As a cool breeze blew across the green turf field next to the Recreation Center Saturday, about 40 young women stretched, sprinted, and prepared to try out for a new professional women’s football league.
Women’s football? “What’s this?” I asked myself. Is it like powder puff, the game I tried to organize as a fundraiser in high school with other girls? I tried, but in the end, the game fell flat on its face because we could never get it together.
Or would it be like tag football, the fifth- and sixth-grade PE game we used to play with boys and girls running around grabbing a colorful ribbon from somebody’s waist?
I soon found out this was the real deal. I would not find any ribbons in this game, nor would this be a fundraiser. It was going to be full-contact football, just with women.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think women playing football is a great idea, something that’s never been done before, but I had to ask the coach (in not so many words): “How are you going to get rid of the stereotype of big-breasted, beautiful women running around in tight clothing, wrestling in mud together?”
“Hey, this ain’t no powder-puffin’. It’s just as fast … as strong … as men’s football,” owner and manager Randall Field said. Field stressed the point that the women trying out were “full-fledged athletes” and were going to be “more vicious than men playing football.”
As women assembled on the field, coach Osbourn Thomas, in an attempt to gain their attention, called out “Hey guys!” Then, after a brief pause, he corrected himself, saying, “Ladies,” followed by a brief smile and a laugh. I can see Thomas is going to take some time adjusting to the fact that females are now going to be running the show — literally.
As I watched women of all ages, heights, weights, hair colors, nail colors, bra sizes, and shoe sizes run 40-yard sprints, I realized they meant business. I reminisced about one of my favorite all-time movies, “A League of Their Own.” You know, the one starring Tom Hanks, Madonna, Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donnell, and a bunch of other people, playing in the first-ever all-women professional baseball league. Hanks has a hard time coaching feminine characters in a male-dominated sport, but the women drive on with spirit and charisma. I love that movie! Go women! I asked some of the prospective players what their thoughts were about being in the first-ever professional Women’s American Football League.
“I think it’s fun. It’s a good opportunity for women to get out and play some ball,” said Christie Hardenbrook. Hardenbrook, along with other women, said she had always wanted to play football. Well, now I guess this is their chance.
As Thomas gave the team a five-minute break, I wandered to the sideline to talk to some women getting a drink of water, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Player Cindy Ottley’s knee was covered in clumps of turf and bright red blood. She sat calmly, but I freaked out.
“I dove for a pass … it’s all right,” she said. “I played soccer and was goalie. It’s part of sports.”
Ottley did not need any assistance, not even a Band-Aid. When I asked Ottley what position she hoped to play, she responded, “Hopefully I’ll be a linebacker, so I can hit people.”
I definitely do not want to get on her bad side.
This team is for real — women are going to play football. There’s not going to be make-up or pretty jewelry, and whining will not be tolerated. These are the criteria of the Oregon Unforgiven, one of two teams in the new Women’s American Football League from Oregon. The other team hails from Portland, known as the Rose City Wildcats.
The 40 or so young women standing on the turf eagerly awaited their next order to do push-ups, sprints, shuttle runs or passes. They weren’t as ready to go home as I was. I admired their stamina.
As tryouts were coming to an end and I was exhausted from just standing around, Thomas yelled out, “This is the fourth quarter. This is where we get better. I want every second to count.”
Every second to count, I thought. I’ve been out here for two hours. I’m tired, let me go home.
I am proud of my fellow females for doing something they’ve never been given the chance to do: play a sport that only men, up until now, have excelled in.
As I packed up my stuff to go home for the day, I remembered what Amy Howard told me before tryouts: “All my girliness is at home.”
Well Amy, all MY girliness is going home. Today, I will do my nails, primp my hair, and watch my eight-minute-abs tape. I will turn on re-runs of “Saved by the Bell” and relax. But I will not be playing football. Let it be said that I support those women who had the foot-“balls” to try out.