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Girl football player makes history
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Neighbors | Submitted.Sabrina McCollums poses for a photo with Poland Middle School eighth-grade football coach Joe Colella. McCollums was the first girl to play all eight games for the PMS boys team.
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Sabrina McCollums (making the tackle) played outside linebacker for the PMS eighth-grade football team this past fall.
Poland Middle School eighth-grader Sabrina McCollums has always been a football fan. As a cheerleader for the Little Bulldogs, she was at every game. But she wasn’t just content with standing on the sidelines watching - she wanted to play.
“I was a cheerleader for five years, but I didn’t like it anymore,” said McCollums. “I thought it would be more fun to play with the boys.”
So McCollums traded in her pom-poms for a helmet and shoulder pads, playing for the Little Bulldogs’ 135-pound team in 2009. After a successful season there, she took on a new challenge - middle school football.
“I was going up against tougher guys and there was no weight limit,” she explained. “It was a lot different this year.”
While the competition level increased, so did McCollums’ passion for playing. In the past, there had been several girls who attempted to play on the middle school team. They made it through conditioning, but never finished the entire season. McCollums did.
“Everyone was hesitant at first about me playing, because they didn’t know if I could handle the hitting,” she said. “But I made it through conditioning and showed that I could play. My mom was scared at first, but was supportive because she knew it was something I wanted to do. The coaches were understanding and really helped me a lot.”
Not only did McCollums handle the hitting, she delivered her share of blows to opponents’ running backs this past fall. She played in every game and helped the eighth-grade team go undefeated this season and win the AAC championship.
“They put me in one game and the other team’s running back was running past everyone. So one time, I knocked him to the ground and my mom started screaming in the stands,” said McCollum, who played outside linebacker on defense and guard on offense. “When he got up, other boys were telling him ‘You just got schooled by a girl.’”
McCollum has already been asked if she’ll continue playing football when she enters high school next fall. Her mother, Tammy, is a little nervous about the proposition, but would support Sabrina if she wanted to play one more season.
“I think next year would be fine,” said Tammy. “But I’ve seen some of the ninth-graders and they are kinda big. Sabrina’s only 5-2, 130 pounds, so she needs to gain more weight.
“I can see her maybe stopping after next year because the high school kids are so much bigger and stronger. But she’s determined to play at least next year.”