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Local Sports

Local sports in the Panhandle are not just a game, they are a lifestyle. Our community eats, sleeps and breathes cheering on our local athletes.
News13 is On Your “Sidelines” bringing you more than the score.
News13’s Stephen Gunter is committed to giving you stories of the Panhandle’s top athletes, intriguing match-ups and unusual sports you may not even know exist.
sgunter@wmbb.com

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Football is Football

PANAMA CITY BEACH- European football, better known as soccer, and American football differ in a number of ways.
So, when players make a transition from one to the other, it can tend to be difficult.
For this Arnold High kicker, the transition hasn’t been a problem.

“Soccer ball is a lot different than kicking a football.  A soccer ball is usually moving and you’re moving with it.  Then in football, it’s totally different, it’s on a tee, there is someone holding it and then there is a lot of bigger people running at you when you are kicking a football,” said Arnold kicker Tyler Evans.

Evans has been playing soccer for thirteen years, but this year, he decided to try out another sport, with more pads.

“Yeah, football is fun. Definitely more people come to the games of course. A lot more people care about it. People actually ask me who we are playing when I play football,” said Evans.

Football is a very popular sport, but with soccer style kickers becoming more and more in demand, the kickers are actually becoming pretty popular themselves.

“We have always gotten really good soccer players to come out and play football,” said Arnold head coach James Hale.  “We ask them just to kick. Everyone we’ve gotten off the soccer team has really helped us.”

Evans has brought his dominance from the soccer field over to the football field, showing that a good kick can be a secret weapon.

“He’s doing an outstanding job. Most of his kickoffs are in the end zone. Which helps us, because anytime we can make a team go 80-yards, it helps the defense,” said Hale.

Any type of sport is going to bring stress and pressure.

“In the regular game, definitely football is more [stressful], because everyone is just looking at you, everyone knows unfortunately who I am, and they are just looking down at me to see if I’m going to make it.  Whereas soccer, if you mess up at a chance, you can just come right back at it the next play,” Evans stated.

Evans has made all types of kicks this year, but it’s the first tackle of the season he hopes stays away.

“I haven’t had to tackle anybody yet,” Evans said.  “Hopefully they’ll stop them before they get to me.”

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