The kicker lines up for the kick and zeroes in on the ball with focused aim.
The player’s right foot hits the ball with all the force her 5-foot-4 frame can muster.
The football twirls in the air and hits the top of the net. It’s a good kick, even if it’s just practice.
A similar kick broke a barrier on Sept. 2 when Gabriella De La Cruz’s 10-yard extra point kick scored a point during the El Camino College football season opener, making her the first female football player to score any point in Warriors history.
“I was terrified out of my mind going into the game,” 20-year-old nursing student De La Cruz said. “As a kicker, all eyes are on you when you’re going to kick a field goal. And then added on to being a female, I felt like I was under a microscope.”
Hard to believe four months ago De La Cruz never touched a football and was playing a different sport: soccer. Before this semester, De La Cruz never played a competitive match of football.
“If I had never played soccer in my life, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it,” she said.
De La Cruz’s path to the gridiron was something out of a modern fairy tale, except in this story, she wasn’t a damsel in distress but a knight in shining armor.
Football armor.
It all started when her friends were playing around with football gear at El Camino. De La Cruz was kicking a field goal for fun, not realizing her friends were filming her and the video would be seen by special teams coach John Rodriguez.
Rodriguez saw her potential, reached out to her for tryouts and the rest was history.
Gifford Lindheim, coach of the Warriors football team, said De La Cruz has been working hard all throughout summer and fall camp on her place kicking.
To Lindheim, performance is all that matters.
“If you’re able to do the job, we don’t care what gender you are or any other factors,” Lindheim said. “ And she’s able to do the job, so she has a role on the football team.”
Other El Camino sports teams have a separate men and women’s team. There is only one Warriors football team. Before De La Cruz, Lindheim coached an all-male team.
Lindheim said De La Cruz is treated like every other member of the team. “Everybody respects the work she’s put into helping the team be successful.”
De La Cruz said there has been no problems being in an all-male team.
“I think it was probably an adjustment for everybody,” she said. “But all the guys have been super welcoming, super nice, and shown me nothing but love.”
She said her coaches and teammates have motivated her to keep working hard and improving her football skills.
“I respect their hustle and drive, these players and these coaches. You can feel the love they have for this sport and the love they have for each other. They truly are family,” she said.
Although De la Cruz entered football without much knowledge of the sport, she said her soccer skills have helped her learn how to kick a football.
She started soccer at a young age, practicing with her father in the backyard before joining the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO).
Her father, Jaime De La Cruz, recalled putting her into various sports like gymnastics, basketball and softball, but soccer was “the only one that stuck.”
Gabriella De La Cruz played club soccer all throughout high school, before joining the El Camino women’s soccer team in 2021 as a defender.
Gabriella De La Cruz said leaving soccer was like a “horrible breakup.”
“It feels like you’ve almost lost a part of you,” she said. “But I think that football has been a good replacement.”
Her father emphasized her strong commitment throughout her soccer journey, and is confident this determination will translate into football as well.
“Her teammates don’t have to worry about her not being fully committed, she will definitely do whatever it takes to be part of a team,” he said. “Doesn’t matter if she’s the only female, she will give everything, she will give her best.”
Editor’s Note: Added information about Gabriella De La Cruz’s high school soccer history for accuracy on Sept 18, at 7:46 p.m.
