Every afternoon around four, the Paly football team streams out onto the hot grass field, cleats crunching, adrenaline pumping, and face and body sweating under heavy helmets and pads.

Although most of these players look identical in their matching bright green uniforms and oversized padded helmets, one stands out. It is freshman, Lara Saslow. 

Despite being the only girl on the team, she stands apart for other reasons, namely her dedication and willingness to learn the sport.  

”[Saslow] comes to everything and isn’t like ‘oh poor me, whatever,’ anddoes everything [at practice],” Coach Fung said. “She’s probably the most consistent player out of all the freshmen I have in terms of showing up.”

Each practice, when the team divides up into their respective disciplines, Saslow joins the special teams group. Here, she practices her kicks, repeatedly kicking the oblong-shaped leather ball, trying to get better and better with each run-through.

Saslow is one of the few female football players in Paly’s program history. Her presence on the team comes less than two years after Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller became the first female player to play Power 5 (the top five college football conferences) Division I college football. 

Fuller broke barriers on November 28, 2020, when she kicked off for Vanderbilt against Missouri. Two weeks later, she scored two extra points against Tennessee to become the first woman to score in a Power 5 game. 

“I think [Fuller] is really inspiring,” Saslow said. “I think it’s great to share these stories that can give other girls the confidence to play male dominated sports.”

Unlike Fuller, Saslow is not limited to just being a kicker. Currently, she plays as a wide receiver while on offense and a cornerback on defense. But she has not stopped here. She also spends her time learning a fourth position.

“I started out with just place kicking and now my coach is helping me learn how to be a punter,” she said.

Unlike some others, Saslow didn’t grow up playing football through elementary or middle school. Nor did she play a power kicking sport like soccer. Instead, throughout elementary school, she played competitive ice hockey, which helped prepare her for the toughness that comes with playing football. 

“I stopped [playing ice hockey] and didn’t play any team sport for all of middle school, which I regret, but I’m happy now to have found football,” Saslow said.

Coach Jason Fung is happy that Lara decided to join the team this year.

“She’s probably the third girl that’s [played] since I’ve coached, so it’s exciting to see,” Coach Fung said.

Beyond the simple fact of her gender though, Fung really appreciates her passion for the game, and the work ethic she brings to the field. He enjoys that she rises up to the challenge and the size differences and does not back down from it.

“She likes football and she’s great,” Coach Fung said. “It’s still great to see as she overcomes that size differential. She’s not the biggest one out there. She’s not the smallest one out there. But at the same time, when you get impacted by a hit, it’s still a very violent sport.” 

Saslow has been loved by her teammates as she helps bring the team spirit up and helps motivate the rest of the team for their games. Senior captain Vainga Mahe thought it was cool to see her stay committed to the sport.

“We’ve had girls say that we’re going to come out to play football but never show up,” Mahe said. “So it’s cool to see Lara come out to practice and see her play football.”

Given the limited history of girls playing football, the idea of Saslow joining the team raised many eyebrows. 

“When I first started talking about the idea, many people thought I wasn’t capable,” Saslow said. “This pushed me even more. I wanted to prove them wrong and I wanted to challenge myself and football seemed like something that would be hard and demanding.” 

At heart, Saslow is a team player. She’s committed to doing anything possible to help the team win. 

“I would love to be the main kicker/punter. I’m still working towards that and aim to help our team win in any way possible,” Saslow said. ”I can’t wait to see how the team comes together.”

Saslow is still very excited for the rest of the season; she can’t wait to experience the many teams she is going to see even after their first game did not go the way they wanted it to.

“Our first game at St. Ignatius was not great,” she said. “We gave it our all but they were just better. We lost by a good amount but now we’ve moved on and learned from our mistakes.”

The games Saslow is most looking forward to were the biggest games in the season, the ones against Gunn and Homestead.

“I can’t wait for the game at Gunn because it’s a big rival school,” she said. “I’m also excited for our Homecoming game which should have a big crowd.”

For Saslow, it’s all about the experience. She loves the exploration football provided her, and her teammates and coaches appreciate her impenetrable drive to improve. Despite being only oneof a few women to play on the team, the most impressive part of it for Saslow is learning about the sport and feeling like part of a family.

“I’m really excited to keep learning about the game and play different schools.” Saslow said. “I can’t wait to see how the team comes together [and finishes off the season] overall.”

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