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Jane Herrin enjoys a challenge and likes getting physical. Especially on the football field. That’s why she tried out for the Tennessee Valley Tigers, Huntsville’s professional women’s football team.
The Tigers recently held an open day of tryouts in preparation for its 2010 season. Tryouts were at D-1 Training Facility in south Huntsville. Herrin and Christina Whitney, both from Madison, were among more than 30 women who tried out. Herrin has played with the team for three seasons. Whitney was a rookie last season when the Tigers posted a 5-3 record as part of the Independent Women’s Football League.
"I used to think football was just a guy’s sport," said Herrin, 36. "I’ve always been a sort of tomboy, so I tried playing and now look forward to making the team roster again."
Whitney, 27, couldn’t complete her rookie season as place kicker due to a severe left ankle injury that occurred in the third game of the 2009 season. She has gone through an extensive off-season exercise routine to get back in condition.
"Actually at the tryout was the first time I ran on the injured ankle and it felt pretty good," Whitney said.
At the tryout, each participant was put through a cluster of physical tests under the watchful eyes of the sports training staff at D-1 Sports Training. Each woman was tested for speed in the timing of the 40-yard dash, core strength with the medicine ball throw, agility in the L-Drill, and the 5-10-5 drill, which tested each player in speed and agility.
After individual testing, the group broke into skill tests by position to try and determine where each player might fit on the team.
"I’m a lineman and I tried to tell the other women on hand at the tryout to do not compare themselves to others because the game features all shapes and sizes of necessary players that make up the sport, an aspect of the sport that I love," Herrin said. "I also told others that this football is much different than the backyard-touch football they may have played in. This is real hard-hitting, full-contact football with helmets and pads."
Herrin graduated from Bob Jones High School in 1991. She works at a call center for the West Company, which handles insurance businesses. She is pursuing a master’s degree in accounting.
Whitney works as an assistant manager at Aeropostale, a retail clothing store at Madison Square Mall. She has earned four college degrees and would love to one day be a buyer for a large clothing company.
She played soccer in high school, was on the female weightlifting team and has coached youth soccer in Madison. "Playing football is almost like a miracle for me," Whitney said, "considering an incredible situation at birth."
She was born with her intestines on the outside of her body. The deformity required extensive surgery, including inserting her appendix onto the opposite of her body that it’s usually situated. Whitney said somehow through the years, her appendix has worked its way to the correct side of her body.
"The birth defect has not affected me in any way with playing football," Whitney said. "I’m very excited about making the team for our next season of action."
The Tigers will continue off-season workouts once a week. Preseason practice begins in January. The season runs from April through June, with home games played at Milton Frank Stadium in Huntsville. The team Web site is www.tigersiwfl.com.
The Lone Star Mustangs will be having a cook-out by the Lake at Lynn Creek Park in
Grand Prairie, TX on Saturday August 8, 2009 starting at 11:00 AM. This park is on the
shore of Joe Poole Lake! Fans, friends, family members of all ages, players, potential
players, coaches, former or current are welcome to attend this party! The Mustangs will be
selling hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken plates! The plates include the sides and
the drink. BYOB if you desire. We will be on a swim beach with easy access to boat ramps,
a local marina, and open areas for games. Prices on food plates will be $8 for adults and
$4 for kids.
Please RSVP with approximate numbers as soon as you can via email to
info@lonestarmustangs.com or call at 972-513-6233.
It was a game of powder puff football her senior year that first turned East High School graduate Brianna Robinson on to the sport.
She had always enjoyed watching college football on television, but the thought of being on the field, in the game, had never crossed her mind.
Then she heard about the Iowa Thunder, one of two women’s football leagues in Des Moines.
"Me and my friends thought it would be cool to start playing football," Robinson, 18, said.
Robinson went to the tryouts for the startup team with little knowledge of how the game was played – and a lot of doubt that she would actually make the team.
But the coaches saw potential.
Robinson now plays defensive tackle for the 37-player team. She is the Iowa Thunder’s youngest player.
"Everybody thinks it’s really cool. Not many people knew there’s women’s football," Robinson said.
