A young athlete from Victoria is going where no woman has gone before, Nanaimo's junior football club.
Nineteen-year-old Jordan Vearer will be the first woman to play junior football in B.C., and the second woman to do so in all of Canada.
"Honestly, that was news to me," she told CTV News on Tuesday.
"Women belong in football, they belong on the field. I don’t really see it as a gendered sport," she said
Vearer says she grew up playing rugby, "when the ball was bigger than I was," so contact sports have been a lifelong love of hers.
The 19-year-old has signed as an offensive lineman with the Vancouver Island Raiders, and the team's head coach says she's a strong player.
In one of her first drills, she was "dominant in the player she took on," said head coach Curtis Vizza.
"She can bring heat just like anyone else, if not more," he said. "Her feet are incredibly fast and her hand placement is superb."
Vizza says he wants Vearer to feel at home and that she's being treated equally.
"She’s always had the experience where it’s been, 'Well boys and Jordan,'" he said.
"She’s like, 'No, I want to fit in. I’m a football player.' And I’m like, 'That’s how I’ll treat you, as a football player,'" said Vizza.
Vearer says her teammates are onboard and don't consider it a big deal, with some saying, "Oh what the hell, equality! I’m going to hit her as hard as I can."
One question Vearer says she gets a lot is how the change room works.
"Sometimes there’ll be a second change room, or if I have to go in first before everyone else – because I change twice as fast as the guys somehow – then I’ll do that, but it’s really not that big of a deal, honestly," she said.
The Raiders play their first game of the season on July 23 on their home turf against the Okanagan Sun.
