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News

Quarterback stiff-arms expectations

Accounting junior, professional football player 
finds a second home on the gridiron

by CELENA FLORES
The Daily Cougar

Imagine only getting paid $1 a game playing what has traditionally been known as a sport exclusively for the opposite gender and being thought of as a joke by the narrow-minded.

UH accounting junior Laura Cantu, quarterback for the eight-year-old Women's Professional Football League team the Houston Energy knows the feeling all to well.

"Don't doubt me," Cantu said. "I have actually found that there are a lot people who are against women playing football. It is surprising to me; to this day I don't understand why, because I think we are both human and we are capable of doing (the same) things. 

"We are out here doing what the guys are doing and we're going to come up. It is going to take time … I can't wait for that day."

Cantu said when people find out she plays pro football, reactions range from interest to outright disbelief.

"Most people are like, ‘You play football?' she said. "And some get excited. Others are like, ‘Whatever, yeah right.' Go check (my stats) out on the Internet and once you check that out then we can have a conversation."

Cantu said she doesn't see her minimal salary as a problem. For her, football is a worthy pursuit despite compensation.

Cantu never imagined playing football, but when an acquaintance, a former coach for the Houston Energy, asked her to try out for the team, Cantu jumped at the chance, turning down a golf scholarship from Texas A&M Corpus Christi. 

"I love golf … golf and football are two different things and I had a scholarship, but I turned it away to play football," Cantu said. "At first my family wasn't very sure about it -- they couldn't believe that I was doing this, but now I have 110 percent of their support."

As a student and pro football player, Cantu, who also has two jobs, had to learn how to manage her time appropriately. She knows that if she wants to continue what she's doing on the field, she has to make sacrifices. 

"At first it was hard for me, but now my body is at the point that if I got to wake up early or stay up late, I am used to it," Cantu said. "I manage my time well, and if I got to sacrifice Sundays and sit in my room and do homework all day to play football then that is what I will do."

While she has had to figure out how to fit in football with the rest of her life, Cantu has also had to figure out how to head her team -- which she recently led to the WPFL Super Bowl -- by taking on the pressure of being the starting quarterback.

"The hardest thing is getting them to believe in me and gain their respect. Once they believe me and they know that I can lead this team, then I'm good," Cantu said. "I am young -- I have been the youngest out here for four years and it's hard. A lot of these women are older than me … I would take it hard having a 21-year-old taking control of this team of a bunch of adults."

Though the Energy lost to the Dallas Diamonds in the Super Bowl, Cantu said she will continue playing until she gets that championship ring.

Cantu has also gained the respect of Energy head coach Brian Wiggins.

"Laura is a great leader, has been awarded All-Pro Team for offense, and is just a great player," he said. "I expect big things from her."

While Cantu never anticipated being where she is, she feels it is where she should be. 

"I didn't know that I would be here when I graduated from high school. I look at it now, and I feel that this is where I am supposed to be," Cantu said.

And she has no plans to quit playing any time soon.

"I will be back next year; I will continue to return as long as I can play," Cantu, who is considering law school after college, said. "I love it. It's a hobby, not a job.

"It feels great, you know, how you get that feeling that you are just meant to do, it is what is set out for you to do … I'm getting goose bumps just talking about this. I feel like I am in that right spot; I am supposed to be doing this right now."

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