Her older sister, Sarah, went to Punahou. When the family couldn’t afford to send her there, Laura Tyler just shrugged and said, "I’m going to make Castle history."

"In what, she had no idea," said Thomas, her father.

It turned out to be in football. She became the Knights’ first female player. And it’s just one of the reasons the future nurse anesthesist was one of 15 Hawaii high school student-athletes to receive HMSA Kaimana Award scholarships Saturday. You can see the names of the others on page C10 and learn more about them at hmsa.com/kaimana.

Laura had played soccer from the time she was about 5. And she was in the Castle band.

During one Knights game, band director Arnold Alconcel dodged another shanked kick on the sideline and shook his head. As Laura played her flute nearby, Alconcel told her, "Hey, you can kick farther than that guy. You should try out."

So she did.

She joined the team the summer before her junior year and never left.

It was a struggle at first. Kicking a football is different than kicking a soccer ball. Thomas practiced with her.

"Having two girls, I never expected to be a football dad," said Thomas, who wrestled and played tennis in high school. "I turned into a kick returner."

She got a few reps as she learned the game her junior year. Then, last fall, she won the starting job.

She made 45-yard field goals in practice, and a 32-yarder in a game. But her signature play — generating a video that should go viral — resulted from a blocked field-goal try.

As a McKinley player returned the ball down the sideline, Laura zeroed in on him at the perfect angle and made a tackle that might have saved a touchdown.

It was a fundamentally sound play. She kept her head up, drove with her legs, made contact correctly and wrapped up.

It was done the way you’re supposed to do it … the way you do it so you have less chance of getting or giving a concussion.

It was what the Castle coaches had taught her, as she performed contact drills with the JV players in case this situation ever arose.

Laura was also motivated to tackle the correct way because she’d seen what can happen when you don’t. She saw teammate Makana Bee get knocked out and taken away in an ambulance, never to play football again.

She worked with Castle trainers Gretchen Miller and Emily Vincent to learn more about concussions. And, as her senior project, Laura put together a pamphlet of information about how to prevent, diagnose and treat them. Castle football coach Nelson Maeda said he plans to use it for future teams. In effect, Laura Tyler, Class of 2015, gave her school a graduation gift.

"I was very fortunate, our trainers are great," she said. "(In soccer) I got kicked in the face, and another time I got hit on the chin and bit through my lip. But no concussions."

"From a band geek to a football player," said her mom, Kathy. "How’s that?"

That’s great. But it’s even better that she made the game safer for future players.

"She definitely left a footprint," Maeda said.

And in a manner much more important than anything having to do with kicking a football.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.