The Iowa Thunder starts its second year in the Women’s Football Alliance this summer.
The team is owned by William Grimes, who also serves as the head coach. Grimes started the Thunder last year in response to a need in the area for a competitive women’s team, he said.
"A lot of women’s teams are formed with a rec feel to it. My team was formed to win," he said.
So far, they’ve done just that. The women had a winning season last year and the team boasted the league MVP and 10 All-Americans.
"Most fans are surprised when they come to a game," Grimes said. "The speed is obviously not the same as men … but it’s still a very exciting, fast-paced moving game."
People are also sometimes surprised about the types of women who play on the team, he said. The players on the Thunder range from 18 to 45 years old. They are mothers, daughters, teachers and students. Some were avid football fans before joining; others knew nothing about the sport.
"They’re just regular women," Grimes said. "They have regular jobs, regular emotions, kids … just regular people. They just have a passion to play football."
Melissa Grimes, who is a captain on the team, said she gets two different reactions when she tells people she plays football: That of amazement and that of shock.
"I love it. It gives us an opportunity to teach people what we know," she said. "By doing that, it kind of spreads around."
News of the sport has spread quickly in Des Moines, Grimes said. Some Thunder games drew more than 1,000 people to their home turf at Johnston High School last year.
"I think people are seeing it more and getting more interested and seeing it’s real football," Robinson said.
Iowa Thunder
The Iowa Thunder is part of the Women’s Football Alliance. The team is currently made up of 37 players and 12 coaches.
SCHEDULE: Home games are played at Johnston High School. The season includes four home and four away games.
TRYOUTS: The team will look at potential players at 9 a.m. Aug. 1 at Jordan Creek Park. Participants will be tested on their speed, strength and agility.
COST: A one-time tryout fee is $50.
WEB SITE: www.hometeams online.com. Under "find a team" type in Iowa Thunder football. (The calendar includes information about Iowa Lightning, a nonprofit minor league men’s football team in Des Moines.)
LOCAL PLAYERS: Team members come from several states. Players from the Greater Des Moines area are: Andrea Eilertson, Ankeny; Rachel Stokka, Johnston; Kendra Paul, Clive; Ashley Sumner, West Des Moines; and Danielle Zenor, Sara Trammel, Lulu Keo, Brianna Robinson, Brandy Gray, Love Brown, Robin Jones, Kristy Sorg and Erin Wilson, all of Des Moines.
LEARN MORE: Call William Grimes at 963-0001.
Al you can eat BBQ, Burgs, Dogs, music, fun and dunk tank…help celebrate the Mayhem’s Conference Championship and support their effort in heading to New Orleans in their quest for a ring.
Al you can eat BBQ, Burgs, Dogs, music, fun and dunk tank…help celebrate the Mayhem’s Conference Championship and support their effort in heading to New Orleans in their quest for a ring.
A WOMAN’S WORLD:
Schmidt a star in showcase of women’s football Saturday By ARIC ALLEN Special to the Round Rock Leader Round Rock’s introduction to women’s football ended in dramatic form Saturday, with Kansas City holding on to topple previously unbeaten D.C. The K.C. Tribe defeated the D.C. Divas 21-18 in the Independent Women’s Football League World Championship game at the Round Rock ISD Athletic Complex Saturday. The Tribe, which finished the season 10-1, was led by first-year quarterback Jenny Schmidt, one of the most prolific passers in the IWFL. In her first year in the league she passed for 3,030 yards and 41 touchdowns while only throwing 10 interceptions. Schmidt didn’t disappoint in the championship; she completed 16 of 28 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns. She also rushed for a touchdown from 2 yards out.
A WOMAN’S WORLD:
Schmidt a star in showcase of women’s football Saturday By ARIC ALLEN Special to the Round Rock Leader Round Rock’s introduction to women’s football ended in dramatic form Saturday, with Kansas City holding on to topple previously unbeaten D.C. The K.C. Tribe defeated the D.C. Divas 21-18 in the Independent Women’s Football League World Championship game at the Round Rock ISD Athletic Complex Saturday. The Tribe, which finished the season 10-1, was led by first-year quarterback Jenny Schmidt, one of the most prolific passers in the IWFL. In her first year in the league she passed for 3,030 yards and 41 touchdowns while only throwing 10 interceptions. Schmidt didn’t disappoint in the championship; she completed 16 of 28 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns. She also rushed for a touchdown from 2 yards out.
