13-Year-Old Girl Joins Football Team After Coach Sees Her 45-Yard Kick: 'My Mouth Dropped'
Courtesy Morgan Fitch
When 13-year-old Harmony Fitch approached Raceland Middle School's Allen Wiltz this summer asking to show him how far she could kick, the football coach didn't quite know what to expect.
"I decided to entertain her," he tells PEOPLE of Harmony, who he had selected to participate in the school's PowerPuff football game fundraiser. "I said sure, show me what you got — and Harmony lined herself up and bolted one down the field."
The young athlete blasted the football 45 yards — nearly half the length of the field — and when Wiltz asked her to kick a second time, Harmony sent it flying once again.
"My mouth dropped," Wiltz adds of the mighty kick, "and I said, 'Holy s---.'"
After the feat, Harmony told Wiltz about her dream of playing football, something he says he was open to making happen as long as she knew the responsibilities that came with it — such as attending weight training, conditioning, and practice sessions. Wiltz told Harmony she could participate in the summer workouts if she followed through with the schedule.
"Harmony was there any day she could be," he says, adding that the teen is also on the school's volleyball and dance teams.
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Courtesy Morgan Fitch
"When I saw this young lady work so hard at all these different activities, I knew she could handle football," Wiltz continued.
Harmony made her debut as the team's kicker in August. She is the football team's only female player.
"I was surprised — I gave coach a big hug and said thank you," she tells PEOPLE of her reaction after earning the spot.
"It's going great when I don't mess up," she adds of how her time on the male-dominated team is going so far. "I have to stay focused during practice and super focused during game time."
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But Harmony may have been prepared for such a moment all of her life, her father, professional boxer Morgan "Big Chief" Fitch, tells PEOPLE. "She's been in the gym since she's been a little girl," he recalls, adding that Harmony often came along with him to camp and is no stranger to the "atmosphere" of a gym.
But even Morgan says he couldn't predict how much Harmony would excel in sports at such a young age.
"Every sport she does, she's the dominant one," he says. "She's a beast in everything she does. And everything she does, that little girl, that little girl excels."
"Everything that she does, she's an inspiration to many of these kids in my community right now," he continues.
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And Harmony says her father is a significant reason why she developed her appetite for competition and has the confidence to chase it.
"It's great to have my dad stand by me through every little bit of the way; since I first started walking, he pushes me to my hardest limit," she says. "He is amazing at everything he does, and that's what makes me want to keep going in life. He is my inspiration."
Harmony says she wants to continue playing "everything" when she reaches high school but is focused on the season ahead with Raceland's football team — a group she already views as family.
"They always have my back when I mess up," she says of her teammates. "They always tell me to shake it off and get it back the next time. They are like big brothers and family, I love all of them."
