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HARLINGEN – The player, petite and swift and sure, moves in a perfect arc and kicks the football high overhead.
The crowd cheers and Nia Araguz rushes with her fellow Coakley Middle School football players toward the opposing side. She charges unflinchingly and crashes with full force against an opponent in a blunt tackle from which she walks away moments later.
Nia, 12, is taking on the challenge in a sport program that is overwhelmingly male, and her skills on the field have impressed everyone.
“It’s fun to go out there and play,” said Nia, sitting solidly in her chair next to her father.
“I like the adrenaline rush and the guys and the looks on their faces when they are seeing they are playing against a girl when I kick the ball,” she said.
Amusement turns to surprise and then a begrudging respect as the players realize she is a powerful opponent.
Her father, Leo Araguz, beamed with pride as he sat next to his young protégé/daughter.
“I’m very proud of my baby girl playing football,” he said numerous times while speaking about her success on the field and her courage to be there.
He and Nia both appreciate the support of the district and the players and the coaches.
“I am really impressed with how well they have made sure she has proper technique when it comes to tackling,” he said. “But also I noticed that her coaches are always very helpful with all their players and have never seen Nia as different just because she’s a girl … she’s always been seen as a football player. But as a proud father trust me if feels awesome when my baby girl made the tackle.”
That first tackle seems to have “put her on the map” as a serious player. Since that first tackle, she has done many more. People have come to admire the ferocity and unwavering drive of the player charging into a much larger opponent and accomplishing a magnificent tackle.
Nia, a seventh grader, is a young lady bold for challenges in any form. She plays soccer and volleyball, she’s an A-B student, and she plays trumpet in the school band. She’s in The Junior Cotillion of Harlingen. A few girls in the school district are playing football, but her skills have caught everyone’s attention, said Marcy Martinez, executive director of public relations, student relations and student activities.
The absence of more female representation was one of the reasons she wanted to play.
But there was more.
“I played flag football in fifth grade,” Nia recalled. “I really liked it so I started asking my dad about playing tackle football.”
Her dad was actually the perfect person to speak with about this goal, beyond the fact that he was her dad.
Leo Araguz is a former NFL player himself. He was a punter and kicker and played for the Oakland Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and the Detroit Lions.
It seems the talent as a kicker runs in the family, or at the very least from father to daughter.
“I gave her a little dad/daughter conversation and said, ‘You are going to actually get hit,’” he told her.
This didn’t seem to phase her, as of course it shouldn’t have. The evidence in that lies in her first performance on the field when she fired straight into the other player and then walked away as though nothing had happened.
Already her friends say they want to play too. She has a fan group of girls who attend her games and shout cheers of excitement and congratulations.