The Philadelphia Liberty Belles – of the Women’s Football Alliance semipro tackle league – squandered a fourth-quarter lead and fell to the Western Michigan Mayhem, 28-21, in the National Conference championship game in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Saturday.
Western Michigan’s Lisa Ludtke intercepted a pass on the Liberty Belles’ 44-yard line to set up the game-winning drive early in the final quarter.
Marirose Roach, the Belles’ leading rusher, scored her team’s first two touchdowns on a 13-yard run and 60-yard reception. Jeannette Hibbs motored for 70 yards for the Belles’ go-ahead score in the third quarter. A win on Saturday would have given the Belles (9-1) a trip to New Orleans for the WFA National Championship game on Aug. 15.
Instead, Western Michigan (10-0) will meet the St. Louis Slam (9-0) for the league title. The Slam defeated the Jacksonville Dixie Blues (9-1), 40-32, in the American Conference championship in Oakville, St. Louis, on Saturday.
Just making sure others can see this instead of it being like a page 22 somewhere on the internet….Women’s Tackle Football rules!!
The Philadelphia Liberty Belles – of the Women’s Football Alliance semipro tackle league – squandered a fourth-quarter lead and fell to the Western Michigan Mayhem, 28-21, in the National Conference championship game in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Saturday.
Western Michigan’s Lisa Ludtke intercepted a pass on the Liberty Belles’ 44-yard line to set up the game-winning drive early in the final quarter.
Marirose Roach, the Belles’ leading rusher, scored her team’s first two touchdowns on a 13-yard run and 60-yard reception. Jeannette Hibbs motored for 70 yards for the Belles’ go-ahead score in the third quarter. A win on Saturday would have given the Belles (9-1) a trip to New Orleans for the WFA National Championship game on Aug. 15.
Instead, Western Michigan (10-0) will meet the St. Louis Slam (9-0) for the league title. The Slam defeated the Jacksonville Dixie Blues (9-1), 40-32, in the American Conference championship in Oakville, St. Louis, on Saturday.
Just making sure others can see this instead of it being like a page 22 somewhere on the internet….Women’s Tackle Football rules!!
8/24 to present WFA related material for a display. We will be featured on the HOF website and allowed to do a clinic at adjacent Fawcett Stadium. I am asking all teams WFA, IWFL) if they wish to contribute anything for the display or be there with us to contact me.
John Evans
Head Coach / CoOwner
Binghamton Tiger Cats
jevans@sjfc.edu
more details and a press release coming soon, stay tuned….
8/24 to present WFA related material for a display. We will be featured on the HOF website and allowed to do a clinic at adjacent Fawcett Stadium. I am asking all teams WFA, IWFL) if they wish to contribute anything for the display or be there with us to contact me.
John Evans
Head Coach / CoOwner
Binghamton Tiger Cats
jevans@sjfc.edu
more details and a press release coming soon, stay tuned….
WHITE PLAINS – Having the ball, or going to get the ball, was always Leslie Busch’s strength. She could run and she had an excellent pair of hands, and that’s what made her an all-Section softball center fielder at White Plains High, and a basketball and field hockey player, as well.
Even in the many 3-on-3 family touch-football games in the street outside her White Plains home – where the telephone poles marked the end zones – she loved to catch the ball and run with it.
But it wasn’t until 2007 when Busch discovered hunting a ball carrier. She had graduated from the University at Albany (where she played softball), and was living temporarily in Queens (she is an assistant athletic director at Queens College) when she and some friends heard about a women’s tackle football team in New Jersey, and decided to try out.
That was when Busch was made a linebacker.
