Sophomore Alyssa Bird, center, follows through on a kick during preseason practice under the watchful eyes of Westgate High head coach Ryan Antoine. The holder is Jermaine Lafleur. Bird recently scored her first point for the Tigers, on a PAT, as her teammates cheered late in a game against KIPP Renaissance.

By the time Alyssa Bird lined up 10 yards behind the center for a historic homecoming night kick at Lloyd G. Porter Memorial Stadium, all her nervousness had disappeared.

Bird, a sophomore backup placekicker for the Westgate Tigers, had already gotten the butterflies out of her stomach a few weeks earlier with an extra point attempt against St. Thomas More and two earlier PAT tries for the Tigers’ homecoming game against KIPP Renaissance Academy. Bird’s teammates, coaches and the WHS fans showed their appreciation when her third try sailed through the uprights for Westgate’s final point in a 43-6 win over the charter school from New Orleans.

“It was really exciting,” she said of her first attempt. “Since I’m a girl, everybody was really excited for me. It was a lot of pressure but it was really fun.

“I was (disappointed to miss), but I fixed what I knew I did wrong, and I’ve got it now.”

The kick made Bird the first female player to score a point for a New Iberia varsity football team. She’d already been accepted by her teammates, who treat her as a little sister, and coaches — not unusual, given her status as the younger sister of former WHS quarterback, placekicker and punter Aaron Bird, who walked on to the UL-Lafayette football team this year.

“They definitely pick on me like I’m just their sister,” Alyssa Bird said. “It’s really fun.”

WHS coach Ryan Antoine said the Tigers needed a placekicker this year after Aaron Bird graduated in the spring, and put out an open call in the school for kickers. Alyssa Bird, who has played soccer for years, was among those answering the call. Junior Ben Dooley earned the starting spot this season as Westgate’s placekicker and punter, with Bird also making the squad.

“She was always around last year with Aaron, and she knew we were looking for kickers,” Antoine said. “When we saw her she had some qualities that we wanted to see in a kicker. She started off real slow and couldn’t really make the extra point but worked at it every day, and also worked at it in the middle of playing volleyball.”

“They didn’t have a kicker, and I’ve always played soccer, so I knew how to kick,” Alyssa Bird said. “So I was like, ‘Why not?’”

She said she knew her brother would be able to help her adjust to the difference between kicking a soccer ball and kicking a football. Bird said she feels her power and distance are there but she needs to work on her accuracy.

She got her first shot to test both her strength and accuracy late in a loss to STM, then more chances with a big lead against KIPP Renaissance.

“We knew at some point in the season we would be giving her a shot at it,” Antoine said. “It just so happened Friday night we played KIPP Renaissance for homecoming and we were up a decent amount, so we could give her a chance and on her third chance she made it. It was a very special moment for her because she was always worried about being in her brother’s shadow. With her being able to do that, it told her she can get out of her shell and make her own name over here at Westgate.”

Her teammates are very protective of their diminutive kicking specialist.

“It’s really fun” being on the team, Bird said. “Everybody’s really supportive and protective. Since I’m the only girl they’re like, ‘Don’t worry about being hit. We’ve got you. We’ll protect you.’ It’s really cool.”

Antoine has noted that protectiveness, and appreciates the opportunity Bird’s presence on the roster provides for the coaching staff to teach his players how to treat a young lady.

“They love her and they take care of her,” Antoine said. “And it’s teaching them how to respect a woman, which is big for us. Sometimes it’s bigger than football. She eats first when we do pregame meals. They always take care of her at school, do the little things for her, how a man should treat a woman. Our guys know she’d better not get touched when she goes back to kick the ball because she’s one of us. There’s no discrimination or segregation at all.”

Antoine’s biggest concern is with Bird’s desire to go out and play receiver as well. He’s not sure he’s ready to see her take a hit in a football game.

She also played volleyball this fall and is in soccer and track and might play basketball, but hasn’t decided on that herself. That athletic drive is something in the Bird family genes, apparently, as Aaron Bird played every sport the school offered for boys’ athletes — football, basketball, soccer, baseball, golf, tennis and track and field — in his high school career, while carrying a 4.0 grade point average.

“We’ve always just been athletic,” Alyssa Bird said. “Whenever I’m not playing a sport, it doesn’t feel right. I know I need to be doing something. Like during the summer, I always have summer sports.”

“She’s an athlete, and she’s a great student as well,” Antoine said. “She just comes from a great family, big acknowledgment for her family just to allow her to try to do that.”

For the future, she plans to continue playing football and said she’d like to “just make all the ones that I can and get points up on the board for my team.”