‘Girl Power’: Athens High School holds annual Women in Football camp

ATHENS, Ala. ( WHNT ) — Some women have loved football for as long as they can remember, while others have renewed their interest since Taylor Swift showed up in a suite at Arrowhead.

The Athens Golden Eagles don’t care when or how that passion began. They just want more women involved with the sport.

That’s why the team held its annual Women in Football camp Monday night.

And the women who showed up for the camp were ready to show the boys that they could do it all.

“I think a woman can do anything a man can do,” Athens freshman Mary Bennett said.

“We can play football. If I can do it, anybody can do it,” said participant Kim Moore.

“Girls rule the world, we got this,” said participant Amanda Jones.

The Athens High School (AHS) football program hosts this camp once a year, bringing women of all ages to their turf to teach them the game.

The women were eased into the game by learning how it works in a weight room turned classroom.

“I really want it to be a fun night, not too informative. You know we’re not going to kill you,” said Athens Football Head Coach Cody Gross.

Once the X’s and O’s were erased from the drawing board, the women went out to the field, where they split into offense and defense.

Several moms were out on the gridiron getting a taste of what their sons do every week.

“My mom’s my best friend, so having your mom see what you do throughout the day and she does it, she definitely gets a taste, and she’s like, I understand, I understand if you’re ever complaining or something, but it’s very special,” said Athens senior quarterback Brogan Gross.

However, it wasn’t just moms lacing up. The entire Golden Eagles cheer squad showed up.

“Well, every Friday, we cheer along the sidelines for our football team, and a lot of girls don’t know the sport of football, so I thought it would be awesome to get out here and get out in the community and get to know the sport so we can at least call the correct cheers,” said Athens Cheerleading Head Coach Taisha Farmer.

“It is a lot tougher. I don’t know how they do it. They said it’s way harder than what we’re doing, and this was already pretty hard,” said Athens freshman cheerleader Mary Bennett.

After doing drills on both sides of the ball, Coach Gross and starting QB Brogan Gross say they were impressed, to say the least, with the women’s performance.

“You got to be careful what you tell them because they’re going to do it that way,” said Coach Gross. “My wife teaches me something all the time. I’ll say that we’ve got a lot to learn from them.”

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