At first glance, Charlotte Kirby comes across as a typical
12-year-old girl. At 5-foot-1 and a shade over 100 pounds, she is relatively
slight in build, but possesses a limitless reserve of energy that has helped
her develop a love for sports and the impetus to participate.
The petite pre-teen, a sixth grader at Page Middle
School in Gloucester, has become quite an athlete. She plays small forward for
the Page girls’ basketball team, and used to be a backstroker for the summer
swim team when her family lived in Bridgeport, West Virginia. She’s also trying
to find a local lacrosse team to join as a middle fielder.
But it was back in Bridgeport where Kirby found her
true calling. After playing flag football for three years, she decided that
pulling flags from a belt wrapped around someone’s waist was fun, but not
exhilarating enough for her athletic want.
Football could be more interesting, she figured, if
perhaps she could put on pads and strap on a helmet.
Kirby joined the local youth boys’ football team in
Bridgeport. The Bridgeport coaches would let Charlotte play, but just enough to
stave off the questions about why she spent so much time on the bench.
“They’d give her five or six plays a game,” said
mother Belynda. “But it didn’t seem to matter what she did on the field. Once,
on third and four, she was playing defensive end, and tackled a kid in the
backfield. On the next play, fourth and nine, she tackled the runner before he
could make the first down. And then the
coaches took her out, and she didn’t play again that day.”
Upon arrival at their new Virginia home, Belynda and
husband Scott started scouring the Middle Peninsula landscape for football
opportunities. They found the first with the 12-U Gloucester Outlaws. It was a
blessing in disguise, it seemed, until Charlotte and Mom arrived at the first
practice, only to be reacquainted with the first comment that coaches usually
make when seeing Charlotte on a football field for the first time.
“Is she a kicker?”
Charlotte will aim to prove the Gloucester coaches
wrong next season, but in the meantime, she has found a unique way to prepare.
It all started with a phone call, from Belynda to
Katisha Simpkins, owner of the Hampton Roads Lady Gators, a semi-pro team based
out of Newport News, and 2018 champion of the United States Women’s Football
League (USWFL).
Simpkins had played for the Richmond Black Widows of
the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) before launching her own team three years
ago. With the WFA, she saw the development of women’s football firsthand as she
saw athletes such as Katie Sowers, who now coaches with the San Francisco 49ers,
and recently became the first female coach to be involved with a Super Bowl
team. Jennifer King, recently hired by as a coaching intern by the Washington
Redskins, was an opponent of Simpkins, who played for the D.C. Divas.
Simpkins had already invited one high school player
(Elizabeth Halfhill of King and Queen Central High) to compete with the Gators
last year, but even she was surprised when Belynda and Charlotte showed up for
their first practice.
“I was blown away,” said Simpkins. “I had no idea
about her age, but she’s a gem. We love having her out here.”
The feeling is mutual.
“There’s no development team for women, especially at
this age,” said Belynda. “We were hoping that she could get some conditioning,
but we had no idea she’d be part of the team.”
There are some caveats. A player must be 15 years of
age to compete in games with the USWFL, but Charlotte gets to participate in
scrimmages and 7-on-7 competitions. And she fully intends to join the team upon
reaching the required age. Preparing ahead, Gator head coach Michael Smith has
been working with Charlotte as a running back and wide receiver.
Smith is at no loss for words when talking about his
youngest player.
“Most young adults would be intimidated, but not
Charlotte. She embraces opportunity and adversity and falls right in. She does
not want special treatment because of age or size. She has the “it” factor with
her, and each week she gets better and better. I guarantee you she will be one
of the top women’s players around.”
Charlotte’s drive transcends to her off-the-field
activities. She is an A-Honor Roll student at page, and is taking eighth grade
classes in spite of her sixth-grade status.
But it’s her heart for giving back to the community
that adds a special dimension to this twelve-year-old.
In Bridgeport, Charlotte started the Charlotte Toy
Drive, at the age of four. Each December, she supplied toys to 150 West
Virginia families who lacked the financial needs to purchase them. During one
holiday season, she collected 15,000 toys.
She is also an aspiring pastor who plans on attending
divinity school. “She already preaches,” said Belynda. With her church, Susanna
Wesley United Methodist Church, she has received the Jefferson Award, which is
given to select individuals for their impact of positive change in their local
community. Eventually, Charlotte would like to take her story, and testimony,
to the Ellen DeGeneres show, where she relishes the opportunity to inspire kids
all over the country.
But she does plan on continuing with football at the
high school and college levels. Her next hurdle will be noteworthy as she plans
on trying out for the Gloucester High JV team.
“The coaches said it was OK,” said Belynda. “They did
tell us that they haven’t had a girl make it through conditioning,” added Scott
Kirby, with Belynda interjecting, “conditioning is not a problem.”
It is obvious that Charlotte does not like to lose.
Watching her run sprints with her Gator teammates at a Sunday morning practice
at Dozier Middle School, the youngster finishes in the top-five out of 15-20
players. Afterward, she is grinning from ear to ear as she runs into her father as if he were
playing linebacker.
“I love it,” said Charlotte, speaking of her time with
the Gators. And while running wind sprints is fine, she hates sitting on the
sideline waiting for her chance to play in a real game. In fact, running is not
her favorite part of football.
“I like it when we get to hitting,” adds Charlotte,
just before bashing into Scott’s side one more time. She has experience. Before
moving to the skill positions, Charlotte was a formidable nose tackle, albeit
one who tipped the scale with a double-digit number.
She’s definitely not a kicker.
The Hampton Roads Sports Media Hall of Fame will have to postpone, or even cancel, its third induction ceremony, which was scheduled for May 9th at Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA.
