Move over NFL

Considering how things are going, it should come as no surprise that Al Valdespino of Spring Hill hopes when he hears from the National Football League within the next week that he and his family will be heading to Indianapolis to see the Colts play in the NFL Divisional Playoffs.
The reason is simple, besides the fact that Valdespino is a huge New York Giants fan and that his wife is a huge Jets fan, Valdespino will be going to see a playoff game along with watching his daughter, Spencer, compete in the national finals of the NFL's Pepsi Cola-sponsored Punt, Pass and Kick competition.
Spencer won the regional PP&K championship in October at Raymond James Stadium during a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game and finished among the top four to earn a place in the national 13-14-year-old girls finals.
"She began doing this six years ago," Valdespino said about his daughter, an eighth-grader at Notre Dame Interparochial School in Spring Hill.
"She came in fifth in the nation three years ago, but only the top four make the finals. And this year she was in first place for a long while until someone from the St. Louis Rams beat her out by 10 inches."
Although Spencer plays basketball, volleyball and soccer for Notre Dame, she says that picking up the three parts of PP&K wasn't that hard. "No, it's not that hard. In fact, they're all pretty easy," she said.
Valdespino: close before
To reach the national finals, Valdespino had to first win two local competitions. The first one was at Notre Dame Academy and then at Veterans Memorial Park in Spring Hill.
Then on Oct. 28, Valdespino competed against other qualifiers from Central Florida at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in front of 65,000 fans when the Bucs played the Jacksonville Jaguars.
She also won her age group by punting 96.5 feet, passing 88.5 feet and kicking 107.4 feet for a total of 297.2.
That total came in second of the 32 other teams in the NFL and helped Spencer make it to the national finals.
And that is where New England or Indianapolis comes in.
"I just got off the phone with someone from PP&K and they told us the finals will be the weekend of the 12th or 13th," said her father Al. "It will either be at the AFC Divisional playoffs in Indianapolis or New England. And we're hoping it's not New England.
"Actually, we have three reasons. One, it's cold in Boston. Two, I'm a Giants fan and my wife's a Jets fan so neither one of us like the Patriots. And three, if it's Indianapolis, it would be inside a dome stadium."
For Spencer, who is a Tennessee Titan fan, the upcoming national championships are not something she is worried about. When asked how she felt about competing in front of 65,000 fans, Spencer said it didn't concern her.
"I don't really think about it, I just go out and throw it," she shrugged.
Her father says that he still does not know where the finals will be but that his family is looking forward to it.
"The league says they'll give us three tickets to the playoff game, round-trip air fare and hotel rooms," he said. "It's like I keep telling her, the whole competition starts out with about four million kids. But she's one of those kids that picks up things herself as far as sports go. She's a natural athlete."
As far as Spencer's concerned, no matter what happens in the finals, this is just the beginning.
"That's what I've told people, that I'm going to be the place kicker for Bishop McLaughlin High School when I go there," admitted Spencer. "That's what I'm going to do."