Junior Olivia Fuchs is no stranger to trying new things, as she has played multiple sports, plays multiple instruments, and has come to love her hobby of wakeboarding. This year will be no different as she has decided to join the football team. 

In the past, Fuchs has also played sports such as basketball, soccer, track, and cross country. She ran for the cross country and track teams at La Salle in both her freshman and sophomore years. 

Last year, a friend recommended that she should join the football team and this year she took him up on his offer. 

“I kind of really surprised myself with it because I’ve never really been into football,” Fuchs said. 

So far, learning how to play football has been difficult for Fuchs, especially as she is being thrown into the sport, whereas  running is usually a gradual development of skills, but so far she is really enjoying it. 

“It’s a lot to learn, especially because there’s so many different aspects of it,” Fuchs said. “I definitely think it’s worth it.” 

Fuchs has most enjoyed learning how to tackle. 

“Learning how to tackle people who are like three times bigger than you, it’s definitely a new thing to come across, but it’s for sure fun and it’s so rewarding when you take someone down and they don’t think that you could,” Fuchs said. 

Fuchs is playing a defensive back or DB, which has also become her favorite position in the sport. “So basically we block people,” Fuchs said. 

Since her main job is to block other players, Fuchs spends the majority of her practice doing just this. 

Practices can last several hours in which players usually spend time either going over plays or practicing their specific skill sets. For most practices, the players are divided into their specific groups unless they are scrimmaging. 

Starting a brand new sport is always something that takes time to adjust to, but for Fuchs, it is also learning how to adjust to playing a sport that is predominately male. 

“It’s an interesting situation; I definitely enjoy it,” Fuchs said. “I think it’s a fun dynamic, but it would be nice if it was more normalized to have girls.” 

While Fuchs feels respected by all the members of the football team at La Salle, the same can not be said for other school’s teams. 

“I’ve noticed in high five lines at the end of games, some people don’t high five me and I would assume it’s because I’m a girl,” Fuchs said. 

Fuchs has found huge inspiration from her teammates and coaches to keep going, specifically coach George El Youssef for his positive attitude and kindness. 

“He talked to me before I really started playing football and gave me a heads up of what it was going to look like, but he told me that I could do it and he had no doubt that every time I was knocked down on the field, I would get back up,” she said. 

Fuchs has also had to adjust to the huge amount of physical contact that comes with playing football. She has experienced limited physical contact in her other sports, but now it has become the whole point of the sport she is playing. 

Bruises are now a normal occurrence. 

So far Fuchs has most enjoyed the new friends and discipline she has gained from playing football. 

“It really requires a lot of paying attention and staying focused,” Fuchs said. “It kind of teaches you a lot of new skills and makes you realize that there’s just a lot of work that goes into football.” 

Over the summer, Fuchs was also able to participate in team bonding activities. The whole team went on a camping trip in Washington, on one of the coaches’ properties. This is also where Fuchs “really started to enjoy that [she] was on the football team.” 

Another team bonding activity Fuchs did with the team was going to get chicken after some practices along with team dinners on Thursdays. 

For the remainder of the season, Fuchs wants to work on her goals of being the best teammate and player she can be, by working to support her teammates. 

She also hopes that the team as a whole can learn to be less discouraged by their losses. 

“I know it can be really hard for us sometimes, but I want us to just remember that we’re still a great team, even if we lose,” Fuchs said. “And that it may take time, but we’re still going to progress even if it’s gradual.” 

You may have heard the term “pound the rock” going around, or noticed the big boulder out by the field, but for Fuchs, this is more than just a phrase or rock. 

“If you hit a rock, like you’re hitting that rock, one person every day, they’re probably not going to do anything to that rock, it’s just going to stay the same, but if we all hitting it as a team, it’s going to crack a lot faster,” Fuchs said.

Another meaning given to the phrase is “if you pound the rock, it’s not going to happen on the first try, but if you just keep working at it and keep hitting that rock, eventually it’ll crack and you just have to put in the time and effort and the work into that and it’ll happen,” she said.