Ever since I can remember I have always been drawn to the game of football. As a skinny little blonde haired blue eyed girl many thought this was odd. I didn’t even have any brothers to blame this so called “boyish” liking on. I just decided early on that football was the sport for me. I dreamed of the day when I would get to put on those pads and have people cheer my name on Friday Nights under the big lights at the town high school.
Unfortunately as I grew older I learned that almost everyone thought I had the wrong dream. I begged my mother to allow me to play football in middle school but she wouldn’t hear of it. “It’s to dangerous” or “Those boys are too rough” was all I heard from her. When I would try to play football at recess with the boys most of them would refuse to pass to me, thinking I was useless.
By high school I had pretty much abandoned my dream of one day putting on those shoulder pads that I so yearned to wear. I gave up and did what high school girls are supposed to do; I put on my boyfriends away football jersey and cheered for him every Friday night from the stands. It seemed that no matter how much I wanted to play there just weren’t any football opportunities out there for women.
Then in the winter of my senior year I stumbled across the website for the Wisconsin Wolves Women’s Football Team, I was almost shaking with excitement as I scrolled through the website. It appeared that this was a full contact, full padded, all women’s football team. I immediately contacted the head coach and went down for a try out. I was nervous that this team was too good to be true, and I still had doubts that there was legit full tackle football out there for women.
A tryout and about 4 months later I’m the starting right corner back for the Wisconsin Wolves Women’s Tackle Football Team. I contacted a girl who I heard had tried to play football for my high school but was turned away by the head coach, and we, along with another classmate, make the hour and a half drive to Wausau Wisconsin three times a week for practices and games. The gas and equipment are expensive but I wouldn’t trade this opportunity for anything in the world.
The Wolves are a part of the WFA, Women’s Football Alliance. There are 62 teams in the league all over the United States. I was amazed to find that there are hundreds if not thousands of women who share the same dream as me. My team consists of women of all different ages and walks of life. We have everything from 18 year old high school kids, to a 30 year old firefighter, to a 47 year old school teacher. We are not heroic or special but we all share a common passion and the desire to prove that football isn’t just a “man’s sport”. We play for the love of the game and the hopes that by putting ourselves out there we can show people that women are tough enough to do anything. Whether your passion is dancing, or fashion, or even football; we believe that anyone should have the opportunity to pursue whatever dream they may have.
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