[08/07/02]Brandi Head doesn’t want to be looked at as some sort of side show, she doesn’t want any extra attention and doesn’t want to be treated differently than anyone else.

All she wants to do is play football.

The Missy Gators’ soccer standout is trying to become the first female football player in the school’s history to suit up for a game. She started practice with the team on Monday.

“It was a big joke about me kicking for the football team since I’ve been going to school here,” said the soft-spoken Head, blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. “Coach (Kevin) Manton asked me one time if I wanted to come to spring training and I said sure.”

Head remembers her first day during spring drills. Coaches lined up a football and told her to kick it.

“Everyone kept asking me how long I had been kicking,” Head said. “I was like, two days.’ ”

Asked if she had ever kicked a football before then, Head shook her head no. “I liked spring training and decided to come back,” she said.

Ask coaches if she will succeed and the sentiment is unanimous.

“She really strikes the ball well,” said Manton, the team’s special teams coach who also coaches Head in soccer. “It has nothing to do with strength, It’s leg speed. She can kick a soccer ball wherever she wants to.

“Football was a learning process at first, but she’s adapted very fast.”

One other girl, LaQuando Smith, tried out for the Gators in 1997, but left the team shortly after workouts started in August.

Dr. N. Z. Bryant, deputy director of the Mississippi High School Activities Association said Head would be the only female player in the state he is aware of that will be playing varsity.

Head, who is consistent from about 30 yards in, is backing up returning kicker Sean McGowan, who backed up Victor Parker a season ago.

“She’s gonna kick a lot,” McGowan said. “She can probably kick a 40-yarder and I expect her to do really good this year.”

McGowan doesn’t think having a kicker of the opposite sex will be a distraction.

“It’s fun because it gives me a challenge,” McGowan said. “It makes me work harder. I’ve been out here almost every other day this summer.”

More than field goals and extra points, coaches are working on solving obvious logistical problems. At home games, Head will dress at the brand new girls athletic fieldhouse on the other side of the stands from the boys.

On road games, arrangements are already being made with opposing coaches.

“We are trying ahead of time to make those plans,” Vicksburg coach Alonzo Stevens said. “We’re working with other coaches already.”

Injuries? Head scoffs when a mention of getting hurt enters the conversation.

“I’ll soak it in ice,” she said. “I have worse bruises from soccer than they do from football. It’s ridiculous.

“I have these huge brown and blue bruises on my legs and people say, we don’t get that bruised in football.’ ”

Heckling from opposing players and fans? Don’t bet on it.

“I trust my team to take care of me,” said Head, who will suit up as No. 11 instead of her soccer No. 10.

The biggest attribute the smallest player on the squad will bring is success. She is the only player that sports a state championship ring she won two with the Missy Gators’ soccer team and has already been asked to show it off to the rest of the team.

“Other than me and coach Manton, she has more rings than anybody,” Stevens said. “She’s a winner and a hard worker. She’s not a novelty, she’s a player.

“All you have to do is watch her at practice and during meetings to know she’s a player. She’s frustrated when we’re not doing good and elated when we are. She’s a team player.”

Head doesn’t worry about nerves if she is called upon for a crucial kick.

“I’ve been in pressure situations before and I don’t think it will bother me,” she said. “The first one will be the worst, but I think it will be all right after that.”

Katie Hnida became the first female athlete to try out for the University of New Mexico, also as a kicker, last week.

Stephanie Weimer of McKeesport, Pa., is also trying for a roster spot at Penn State, the first female to try at that school as well.

“My dad cut that article out for me,” Head said. “It said she kicked a 35-yarder. I kicked a 30, so I guess I’m doing pretty good.”

The National Women’s Football League formed in 2000 and sports nine teams, including one in Biloxi.

“I read articles about the women’s teams so and I don’t feel so bad that I am out here,” Head said.

Does she foresee a future in the NWFL?

“I think it’s just going to be this year,” Head said.