When Baillie Jo Koszman is suited up in football gear and is on the field with her team-mates on the new Atoms minor football team, she looks much like the guys she's playing with, with one notable difference.

Baillie Jo is the only girl on the youngest of Weyburn's three minor football teams, and even at that she's slightly young to play at eight years of age.

"But she really, really wanted to play," pointed out her father, Vic, watching as his daughter went through a practice of carrying a ball past a tackler, and then being the tackler of the ball carrier.

As the only girl on Weyburn's teams, plus only one girl playing on Regina's teams, the Regina Minor Football League would like to see more involvement by girls at all levels of play.

Taking some time out of practice to talk about her involvement with the Atoms, Baillie Jo noted she has a brother who plays, as well as friends from school also on the team.

"Everyone's older than me, but on Nov. 19, I'm turning nine years old. Playing football is kind of hard because you get tackled and fall down, usually on your butt," she said, describing what it's like to play with the boys.

She noted she's been at every practice, and at the time of the interview, her team had had two games, one at Taylor Field and one at Leibel Field, both in Regina. Her team's third game was at home on Saturday at Darold Kot Field.

"I mostly enjoy everything about it," she said, later adding she especially likes to tackle.

Baillie Jo is usually on the defensive line, and at the Taylor Field game she was used in two positions. What she most enjoyed about that game was the presence of two Saskatchewan Roughriders, who were originally supposed to be at the team's practice on Aug. 26 in Weyburn.

She said the Roughriders helped coach their team and gave them pointers on such things as how to tackle better.

"They were cheering for us and not for the Regina team. It was funny," said Baillie Jo.

Asked what it's like being the only girl on the team, she said, "I'm okay playing with the guys. I have friends on this team, and one of the guys is in my class at school. It's kind of hard to tackle the guys, because they just run up to you and smash you, so it's kind of hard."

So why does she like the game of football?

"It's a good sport and you get lots of exercise," said Baillie Jo.

Her coach, Tyler Metheral, said, "I want to get more kids playing, the more kids the better. I think girls would do well here, I'm sure they could be just as good as the guys."

Admitting he's usually more into coaching hockey, he said he can tell the kids who've played football, because they're usually in better shape and often can use their tackling techniques in their bodychecking on the ice.

Noting girls are doing quite well with hockey, he said, "The girls can do just as well as the boys at this game, especially at this age. We could really use more kids, and with me, I try to keep the fun in the game for everybody."

Baillie Jo attends Grade 4 at St. Dominic Savio School, and is the daughter of Vic and Kim Koszman of Weyburn.