The thought of playing football scares many, but for sophomore Cisca Harriss, tackling the male species and attending hardcore practices under the boiling sun is a piece of cake.

Harriss, the only female player on Gunn’s frosh-soph football team, has recently transferred from rival Palo Alto High School (Paly), and is one of the newest additions to the team. “She’s very committed to sports and what she does,” varsity head football coach Matt McGinn said.

Harriss’ football career stretches far back. “I’ve always liked football,” she said. “I played with my friends every once in a while. Mostly pick-up games.” Harriss eventually joined her first official team when she partook in Paly’s frosh-soph team freshman year.

Harriss, who also wrestles, said that some people were not that shocked by her decision to join the team because of her love for athletics. “I think that a lot of the people that I’ve known for a long time weren’t that surprised because I’m really into sports,” she said. “Of course, there’s the immediate reaction, are you crazy?”

Although many accepted her decision, Harriss’ parents were not too thrilled. “My parents don’t understand football,” she said. “They really don’t undersand what I am doing.”

Despite this, freshman Anja Harriss, the football player’s younger sister, stands strongly behind her sibling. “I am proud of my sister that she isn’t scared or intimidated to play football,” she said.

Some of Harriss’ friends also admire her. “I think it’s really cool that she plays wrestling and football,” Paly freshman Virginia Sheetz said. “She’s a very very hard worker. She doesn’t care about gender.” Sheetz competed with Hariss on the Jane Lathrop Stanford (JLS) wrestling team in middle school.

However, being the only female player on the team has its disadvantages. “At Paly, people weren’t too into it,” Harriss said. “People just kind of assumed that I couldn’t do anything.”

Harriss eventually transferred to Gunn not because of football, but because of the German program. “I love German,” she said. Harriss, who wrestled at JLS and Paly, looks forward to joining Gunn’s program this year.

Harriss inquired about joining the football team prior to arriving at Gunn. “She came last spring to tell me that she was transferring,” McGinn said. “I felt comfortable with her work ethic and commitment.” Harriss said that he was welcoming. “It was all positive,” she said. “He just let me know what’s going on.”

His initial reaction was one of slight astonishment. “I was kind of surprised at first,” McGinn said. “Some girls talk to me jokingly about joining the football team, but I could tell that she was serious about it.”

In his seven years as a football coach at Gunn, McGinn has not had a female team player until Harriss joined this year. Football coach Brian Tuomy, who played for Gunn from 1994 to 1997 and who has coached since 2006, said that as far as he knows, Gunn only has had one female player who signed up for the team, but failed to turn up for summer practice.

Harriss, who plays linebacker and fullback, started to train with the football team since the beginning of summer. “I don’t think that it’s been a distraction at all,” McGinn said. “She came here with the right attitude. She’s here to play football, and she’s focused and intense.”

However, recent injuries have prevented Harriss from playing on the field as much as she would have liked. “I pulled my quad, and then I pulled it a couple more times,” Harriss said. “I never really let it heal and kept coming back and playing again before it really did. I also found out that I am anemic which really doesn’t help.”

However, she is getting better, and will be played on the field soon enough. “I’m getting there,” Harriss said. Sheetz agreed. “She never quits,” she said. “She just keeps going and going.”