Indianapolis youth group boots female field-goal kicker

A Catholic Youth Organization in Indianapolis is facing criticism this week after it ruled an eighth-grade girl ineligible for her school's football team strictly because of her gender.

Cece Lucia took the field for St. Simon Middle School in its game this past Sunday after inquiring with the coach about trying out to be the team's kicker. In her first organized football game, the former soccer player made both of the kicks she attempted.

After the game, however, her coach received a call from the CYO with a simple message: Her team would be forced to forfeit any future games she competed in.

"She's devastated," her brother, Corey Lucia, told The Crimson Quarry. "All of her teammates and coaches have been so supportive. But then to have someone tell her she can't play, not because of her ability but because of her gender -- that's devastating.

"She'd love the opportunity to play again, if offered, but she's not the type of person that wants to make an issue of it."

Cece's sister, Madeline, also took to social media to offer support to her little sister:

Cece Lucia is hardly the first girl to kick in a game. In fact, female kickers have become at least somewhat common all across the country over the past decade or so. But the Indianapolis CYO has been reluctant to get with the times, it seems, and, as The Crimson Quarry points out, this isn't the first time the group has faced such a situation.

In 2010, a 12-year-old girl named Lindsey Overstreet was banned from playing for Our Lady of the Greenwood School. At the time, Indianapolis CYO executive director Edward Tinder told WTHR: "It's believed that if boys or girls in those sports were involved, it would just change the climate in which the sport is played. Co-ed involvement would alter the integrity of the sport."

The organization later denied the Overstreet family's appeal.

As for Lucia's fight, her situation has quickly gained the support of many, including Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, but as of Tuesday night, the CYO had given no indication that it planned to reverse the ban.

Former college kicker Katie Hnida, who knows about being hassled and harassed, weighed in.