One 30-second Super Bowl commercial will air on Sunday only in Utah and will be unlike any other shown nationally – high school girls in football helmets, jerseys and full shin guards – holding a ball and running, passing, blocking and … capture.
It’s not the flag football that the NFL recently celebrated with its Pro Bowl, and it’s a booming girls’ sport in California.
“Utah is the only place where girls who love soccer can play soccer,” says Sam Gordon in a commercial, years after she became a viral soccer star at age 9, and now continues to advocate for access to it on sophomore year of football. Colombian player. “Be part of history.”
Paid for by Sam’s father, Brent, the ad is intended for what is believed to be the only girls’ football league in the country. Brent, a lawyer, insists that sport is powerful enough to change young women’s lives and uses Title IX legislation in an ongoing fight to get it across to them.
Brent Gordon (who declined to say how much he paid for the ads) continued to live out his daughter’s public dream of having girls’ football offered at every high school in the state, but while this remains confusing in the judicial system, he said the Super Bowl was the perfect opportunity to keep going.
“Advertising is a great way to show people who might be skeptical about whether girls can play soccer if they really want to play soccer,” he told Sportzshala. “Essentially, this is a 30-second story about why girls football is important to people who are in the community and who may even make decisions about whether girls football will be offered in high school here in Utah. “.
In June 2017, on the 45th anniversary of Title IX, Brent Gordon filed a lawsuit against 19 high schools in three Salt Lake County school districts—Jordan, Granite, and Canyon School Districts—arguing that the way to correct disparities in sports participation numbers between high school students and girls to suggest football for girls. They lost the case but appealed the decision, which ultimately stated that the courts could not force high schools to provide soccer balls for girls, and the decision is now back in the circuit court for reconsideration.
“When my dad called me and said he got the Super Bowl ad space, I was ecstatic,” Sam Gordon said Thursday as she hurried between classes at Columbia University. “I thought it was a great idea. He has always been my biggest supporter, the biggest supporter in this league. So it’s incredible to see him still struggling even when I’m out of the league and it’s more than just the two of us. and the Gordon family tries to let their daughter play. No, it’s the whole community and the whole floor, and my dad is still fighting even though I’m not there.”
Last season, the Utah football club had 650 members and about 34 teams, up from 50 registered in 2015. He also partners with Under Armor as a sponsor and plays his championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium, home. Utah, and hosts the Boys’ High School Football Championship.
“We’re trying to recreate a comparable experience for girls as much as possible,” Brent Gordon said, “but nothing beats being able to play for your school and have fight rallies and all that stuff.”
Sam Gordon played on the boys’ football team until seventh grade, when it became clear that safety and injury risk were becoming increasingly important factors. Instead of arguing about letting the girls play on the boys’ team, they turned their attention to giving the girls their own team. Sam Gordon played in the Utah Girls Tackle Football League until she graduated from high school.
“Just give us a chance to play,” she said. “If you look at Title IX from a legal standpoint, the number of girls participating is significantly less than the number of boys, and this is completely offset by football, and I think it’s impossible to ask girls to try to compete with boys who are twice their size.” size,” she said. “There is no way I can participate in high school football for boys. I think that is an unfair expectation and you are just making this decision based on pre-existing stereotypes. If you give us a chance to play, we will go out and play and we don’t ask for much – just access to the fields and giving the girls proof that they are playing for their school team.”
According to Brent Gordon, this is a possibility that goes beyond the game – intangible things that you might not glean from a 30-second clip on Sunday.
“I keep getting text messages and emails from parents telling me, ‘My daughter was bullied because of her weight and now she comes to football and the coach says, ‘You will be the star of my team. ‘” he said. “They saw this transformation of their daughter from depression and suicidal thoughts to self-confidence and self-respect.”
“This is what I believe in as a way that I can help these girls, support them and let other girls who are in similar situations who have no idea this is an opportunity, let them know that this is what maybe they want to do. he said, “let them know that if they want to do something, then this is for them.”
Source: www.espn.com
