Sarah Fuller: The female football player redefines what it means to “play like a girl”

The starting goalie for Vanderbilt’s girls soccer team, Sarah Fuller, was at practice when the school’s head football coach — at the time — Derek Mason, approached her wondering if she would be interested in being a kicker. 

Since then, Fuller has been training with the team to fill in for the usual starting kicker, who’s quarantined. She has become an inspiration amongst all people, specifically female athletes, as she broke gender boundaries when she became the first female to ever play in a Power Five football game. 

Fuller has made an impact on female athletes at East, inspiring them and redefining what “playing like a girl” means.

Sophomore and varsity soccer player Cate Holzbeierlein has felt discriminated against as a female athlete many times throughout her life. For years, she constantly sat through P.E. watching all of the boys being picked first for teams as she waited, knowing she was fully capable of playing too. No matter how high-level of a team she was on, boys would constantly say they could easily beat her because she was a girl. 

“Sarah Fuller is an inspiration to me because she is the proof that if you work hard enough and meet the qualifications for the position, gender should never be what inhibits you,” Holzbeierlein said. 

Fuller gives Holzbeierlein hope that after boys see Fuller play, they’ll begin to normalize that girls are just as capable to play and will no longer be picked last.

“I hope that when girls watch Fuller, they will be inspired to work harder to do what they love without being afraid,” sophomore and varsity volleyball player Ava McDonald said.

Sophomore and junior varsity basketball player Reese Birch is inspired by Fuller because of how influential she has been. To Birch, not only is she an incredible soccer player, but she also stepped up to the opportunity of being a trailblazer. Considering the backlash Fuller received and how she handled it, Birch believes she’s a good representation of women in sports.

Fuller took to Instagram to post a picture of herself holding her official football helmet with the phrase “play like a girl” printed on the back of it. Many Instagram users of all ages are inspired by her, congratulating her on her post. 

“To me playing like a girl means to put in the work, persevere, overcome challenges and play hard, smart and fair,” sophomore and varsity tennis player Greta Stechschulte said. 

When the news spread that Fuller would become the first female to play in a Power Five football game, many fans were opposed to the idea and thought that Mason chose her purely to make a political statement. 

There were also a multitude of social media comments hating on Fuller. Some saying, “This is why Vandy is last in the SEC” and “I hope somebody rocks her stuff.” 

“I’m not about making statements,” Mason stated in an interview with The Tennessean. “This was out of necessity. She’s been a trooper. She came right in, she was all about the challenge. I have the utmost respect for her.”

Fuller is choosing to block out the negativity and focus on the impact that she’s having on girls around the country. At her first game on Saturday, Nov. 28, University of Missouri football coach Eliah Drinkwitz approached Fuller commending her.  

“He came up to me and he said, ‘I’m a dad of four daughters and they’re watching today and this is just incredible what you’re doing,’” Fuller said in an interview with ESPN. “That’s been the most amazing thing, I’ve had coaches come up to me, dads, and say ‘you’re inspiring me and you’re inspiring my daughters.’”