Becky Morin suited up for practice. (Photos by Darcy Robinson)

Rebecca Morin (left) covers an offensive player from Quabbin Regional at a Tigers home game on Sept. 19.

It was a rude remark that sparked Bromfield sophomore Becky Morin to try out for the Maynard Tigers football team. "One day, somebody said that girls couldn't play football," Morin said. "That was the moment when I decided to actually go out and play on a team."

Morin is one of two Harvard female running backs on the junior varsity squad at Maynard, which allows Harvard students on its team since Harvard doesn't have a football program of its own. The other is junior Vee Rasania, who has been out for the last few weeks with an injury.

"I was training with the team since August, but my muscles weren't used to the pressure so I was injured. "I might be out for the rest of the season," Rasania said.

Both Rasania and Morin were first attracted to football through friends and family members.

"I have four brothers and lots and lots of guy cousins, Morin said. "We are always playing football on the beach or in the yard."

"I've played games here and there with my neighbors," said Rasania. "I have just always had a really big respect for the players and the sport."

For Rasania, football was a chance to train for the spring track season.

"I was doing a lot more muscle, strength, endurance, speed, and agility work that I could really use for track," she said.

There are times, both Rasania and Morin agreed, they feel like they are treated differently on the team.

"You can't say that I haven't been treated differently," Rasania said. "Obviously there could be unconscious thoughts… but regardless, the guys are great."

Morin said, "The only thing that is annoying is that when I mess up, it's like the girl messed up... Everybody goes a little easier on me."

Whenever Rasania practices, she said, it becomes an opportunity for her to show her fellow players that she is an asset to the team.

"Sometimes I try to practice harder than the guys to show them that I'm not there to inhibit their abilities," she said. "[I] want to prove to them that I'm good enough to be there."

In the end, the only difference that sets these girls apart from the rest of the Maynard junior varsity team is the locker room they change in.