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(U-WIRE) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Turning her life story into a book has been a bittersweet experience for Katie Hnida.
"It's kind of nice to have my story out there in my own words, because so much has been misreported, and people have all these opinions and different things," she said. "It's good to have it out there. It's kind of funny to have your life story out there and all these things that are so personal, but at the same time, it is really good."
Hnida, a former kicker for the University of New Mexico football team, signed copies of her book "Still Kicking: My Journey as the First Woman to Play Division I Football" at the Bookstore on Thursday.
The book chronicles her days playing at the University of Colorado and the abuse she says she suffered there and also recounts her time as a Lobo where she says she was welcomed with open arms and treated like a teammate.
In 2001, she alleged that she was raped by a teammate in 1999 at Colorado. After one year at the university, Hnida transferred to UNM and stayed for her remaining three years of college.
Hnida was at UNM when she came forward with the allegations, but she has not pressed charges yet. Gary Barnett, the head coach at Colorado at the time, has denied knowing any of the abuse took place.
About 80 people attended the signing. Student Keith Hudson had his copy of the book signed by Hnida.
"I just wanted to see her in person," Hudson said.
Hudson said he thinks Hnida is brave for coming out with her story.
"I'm sure there are some memories she doesn't want to relive," he said. "It's incredible on her part to put that out there."
Student Allie Suitor, who went to the same high school as Hnida, attended the event.
"I'm really proud of her, being from my hometown and everything," she said.
Hnida wrote her book at her parent's home in Colorado. It took her three months to write.
"It was great to have a place where I could write," she said. "Just being at home with my parents -- and especially for the tougher parts of the book, because it was an intense time to be writing so much so quickly. Writing the really emotional parts were hard."
Hnida said she wanted to include her experience at Colorado to help other people.
"Even when I first came forward, the amount of women who wrote me and said that this had happened to them, too, was phenomenal," she said. "I was blown away. Actually, it was really sad to see that there were so many women who had been affected by this and so many women who don't talk about it at all and who keep it a secret. I thought that it was really important to get out there and talk about it."
Hnida said people who have been raped need to come forward with their stories.
"The self-blame is so prevalent in victims, and by keeping it quiet, we sort of encourage that and keep the silence going," she said. "That's not good. For a long time, I worried that by coming out, I would be labeled forever as 'rape victim,' but now it is like, 'Yes. I am a rape victim.' I'm not proud of it, but I'm not ashamed of it, either."
Hnida said she enjoyed writing about her experience in New Mexico.
"It was fun to write," she said. "Honestly, the people here were fantastic -- the community of Albuquerque and the school in general. The entire University was so amazing to me. The fans, the program -- all of it was just so great."
Hnida said she has received offers to turn her story into a film.
"When I came forward, the poor media relations department just got flooded with all these different calls about book and movie offers," she said. "A lot of them have been from smaller companies, but I did get an offer from one of the guys who produced 'Rudy,' and just recently by Lions Gate, which is a pretty big production company."
Hnida said she is not interested in making a movie yet.
"The book was something enough," she said. "I'm not sure, but depending on how much creative freedom they would take with it, it would have to be the right time."
Hnida said she is interested in returning to football.
"It has really been frustrating that I never reached my full potential as a kicker," she said. "The fact that I was a better kicker in high school than I was in college was really frustrating, but really, I was affected so much mentally by what happened to me at CU. It's hard to know you didn't reach your potential in something you are so passionate about. I mean, I love football so much. I miss it every day."
Hnida said she is interested in pursuing medical school, writing and sports broadcasting in the future.
"I have a lot of possibilities and a lot of opportunities, and I just want to be open to all the opportunities," she said. "Like getting to write a book myself was huge because I love to write. It was fantastic, and when that came along, I knew that was something I wanted to do now that I had the opportunity and grab on to it. So, we'll see what happens next."
(C) 2006 Daily Lobo via U-WIRE
