No. 17 stands on the sideline of the football game. The player yells encouraging words to teammates, cheers the good plays, watches and listens intently to the coach of the Drew Middle School Rams.

Pads disguise a thin frame. There's such a discrepancy in players' sizes at this age--some still boys, some near-men.

But when the helmet comes off, the true difference about No. 17 is revealed.

The running back and outside linebacker is a girl.

"I've been around football all my life," Olivia Owens said. "I wanted to see if I could do it."

Olivia, 12, had the full support of her parents.

Mom Nikki plays in two flag-football leagues, and Dad Chris coached teams when the family lived in Colorado.

"I have to admit, I was a little nervous when she first told me she wanted to play," Chris Owens said. "I thought it would kill me to see someone tackle her. But now that I've gotten to see her in action, I'm OK.

"She takes it well. If she was agonizing, I wouldn't be able to watch. But if she's happy, I'm happy."

And Olivia, a seventh-grader at the Stafford County school, definitely seems happy.

"At first, it was way harder than I thought it would be. But as I got used to playing and putting on the pads, it got easier," she said as Drew coach Shawn O'Brien shouted, "You better not say it's easy, girl!"

"It's still hard," Olivia said with a shy smile.

Olivia said her teammates took note of her gender when tryouts started, but that it wasn't an issue for long.

"They treat me like an equal," she said.

So does O'Brien.

"I told her from Day 1 that she would have to meet the same expectations, be held to the same standards as the boys," he said. "And she did it."

O'Brien said Olivia is developing as a player. She is one of 21 seventh-graders on the 38-player squad.

"She's decent for a seventh-grader," he said. "When they come in as seventh-graders, there's a big learning curve. But she comes in, works hard and doesn't complain."

O'Brien said having a girl on his team presented a challenge only when Olivia sustained a groin injury early in the season.
"When she first went down, we basically gave her an ice pack and suggested her mom take her to the doctor," he said. "It's not that we didn't care, there was just a limit to what we could do as male coaches. Her mom understood and was really supportive."

Injuries don't intimidate Olivia, at least not yet.

"It hurts," she said of being tackled. "But it's like getting a shot. It only stings for a minute."

Well, sometimes that's the case. A hard hit in practice last Thursday sent her to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a concussion. She negotiated a deal with the doctors that she hopes will allow her to play again before the Rams' season-ending game Nov. 10.

She said she might play again next year, but will give up the gridiron when she moves to high school.

"High school boys are really big," she said, "and I don't want to get hurt."

The honors student will have more time for other pursuits, such as playing the viola, singing and dancing. She's also considering supporting the high school football team in another role--as a cheerleader.

"She's doing good stuff," Chris Owens said. "We're proud of her. Very proud."

Her coach is, too, as he is of all his players.

"I've told her from the beginning, she's one of the boys," O'Brien said. "That's how she's treated, that's how she's coached. She's a tough girl.

"A lot of the sixth-grade girls look up to her. They see someone of their own gender doing something that's not normally there for them, and that's pretty cool."