear a dress?”
Hearing those words on a daily basis gives Culvahouse the drive to keep improving her game. Her kicking coach, Brandon Kornblue, recognized that drive early on. He said this is not the first time he heard of a girl wanting to play football.
The former University of Michigan kicker spent hours with Culvahouse, working on drills and practices that improved her leg swing and body control.
In her freshman season, Culvahouse went a combined 21 for 23 on field goals and extra points. The two she missed were blocked. The drills Kornblue has her doing are what make her record so great. She caught on very quickly.
“Emily showed that she was very coachable,” Kornblue said. “She wanted to get better. She wanted to learn.”
Kornblue, who also kicked for arenafootball2’s Florida Firecats for six seasons, said the kicking position requires a lot of mental and physical toughness, but dedication will take a person far.
“They (women) are at a disadvantage,” he said. “It’s something that requires a lot of strength. But, if they’re committed to it, I’m all for it and I support them. If you have that skill, it doesn’t matter how big you are, how much you bench. If you can put the ball through the uprights, you have a shot to be great.”
Culvahouse may not be the strongest Wildcat (at 5-foot-3, 128 pounds), but she knows how to take a hit. In a game at North Fort Myers High School, Culvahouse experienced a head-ringing tackle.
“She got laid out, but she jumped right up like a spring,” Emily’s mother, Penny Culvahouse, said. “She was on pure adrenaline.”
Culvahouse agreed she was more than hyped after taking that blow, but she said she enjoyed the feeling.
“The first time I got hit? It was crazy,” she said. “I had an adrenaline rush when I got up. I saw them coming at me and I kind of just braced myself. After I got hit, I got up, jumped around a little bit and shook it off. It felt good.”
Culvahouse’s parents — both Estero High grads — never thought about preventing her from playing football, even after seeing her get hit.
Penny Culvahouse said her husband, Chad, raised Emily to be a strong-willed woman who could achieve any goal. Emily has always been a person who always strives for the best, Penny added.
“We don’t make excuses for anything,” Penny Culvahouse said. “We go hard, 100 percent, or not at all. (Emily) has passion and heart.”
But because of that hit, varsity head coach Mark Jackson said Culvahouse will not be doing any kickoffs this season. He cannot stand the idea of seeing a girl get hit. The thought hits close to home.
“You can’t avoid everything, but you can try,” Jackson said. “I’m not going to put her in a spot to be vulnerable. Some people would try to be silly and take a shot at her or something like that. No, we’ll let her go out there, kick field goals and extra points, and let her be successful doing that. We’ll find someone else to kick and be able to cover down the field.”
“And, I’ve got daughters,” Jackson added with a smile.
Culvahouse is thinking the opposite. She said she wants to be the most versatile kicker possible. If that involves kickoffs, she is ready for the challenge.
“I want to be that one girl that stands out in the state of Florida,” she said. “I know there are other girls (playing football). Everyone else, they just do field goals and extra points. I want to be able to do it all. I want to be that one powerhouse girl that makes everyone say, ‘Ah. That’s Emily Culvahouse.’”