KIPP's Jayda Davenport chases her football dreams
When Jayda Davenport was in eighth grade, she only needed two questions answered when she attended an open house at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy.
When Jayda Davenport was in eighth grade, she only needed two questions answered when she attended an open house at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy.
"Do you have a football team? Can girls play?"
Told yes to both, Davenport quickly turned to her mother, April Payne.
"Well, mom," Davenport recalled saying this week. "I just chose my high school."
Now, the precocious, ambitious and tenacious sophomore is a 5-foot-4, 140-pound defensive back and receiver who has played in three games for the Lions (2-3, 1-1).
"At first, I was leery," Payne said. "I kept telling her, 'It's different, honey. It's not street ball.' . . . But one thing I always encourage my kids to do is go after what they want. That, she did. And I've been proud ever since."
The initial foray into the game for the 15-year-old honor roll student wasn't without obstacles.
But with support from her mother, her father Jaymes, her 11 brothers, and a female football pioneer, Davenport persevered to become the only girl playing varsity football in Philadelphia this year.
Destiny Ortiz, then a junior, took part in camp with Olney last spring, but she moved to Florida before the season began.
Exact numbers are hard to pin down, but Davenport joined a rare club.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which collects participation data from its members, there were no girls who played 11-player football in Pennsylvania last year. In New Jersey, 137 girls played.
A PIAA spokesperson said the association submits its data, but that the exact number of girls playing at a given time was difficult to track.
For Davenport, being the only girl among 11 rough-and-tumble brothers (ages 13 to 21) toughened her, but early skepticism from male teammates, combined with grueling summer workouts, created self-doubt that brought her to the brink.
"In the beginning," the Southwest resident said, "it was already hard enough dealing with the conditioning, and then with the boys basically not wanting me around, I was like, 'Man, I don't know if I can do this.' "
Her mother provided guidance, but also called for reinforcements.
"She told on me," Davenport laughed. "She told my brothers. They told me if I quit, I wouldn't be true to my heart. Honestly, it wouldn't have been. Without football, I don't know who I would be, because it's what I do 24/7. I go home, do my homework, and then study my plays. It's a part of me. I would have so much extra time [without it] and, I don't know, I could be getting into trouble. It's what keeps me off the streets, honestly."
Cheerleading occupied her time as a freshman because Davenport didn't feel quite ready for football.
KIPP's cheer coach, Courtney Moragne, said that although Davenport was a novice, her determination eventually earned her the team's most improved award.
Cheerleading, however, did not stick.
"I'm glad I didn't have any sisters," Davenport joked.
Even while cheering at football games, she still longed to play. She told teammates and coaches that she would one day.
"Just wait, you'll see," she said to incredulous faces.
Eventually, Davenport showed up unannounced at KIPP's postseason football meetings.
Murmurs from the boys, she said, quickly followed.
"What is she doing here?" she recalled them saying. "Does she really think she's going to play football? She's not playing football.' "
Head coach Keary Dias, who had previously coached a girl, also had his reservations, but Davenport's persistence impressed him.
"I went home and I thought about it," he said. "I can't kill any kid's dream. So we wanted to make this possible for this young lady, because this is something she'll probably never forget.
"Football is a sport where memories are made and lifelong friendships are made. These guys will never forget her, and she'll never forget these guys."
So, after nearly two months completing the same drills under the same summer sun, Davenport forced the boys to accept her, which they did.
"Now, we're like a family," she said.
Mia Hall, a former two-way "linelady" for KIPP, faced similar skepticism.
At 5-foot-6 and 265 pounds, Hall powered through her doubters.
Three years ago, she was a senior who started on KIPP's inaugural football team, which played a junior-varsity only schedule.
"It was the opposite for me," said Hall, a sophomore at Delaware Valley University. "It was more of the boys not sticking around. They were having a hard time keeping up with all the seniors and me because I was manhandling everybody."
Because KIPP didn't always have football, Hall, who hopes to play in college next season, played on the JV team at Overbrook, her neighborhood school, during her freshmen through junior years.
Varsity head coach Rendell Ivory, now in his fifth season at Overbrook, recalled Hall making a tackle in practice and the ballcarrier broke his ankle.
"She was tough," Ivory said.
Now, Hall, whose younger brother, Jawon Williams, is a sophomore lineman at KIPP, occasionally tutors Davenport.
"It makes me feel good that nowadays girls aren't afraid to play with the guys," said Hall, who said she competed in Delaware Valley's last two football camps.
Tuition costs, however, led her to get a near-full-time job, which she said precluded her from committing to football.
For Davenport, the commitment had to continue off the field as well.
She may change clothes in a different locker room, but she's right with the boys during football classroom work.
Sophomore running back Zhymir Ball, who encouraged Davenport from the beginning, always made sure his best friend studied her playbook.
"He was one of my motivators," Davenport said. "I don't think I could do it without him, either."
Davenport hopes she will motivate young women to reach for what they're told they cannot grasp.
"At the end of the day," she said, "we might be females, but we're human. So, if we put our mind and our heart to something, we can honestly do anything that we want to do."
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