Not only a girl, but also hearing impaired, 12-year-old competes with boys on football team
BRUCEVILLE-EDDY, Texas (KCEN) — A Texas pee-wee football team has a player who's remarkable in three ways.
First, the player is female. Second, she's one of the team's best players.
And while some people would consider her third trait a handicap, this football player wouldn't hear of it.
12-year-old Rebecca Lee Karl plays on the Troy Trojans of Texas.
"She's one of my best linemen, plus she plays corner on defense. She's one of my best players," said coach George Kaminski.
On September 11th, 2001, Rebecca's mother Tammy was told by doctors that in addition to being deaf, her 8 month old daughter had pulmonary valve stenosis, a heart murmur, and a hole in her heart.
None of which stopped her love for playing sports.
Cody Kaminski is the quarterback for the Troy Trojans pee wee team.
He says she uses her deafness to her advantage on defense by never taking her eyes off her receiver.
And she's earned the respect of the boys with her toughness.
"Everybody sits there and says, oh she's a girl she's not going to be able to hit. But they run the ball her way, and she's hitting just as hard as some of the guys on the other team," said coach Zachary Hines.
Saturday, the Trojans played a win-or-go-home game against the Bruceville-Eddy Eagles.
The Trojans lost a hard fought game by a touchdown. Rebecca had 3 tackles on the day.
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