MONROE — It’s not every day that a football manager decides to exit the sidelines, put on a helmet, pads and enter the huddle. 

But for one Monroe senior, that’s the case this season.

Except this storyline goes from unique to rare, because the first-time football player is Leah Peterson, a girl. But don’t tell her team that.

“She fits in like one of the guys,” said Mike Figi, coach of the Junior Varsity 2 squad. “I thought our players handled her coming into the program extremely well.”

Peterson said she has always had the itch to play, but decided her senior year would be as good a time as any.

“It wasn’t the intention to inspire or set a precedent,” she said. “It was just something I kind of always wanted to do and just kept chickening out. I said ‘this is my last chance to do it.’ I figured I’d might as well try it.”

Peterson said she didn’t get any trouble from her new teammates for joining the program.

“All of the players and the coaches have been extremely welcoming and extremely helpful — really pushing me to make sure I know what’s going on and helping me push through it and learn everything,” she said. “These guys have all been playing for a really long time, so it’s hard getting caught up.”

The coaching staff has placed her on the JV-2 squad for first-year players, but everyone in the program has seen her give her best every day and not back down.

“She doesn’t expect special treatment, she doesn’t ask for anything to be different. She comes out, she works hard, she performs hard, she helps players out, they help her out,” Figi said. “She has a tremendous benefit being a senior. Just having that mindset and mentality has been really, really good. She’s been working with our youngest group, and just her demeanor and everything about her is consistent and straightforward.”

Peterson said her family has a bit of a football pedigree, which added to the draw. Her grandfather, Richard Peterson, coached at Mishicot for 32 years and her father, Chad, and uncles all played football. She said that her family was not only supportive, but excited when she told them she was going to go play.

Peterson has spent her prep years as an athlete, which helped prepare her mentally, and being on the football sidelines has also been beneficial.

“It definitely helped being around the coaches and the players and watching what all they went through and what all they did and how the whole process goes down,” Peterson said. 

She said the vigorous conditioning of the sport has been what’s surprised her most so far.

“I’ve played other sports and this is the hardest; conditioning-wise, strength-wise, endurance-wise,” Peterson said. “But I just have to keep going.” 

Once the helmet and pads went on, it added a whole new level. Peterson said the weight of the extra equipment added to her admiration of her fellow players. But in taking hits — and dishing them out — Peterson has taken it all in stride.

“I won’t say I was scared, but I was definitely very nervous,” she said. “It’s been really fun trying to hit as hard as I can.” 

Figi said its been “neat” to watch Peterson adapt to the new sport after a week of practice.

“She has noticed the bumps and bruises that come from football. It’s a little different from the bumps and bruises that come from softball or any of the other sports,” Figi said. “But she’s a trooper. She keeps coming back and working hard and doing whatever she needs to do get better. And she asks great questions.”

The coaching staff has Peterson working as an offensive lineman, where she’s trying to figure it all out.

“I’m still learning all the plays,” she said. “I spend a lot of hours at night making sure I know the plays, all the different calls and what’s going on.”

The coaching staff is excited to see her line up against an opposing team and seeing how she reacts. Figi said he himself is very comfortable with her skillset.

“You can see her demeanor is not as frantic as you see sometimes from first-year players that haven’t had that kind of experience. It’s been a calming influence,” Figi said. “It does help that she was a manager last year and has experience where she knows what does go on on the sidelines. I think that will help the younger group. And there might be roles for her in other areas — we’ll have to see how the season plays out.”

Third-year varsity coach Toby Golembiewski said he’s seen no issues with the program welcoming a female player into the huddle.

“I’m proud of her coming out and putting in the work that you do,” Golembiewski said. “We’ve got about 65 kids that are out doing it, and that leaves about 700 kids in this town that aren’t tough enough to come out in this heat and play a rough sport. I give her a lot of credit. Boy or girl — it doesn’t matter.”

The Monroe JV-2 is slated to scrimmage Reedsburg Aug. 16. The first JV-2 game of the season is scheduled for 5 p.m. Aug. 23 at home against DeForest.

“She is a player that can fill a need on our team, and it’s as simple as that,” Figi said. “I’m looking forward to the season.”