“When I used to play outside with my family, I always loved running and catching the ball,” she said. “It’s something I always found so much joy in. But when I started playing outside linebacker – and just the feeling of watching somebody running with the ball and hitting them behind the line of scrimmage and knocking them down – I don’t know if there’s anything better than that.”
Well, maybe doing it in the Independent Women’s Football League championship game. Busch, 24, who also plays the slot in a spread offense, and her new team, the Jersey Justice, will carpool to Montreal tomorrow – bunking four players to a room – and play the defending Tier II champion Blitz Saturday in a regional (semifinal) playoff game. The winner goes to Round Rock, Texas, in two weeks to play for the IWFL Tier II title.
The IWFL has been around since 2000, now boasting 41 teams in two tiers in North America. This is the first season for the Justice, because Busch and some of her teammates on the New Jersey Titans of the since-folded Women’s Professional Football League decided to break off and start their own team after one season, in 2007.
Busch, who plans to begin working on her master’s at Columbia in the fall, became the team’s general manager, and had to arrange tryouts and set up a Web site (justicefootball.com). She wanted to have some pink in the uniforms, because she thought it would be cool, so the Justice wear black, pink and gray. She brought with her ex-Titans coach Gene Basile and assistant coach Bill Lockward, who is the Justice’s owner.
Though the IWFL considers itself a “pro” league, nobody’s getting paid. The coaches and players and support staff all volunteer and pay all their own expenses, and in fact many teams require their players to pay fees of up to and beyond $1,000 per season. The Justice instead did fund-raising: packing groceries, selling watermelons, etc.
Their roster is small – 16 or 17 players each week; 14 at the start of the divisional game two weeks ago when two players got lost driving to Medway, Mass. – so most players play offense and defense.
Busch, in that 30-7 win over the New England Intensity, had five carries for 93 yards, and caught six passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns. She attributes the numbers to New England trying to shut down standout quarterback Maegan Larsen, who played softball with Busch in college.
The league gets a little publicity – one shining moment was an 80-yard touchdown catch and run by a 40-year-old grandmother of seven who plays for the Washington Divas. It was replayed on TV news across the country.
The Justice have one player pushing 40, but most are between 20-32. They include lawyers and detectives and insurance salespeople. They are athletes from other sports – basketball, softball, rugby and soccer – transformed into a new sport.
“I watch a lot of football,” said Busch, a Jets fan. “But I don’t think I really understood the complexities of the game until I played. There’s a lot of thinking that goes into it. My knowledge of the sport has expanded considerably.
“My father tells me, ‘It just seems you’re made for this sport. Of all the sports you’ve played, this one fits you the best.’ ”
Leslie Busch of White Plains and her Jersey Justice teammates will play the Montreal Blitz tomorrow in an Independent Women’s Football League Tier II semifinal in Montreal. (Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News)
VICKSBURG – There were new faces this year but the same result for the West Michigan Mayhem women’s football team — a perfect regular season.
After losing 13 players from last year’s National Women’s Football Association runner-up team, the Mayhem brought in 12 rookies, many of whom had never played organized football, to play in the Women’s Football Alliance.
Coach Matt Koch said that the newcomers’ impact has been incredible, especially on a stifling defense that has allowed just 15 points throughout the 8-0 season.
The Mayhem “D” will need the rookies to continue to contribute heading into the first-round playoff game against unbeaten Columbus on Saturday at Vicksburg High School.
One of those rookies, strong safety Ashley Andrews, is second on the team in tackles, despite having never set foot on a football field until this year.
“It was a lot of learning,” she said. “And the veterans knew, so they were very helpful. They had to teach us (rookies), since we were coming in not having played before.”
Andrews, who was a multi-sport athlete in high school and is a Marine, plays alongside four-year veteran free safety Lisa Luedtke. The two have developed good chemistry on and off the field.
Luedtke praised Andrews’ effort on the practice field and in studying the game, and she said the work has shown on game days.
“It’s funny, because (safeties) are usually known as the last resort, but Ashley is one of the first people in there; she’s in there with every linebacker,” Luedkte said. “The girl is absolutely fearless.”
