Back in March, the New Orleans Saints hosted the six-day, third annual Women’s World Football Games composed of 224 women from 17 countries. Athletes from Sweden, Spain, Cuba, Brazil, Japan, Great Britain, Denmark, China, and other nations gathered for this all-female football camp. But on October 1, as posted by the NFL’s Facebook page, the ladies have made plans to play during at Pro Bowl in Orlando, FL.
Twin sisters Katie and Liz Sowers, representing the United States are eager to show the world a new wave of women entering athletics in the 21st century. Liz, who is a personal trainer, wide receiver for the Kansas City Titans of the Women’s Football Alliance, and an assistant for USA Football says, “Society has this one way that women are supposed to be, [and] football is the exact opposite”.
Her sister Katie, who is the senior recreation director and athletics director of Kansas City Parks and Recreation, general manager and quarterback of the Kansas City Titans, and has recently served as a coaching intern with the Atlanta Falcons says, “Women are supposed to be passive, they’re supposed to be nurturing, but those are the boundaries that we’re working really hard to breakdown because women can be aggressive, they can be physical, and they can be athletes” says Katie Sowers.
Many of the women who have become a part of this new football team have made similar statements in regards to the current perception of women in contact sports.
“They don’t think we know football. We know football. We know our assignments, we know our alignments, we know our schemes” says Aspen Marshall, a 30-year-old corrections officer and lineman from Denver, CO.
The Women’s Football Alliance currently plays NCAA-style football rules, but it has sought the assistance of popular female coaches who have experience in the NFL. As stated above, Katie Sowers has interned for the Falcons this season, but they have also worked with Dr. Jennifer Welter, who became the first female coach in NFL history just last year.
I don’t think I realized just how hungry the women are to be great in this game”, says Welter.
While a live broadcast from the Pro Bowl will truly one giant leap for female-kind, it is only the first of many milestones waiting to be accomplished by female athletes, not solely in America, but across the world. It was not that long ago that football fans witnessed the uprising of their franchises beginning with players who were also the coaches, fighting for representation on cable television, and sampling wanting the admiration of their country.