Sporting a No. 30 jersey, Mika Makekau says she feels right at home with her fellow University of La Verne football teammates.
But the freshman is in uncharted territory: She’s the team’s first female kicker. According to Max Preps, she becomes the 15th female to join a college football team.
Makekau, who is competing for the starting spot, is from Hawaii, where she set the state record in 2018 for longest field goal, 44 yards, by a female kicker, said Anthony Avila, spokesman for La Verne’s Athletics department.
Makekau plans to major in kinesiology and said it was the university’s program in her major that helped her seal the deal with the Leopards.
Being the lone female on the team hasn’t been an issue. The 18-year-old said her teammates have been very welcoming.
“I love brotherhood and in high school that’s when I really felt it and I wanted to continue it in college,” she said Thursday as the team practiced for the upcoming season.
The biggest adjustment has been moving to California where things are a little more fast-paced than on the islands, she said. As for being in La Verne, “I think the community as a whole, I like it. It’s super safe and makes me feel like I’m at home.”
Avila said Makekau initially caught the attention of Head Coach Chris Krichradar because one of the team’s assistant coach’s cousins is friends with her family.
“We saw she had the record for the longest field goal by a female player in Hawaii and after watching her film we felt she could be a solid kicker for us. She has a great attitude and is excited to be a part of the Leopard family,” Krich said in an emailed statement Thursday, Aug. 22.
Photographer Terry Pierson contributed to this report.
