by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
Football is considered to be a sport played by males for many people, but that didn’t stop Sartell Pine Meadow Elementary School fourth-grader Evie Lolmasteymaugh, 9, from wanting to play the game.
Evie developed an interest in the sport because her older brother, Warner, 11, has been playing for several years and her father also played in high school.
“The coaches teach us plays and we learn how to run and hit,” Evie said. “It’s fun when we get it right and get touchdowns. I like it that I can hit people and not get in trouble. It’s part of football.”
Her coaches, Aaron Johnson and Tim Carlock, agree Evie is a good addition to the team. Both coached her last year, and Johnson is coaching her again this year.
“Coaching is coaching, but when you have a player like Evie come to every practice, staying focused and work(ing) her tail off to improve her skills and help her team, it makes coaching even better,” Johnson said.
“Evie is a fantastic person and makes a big impact on the team even with her quiet and somewhat reserved personality,” Carlock said. “The boys obviously know she is a girl and the only girl playing (in the) Sartell Area Youth Football Association. Even with that, she holds her own, never quits and encourages everyone to be better.”
Evie’s mother, Rachel, said when her daughter first asked if she could play football, Rachel initially told her “No, it’s a boy’s sport.”
After seeing the look on her daughter’s face, she realized Evie was serious about wanting to play football.
Because of scheduling and other conflicts, Evie needed to choose between continuing in dance and gymnastics, which she had been participating in since she was 3 years old, or playing football. She chose to play football.
Rachel said they had several discussions with Evie about the possibility of her getting bullied if she did play football.
Evie’s father, Ken, and Rachel contacted the Sartell Area Youth Football Association to see if she was able to play football and they said she was.
At first, Rachel worried Evie might get hit too hard or not get the full experience of the game with the other players on her team, but that did not happen, she added.
She said it has been a wonderful experience for Evie and the coaches and other players have treated her the same as the other players.
When her parents asked her if she planned to play football again this year, there was no doubt in her mind she wanted to do so.
Last year Evie played five games with “The Blizzard” team and will play six this year with the “Black Thunder” team. Players arrive to games dressed in full uniform. This year’s game dates include Saturdays, Sept. 23 and 30 and Oct. 7 and 14.
There are 19 third- and fourth-graders playing on her “Black Thunder” team.
Evie especially enjoys when all of the third- and fourth-graders get to play under the lights during half-time of a Sartell High School varsity game.
Ken, who also coached son Warner, was one of Evie’s coaches last year but is not her coach this year. He is coaching her brother again this year. Her other coaches were Johnson and Carlock.
This year her coaches are Johnson, Kai Lewis and Reis Baynes.
“Evie comes to every practice with a smile and is always eager to get right into the drills and make herself the best football player she can be,” Johnson said. “Being a fourth-grader this year, and one of the taller players on the team, you will see her all over the field on both sides of the ball. Last year she really enjoyed being the center and did an outstanding job of getting our offense started. I can see that happening again for her this year as well.”
“She never says no when asked to do something and steps up to take leadership roles without being asked,” Carlock said. “I am very fortunate to have coached Evie last year and was very disappointed when she was not on my team this year. Evie is a special leader, not just because she is a girl. She is special because she genuinely cares about the people around her.”
Carlock’s motto for Evie is “Girls rule and boys drool.”
Evie said she hopes to eventually go to college and study fashion in Paris, France. She loves animals and enjoys roller-coaster rides and haunted houses.
She has a younger sister, Anna, 7, who so far has no interest in playing football.
The family has lived in Sartell more than 12 years. Ken is a manager at Performance Foods in Rice, and Rachel sells print and promotional materials for Facetime Business Resources in St. Cloud.
This is the second year that Sartell Pine Meadow Elementary School fourth-grader Evie Lolmasteymaugh (right) has played football with the Sartell Area Youth Football Association. She and her brother, Warner, both play football.
Evie Lolmasteymaugh (right, center) is shown with her parents, Rachel and Ken, and sister, Anna (front) and brother, Warner (back).
Evie Lolmasteymaugh is playing football with the Sartell Area Youth Football Association for a second year.
Evie Lolmasteymaugh, 9, (center) and her brother, Warner, 11, (left) both play football, but her sister, Anna, 7, does not. This is the second year that Lolmasteymaugh is playing football with the Sartell Area Youth Football Association.
