Georgia teen keeps busy with soccer, football, seminary

When Lori Barnes walked into the weight room where football players were busy working out, they thought she was there with a message for the coach.

They were wrong.

She was there because she was going to be a placekicker for the Richmond Hill (Ga.) High School Wildcats.

"I started lifting weights and they were like, 'Wait a second, she's actually playing,'" said Barnes, a senior who kicks PATs for the Wildcats.

Just add football to the list of Barnes' activities. An avid soccer player — she's an accomplished striker for Richmond Hill — Barnes has two practices daily, is senior vice president, works on the yearbook staff and is a member of the future business leaders club. She's also second counselor for the Laurels in her Georgetown Ward, Savannah Georgia Stake. She goes to early-morning Mormon seminary.

__IMAGE2__Oh, and she was part of her school's homecoming court this fall. At halftime of the homecoming game Oct. 30, she walked with her escort onto the field wearing her football uniform and carrying a bouquet.

Barnes' soccer career goes back a long time. "When I was a little baby, (my parents) just put me into soccer and I just continued with soccer on through the years," she said. "I just love the sport."

Her path to football was much different. At the end of her sophomore year, "One of my fellow students — he's a teammate now — was joking around saying I should play football. It kind of occurred to me I'm a striker on my soccer team and I've always loved football. I've always watched it with my dad and I've always wanted to understand it.

"He was like, 'Yeah, you should play on the football team,' and I was like, 'Yeah, OK.' He said, 'No, really,' and I was like, 'OK, that'll be the day.' And he was like, 'Yeah, you're probably right,' and then I was like, 'Maybe I should try it.' Then I went out and I tried it. And I've loved it, and you only live once, really."

The season that ended on Nov. 6 was her second year kicking PATs, and it has been a fulfilling experience for her, despite her team's 3-7 season.

"I've always wanted to be a sports broadcaster for football, so I'm learning a lot right now," Barnes said. "(Playing) is actually helping me. I'm learning more than I'd ever know just watching it."

She says she hasn't had many problems fitting in with the rest of the team.

"Members of the team took to me immediately," she said. "They were always supportive of me, they always helped me. ... They're really a good team."

And how about the locker room?

__IMAGE1__"I get my own locker room," she said. "Nothing too uncomfortable. And if somebody does start to say something, the coaches are like, 'Hey, watch it,' or my teammates are like, 'Hey watch it, there's a girl present. Watch what you say.' So they try to remember there's a girl on the team and they all try to be respectful that I am there. Probably the most awkward thing I've seen is a couple of fat bellies walking around."

She says she has suffered no injuries in football — unlike soccer, when she tore her left anterior cruciate ligament during a game and was out for seven months.

She did get hit once on a missed PAT this season.

It was a bad snap that hit the placeholder's foot. The ball "actually bounced far to the left and I picked it up not really thinking and — then I got hit. But he knew I was a girl so he kind of hit me softly. He kind of picked me up and then set me down when he hit me. But it still shocked me that I did that."

On another missed attempt, "I freaked out because the line got too close because two of my blockers (on the end) forgot to come out on the field, so I got scared — just not very football-like — so I'll have to work on that. I saw them running at me faster than I usually do so I was like 'Oh, my goodness, I've got to get this ball.' I kicked it lower than I should have, so it hit the post and bounced the wrong way. I just freaked.

"My blockers told me for the next week, 'Lori, we're so sorry. If you would have gotten hit — we're so sorry.' ... They worry about me, they care about me. It's like 90 extra big brothers. They stick up for me for anything."

Michael Pollard, the Wildcats' special teams coach, said, "Lori's a great person and very much a team player. She's considered part of the team. ... She doesn't like to miss, doesn't like to lose."

Pollard said when Barnes was elected to the homecoming court, she asked him whether she should go out on the field at halftime in her football uniform or in a dress. He said he told her it was up to her — it was her senior year and there was another kicker who could fill in.

He said she decided to go with the football gear, telling him she had made her commitment to football first.

"That told me a lot about the kind of person she is and the way she was raised," he said. Barnes said opposing teams are frequently surprised that a girl is playing against them.

"Every single time when we're shaking hands some of them will grab my hand and they won't let go and they're like, 'Oh my goodness, you're a girl.' And I say, 'Yes, I am.'"

Barnes does get some chances to talk with teammates about her Mormon religion.

__IMAGE3__"Some of them have said a couple of things about Joseph Smith, and I (say), 'No, you don't know,' and then I try to share with them the truth about it. ... I always try to set them right."

After she graduates, she would like to attend BYU. "I spent my summer out there working and I love the campus," she said. "I got a feel for the culture and I liked it. ... Down here, not everybody has my standards and values, so it was really nice to be in an atmosphere with that."

She is also applying to BYU-Idaho, Utah Valley University and Kennesaw State University, about 20 miles north of Atlanta.

At this point, she likes playing soccer better, because "it's my sport — I know what to do and the gear isn't so heavy with all the pads and helmet. But not many people get to see the football game from behind a mask, so it's neat to experience that.

"But it's also great to be able to play an entire game of soccer and know exactly what I'm doing. "

E-mail: rwalsh@desnews.com