GOBLES, Mich. — “A lot of girls say ‘oh I’m going to go play football,’ and they never do. So I figured I might as well be the first one to do it,” said Totiyana Graves.
For the first time in school history, Gobles has a girl on their varsity football team.
“During the off season, she put in more work than some of our freshman. So I was like ‘yeah you should definitely come out,’ it would be fun. So she came out, and now she’s a part of the family,” said junior quarterback Anthony Mark.
“My brother's played his whole life. And I do wrestling, but not many girls do that. So I figured I should do football because they always talk about ‘girls shouldn’t do football’ or ‘you’re doing football?’ Like it’s surprising, and it really shouldn’t be,” said Graves.
Seeing a girl on a roster is becoming more common. Some, like former Vanderbilt player Sarah Fuller, who became the first woman to play in a power five game, are kickers. Totiyana plays guard.
“I just love the intensity and I love defying, because to me, when I do, I’m not 'oh this is super hard because I’m a girl.' It’s just normal. Like it doesn’t feel different,” said Graves.
After rehabbing a nasty ankle injury in the start of the year, Totiyana took the field for the first time last week against Fennville.
“It didn’t really dawn on me until right before we were going to put her in and I looked around at the assistant coaches and said ‘I think this is going to be the first time that a female has played in a Gobles Varsity football game’. So that was pretty special, pretty special for the team,” said head coach Greg Eichler.
Not only did she record playing time, she earned her first assist.
“I didn’t know I did it till after because he was like ‘that’s an assist’ and I was like 'oh!' because there was so much adrenaline. And I didn’t even know till after and I was just like 'oh that’s cool,'” said Graves.
The Tigers are 3-1 this season, their best start in the last four years. Totiyana says she’ll be playing again next season and hopes to inspire other girls to play football if they’re interested.
“It’s no different than any other sport. It’s the same intensity, it’s the same, and it’s going to be hard. And it’s going to be the same because you’re a girl,” said Graves.
“Totiyana, she’s just a symbol of what Gobles football is. She’s a great teammate, she’s very resilient, she’s tough. She’s persevered through a lot to get where she’s at so we’re just excited to have her here with us,” said Coach Eichler.
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