Rarely does a person get the courage to go against the unspoken rules of society. What do you do when a sport that interests you is solely for boys? Or the sport you love is labeled as a girls sport?

      “My teammates don’t treat me different,” said Kaitlyn Hansen, Southwest Middle School seventh grader. “But a few boys outside of football do.”

      Hansen has participated in junior high football for two years. She recounted the only judgments she gets are from those not on the team with her.

      “We work as a family,” Hansen said. “We’re a team, and no one person can win.”

      She learned about the opportunity of playing football from a few friends. There are two other girls in football.

      “When she plays she’s not judged as a girl,” said Annette Hansen, Kaitlyn’s mother. “The other girls and parents look up to her.”

      Once Kaitlyn showed interest in learning football, Kaitlyn’s father Chris signed her up.

      “I noticed right away that she had more physical fitness,” Annette said. “I saw some good and bad. She sees the team as a family, but she has also come home with a bit of profanity.”

      A girl can join a boys sport, but a boy can’t join a sport solely for girls. But there are certain sports that are played by both genders but are stereotyped for one. Take tennis, for example.

      “It makes me sick when I hear it,” said senior Schafer Overgaard, regarding the tennis stereotype. “We go through all this, and other people don’t understand it.”

      Along with tennis Overgaard is a soccer captain and kicks for the football team. Overgaard started playing tennis in seventh grade when he enjoyed it in gym class. He wanted to join, and has been playing ever since.

      “I got two people to join this year, and they had thought it was a girls sport,” he said proudly. “At the end they seemed to love it.”

      Overgaard said you can’t judge someone by their gender in a sport. It’s hard, and it takes skill.

      “It is all about honesty. There are no refs in tennis, so you have to be on the honor rule,” Overgaard remarked.

      It takes determination to do something your own friends might frown upon. But we are in an age where the old rules separating gender, race and identity are being torn down. If you are interested in doing a “taboo” sport, you might find it’s the best choice you’ll ever make.