Andrews feels more at ease playing next to a veteran.
“It’s great,” she said. “(Luedtke) helps out on every play on defense. She’s yelling out calls for what we have to do. She’s helpful because she always knows what we need to do.”
Luedtke is one of four team captains who Koch said have been instrumental in teaching the newcomers. The others are Angie Bailey on the offensive and defensive lines, linebacker Jennifer Plummer and quarterback Jody Markwart.
“I couldn’t ask for four better people,” Koch said about his captains. “Their teammates know they can rely on them and trust them. Those rookies look up to them. It says a lot about their character.”
Rookie Katie Sowers remembers early in the season when Luedtke and Plummer led study sessions to teach the rookies the basics, starting with the positions on the field.
“The veterans have been awesome,” Sowers said. “I feel like they are my second family. They have taken us in and taught us the ropes.”
The training is starting to pay off for Sowers. She had a three-interception game in the regular-season finale, a 21-0 win over Indiana.
“It was exciting for me, because I’ve been wanting to have that breakout game to show that I can really help this team,” she said.
Sowers’ twin sister, Liz, also is a rookie on the team and has contributed as a shutdown corner.
“It’s been an incredible rookie class. A minimum of half of our defense out there the entire game are rookies,” said Plummer, who leads the team in tackles. “So that’s incredible that a 50-percent rookie defense can come together with the veterans and still, in eight games, only allow 15 points.”
VICKSBURG – There were new faces this year but the same result for the West Michigan Mayhem women’s football team — a perfect regular season.
After losing 13 players from last year’s National Women’s Football Association runner-up team, the Mayhem brought in 12 rookies, many of whom had never played organized football, to play in the Women’s Football Alliance.
Coach Matt Koch said that the newcomers’ impact has been incredible, especially on a stifling defense that has allowed just 15 points throughout the 8-0 season.
The Mayhem “D” will need the rookies to continue to contribute heading into the first-round playoff game against unbeaten Columbus on Saturday at Vicksburg High School.
One of those rookies, strong safety Ashley Andrews, is second on the team in tackles, despite having never set foot on a football field until this year.
“It was a lot of learning,” she said. “And the veterans knew, so they were very helpful. They had to teach us (rookies), since we were coming in not having played before.”
Andrews, who was a multi-sport athlete in high school and is a Marine, plays alongside four-year veteran free safety Lisa Luedtke. The two have developed good chemistry on and off the field.
Luedtke praised Andrews’ effort on the practice field and in studying the game, and she said the work has shown on game days.
“It’s funny, because (safeties) are usually known as the last resort, but Ashley is one of the first people in there; she’s in there with every linebacker,” Luedkte said. “The girl is absolutely fearless.”
Andrews feels more at ease playing next to a veteran.
“It’s great,” she said. “(Luedtke) helps out on every play on defense. She’s yelling out calls for what we have to do. She’s helpful because she always knows what we need to do.”
Luedtke is one of four team captains who Koch said have been instrumental in teaching the newcomers. The others are Angie Bailey on the offensive and defensive lines, linebacker Jennifer Plummer and quarterback Jody Markwart.
“I couldn’t ask for four better people,” Koch said about his captains. “Their teammates know they can rely on them and trust them. Those rookies look up to them. It says a lot about their character.”
Rookie Katie Sowers remembers early in the season when Luedtke and Plummer led study sessions to teach the rookies the basics, starting with the positions on the field.
“The veterans have been awesome,” Sowers said. “I feel like they are my second family. They have taken us in and taught us the ropes.”
The training is starting to pay off for Sowers. She had a three-interception game in the regular-season finale, a 21-0 win over Indiana.
“It was exciting for me, because I’ve been wanting to have that breakout game to show that I can really help this team,” she said.
Sowers’ twin sister, Liz, also is a rookie on the team and has contributed as a shutdown corner.
“It’s been an incredible rookie class. A minimum of half of our defense out there the entire game are rookies,” said Plummer, who leads the team in tackles. “So that’s incredible that a 50-percent rookie defense can come together with the veterans and still, in eight games, only allow 15 points.”
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