Girls Play Football, Too! Kalli Koletzky’s favorite sport is football. She started showing interest in the game around age five, tagging along with her dad, Dusty, when he coached her brother Kobe’s flag football team. Little Kalli watched practices and begged to substitute in to play whenever Dad needed it. Her interest in the game gave Dusty an idea and he started asking other parents about an all-girls flag football team. With an overwhelming interest in it, Dusty and wife Sherri developed an allgirls team last fall and had a fantastic year. “I saw how excited she got when we were at practice,” he recalls. “I think girls don’t really consider that they can play. They look at it like, ‘that looks like fun, but I can’t play it (because) I’m a girl.’ When I gave her the chance to come in and help out and saw how excited she got and she did really well.” The team started off with fourteen first and second grade girls. Eight-year old Kalli was finally going to play the game that she’s been watching from the sidelines. Gathering up girls from Yankton and surrounding areas such as Gayville, SD and Crofton, NE, the team involved any girls that wanted to play. Jake Westrum and Cole Larson helped coach as they also had daughters on the team. Breaking The News During their first practice at Sertoma park, Dusty noticed another team practicing on the field and saw an opportunity to see what the girls could do. He talked to a coach from the other team who agreed to have a scrimmage. He laughs as he explains how he broke the news to the girls during a water break. He told them that they would scrimmage the other team after a short practice. Their reaction was priceless. “But, THEY’RE BOYS!” Dusty reacted, “Yeah girls! We have to play the boys. You’re in a boys’ league!” He had given clues during their practices, telling the girls to pretend they were pushing their brother around or pretend they’re up against a smelly boy. “Ew!” Kalli, listening to our conversation, pipes in with her thoughts, perfectly timed after the “smelly boy” comment. I can’t help but laugh! Dusty didn’t specifically tell them that they were in a boys’ league so they must not have realized it. The girls didn’t have time to analyze it, they had to get on the field and play. And play they did. The girls played extremely well during the scrimmage and came away soaring with confidence. Game Time I ask Kalli about her first game, if she was nervous. “Yes,” she replies. I ask if she had fun. “Yes,” she replies again with a big smile. vFOOTBALL continued on page 16 Keep The Holidays Merry – Hassle-Free Holiday Decorating • FREE Estimates • Exterior, Professional Holiday Lighting • Installation, Take Down, Storage • Commercial & Residential NaturescapiNg DesigNs ( L A n D S C A p i n g | p r O p e r T Y C A r e | H O L i DAY D e C O r AT i n g ) CALL US TODAY 605.661.1205 • NatureScapiNgDeSigNS.com • LAUrAwnSD@gmAiL.COm HERVOICEvSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017v15