While not common, it’s not unheard of to have a female athlete kicking extra points for a football team. Every once in a blue moon, there’s a girl playing wide receiver — there was even a story from 2012 about a girl playing quarterback in Florida.
Girls never play on the line, though, right?
Lake Washington High School senior Jackie Casto — a linewoman — is out to change that.
Castro has played within the LWHS program since she was a freshman, leaning on her experience as a wrestler and a background in basketball and tennis, among other sports.
She wrestled in eighth grade at Kirkland Middle School, which is where the introduction to football began.
“The high school seniors go down and recruit a bunch of players, and I was like, ‘Why not try it,'” she said. “When I came in, it was really scary at first. After I got used to it, it’s been a big part of life I didn’t think could happen.”
Four years later, Castro has yet to take a varsity snap. She plays on JV each week and suits up for each varsity game, donning the No. 75 jersey, wrapping her hair into a tight bun inside her helmet and waiting for the call.
But that doesn’t mean her teammates haven’t noticed the work she’s put in.
When Castro arrived in high school, by her own admission, she wasn’t ready for football.
“I was a really big girl back in the day, like 220 pounds with a lot of fat on me,” Castro said. “It was really hard to keep up, but I was committed. I was just like, ‘I want to be the best that I can be,’ so I came to the weight room every single day that they had football people.”
Each week, a player is chosen to carry the LW flag and lead the team onto the field during varsity games. Senior linebacker Rudy Wilkes carried the flag before a home win on Sept. 16, and chose Castro to lead the varsity players on Sept. 23 against WF West.
The moment was a little surreal for Castro, who said she didn’t quite know which way to run, but it was cool to see her teammates take notice of her efforts.
“I think she’s earned the respect of her peers by how she works,” said Lake Washington coach AJ Parnell, who has coached Castro since she was a sophomore. “She hasn’t asked for favors; she hasn’t asked for an advantage. She says, ‘I want to do it just like them.’ To me, that’s an amazing trait. That’s not normal. Most people want a step up or a ladder or whatever to make it even.”
Castro, whose parents were born in the Philippines, is the only girl in her family — and that goes beyond her siblings, both brothers. All the cousins are boys, too.
Once she stepped into the male-dominated sport of football, she provided a major paradigm shift.
“I’ve changed the way they speak on the team,” Castro said. “They’re not like, ‘Oh, that’s like what girls do,’ and now it doesn’t matter what gender you are. If you’re here to play football, you’re here to play football.”
Castro has become an all-state wrestler, and hopes to wrestle in college. She’s had plenty of friends ask if she plans to play rugby someday, but for Castro, she doesn’t need to continue playing for the memory of her high school career to last.
No surprise, but Castro’s goals are in direct alignment with Parnell’s favorite buzzword.
“I just hope that I inspire other girls,” she said. “I don’t want my legacy to end right here.”
