COPLEY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Kami Ayoup works double duty in the fall season. The varsity soccer goalie also doubles as the starting kicker for the football team. 

What You Need To Know

• Copley High School's football team has a female kicker


• The kicker has made all but one of her extra points


• She is one of three girls on the team

“I wanted to play football since I was younger, but I was never able to get into it," Ayoup said. "My dad didn’t really let me, but he would have let me if I tried."

She’s now a starter and has only missed one extra point this year. It only took her about a day to make the transition. In a complex sport like football, special teams is the easiest to learn, she said.

“There are just specific words which mean specific things so you just have to remember," Ayoup said. 

She said the only difference between kicking in soccer and football is the shape of the ball. 

“With a soccer ball, if you’re trying to get it in the air you hit in underneath," she said. "Then it goes straight up. You hit it as hard as you can hit it underneath and it it goes up. But with this you can’t hit it too far underneath because if you hit it too far underneath it spins and just doesn’t go anywhere."

Head Coach Jake Parsons said she‘s one of three girls on the football team, though the other two are out with injuries. Both of the other girls were on the junior varsity team last season and saw action on the field throughout the season.

Parsons said he saw potential in his new kicker. 

“We sat down we had a discussion," he said. "I came to her and knew what kind of athlete she is, what kind of person she is. I knew she was someone we had to have around."

Ayoup said she isn’t scared of trotting out on the field, and no other girl should be either. 

“I tell ‘em go for it, honestly," Ayoup said.