They tackle like men and catch the football just like their male counterparts.
But it’s the ponytails that hang down from below their helmets that give the biggest clue to spectators in the stands that these players are women playing football, not men.
A Winnipeg based women’s football team called Manitoba Fearless draws a handful of players from outside the city’s perimeter highway. These four women come from a variety of backgrounds, but all share the same passion for a game that has been dominated over the years by male players until now.
Ashley Sharpe is a Winnipeg resident, but an elementary school teacher at West St. Paul School. Kelly-Lee Smith lives in Lockport and runs an employment agency. Cynthia Gibson moved to the RM of St. Clements in 2010 and graduated with a bachelor of science from the University of Manitoba in 2000. Pauline Olynik lives in Oakville and is a message therapist.
Things have changes drastically since those humble beginnings. Now there are a total of nine teams in the league - five teams make up the Western Conference and four teams make up the Prairie Conference.
“This year we have a lot of younger players - lots of players come from touch football,” said Wilson. “We have lot of smart athletic players.”
Manitoba Fearless took on the top team in the league - the Saskatoon Valkyries this past weekend as the conference match up was held May 19 in Winnipeg at the East Side Eagles Field. The Valkyries defeated Manitoba 44-0 in front of nearly 100 spectators.
“It just wasn’t clicking for me today, but that’s just me,” said Sharpe, who is a defensive lineman on the team.
Sharpe, 33, says the biggest reason for her to lace up her football cleats was the fact that wanted the motivation from a team sport to get back into competitive physical activity. She explained the key for her to have success on the football field is to follow through on the techniques she’s been taught by the coaching staff.
“It’s a new challenge and I like new challenges,” said Sharpe. “There is so much to know and to understand. I’m pleased with my progress - I’m always hard on myself.”
This year’s player roster for the Fearless includes 47 players and according to Olynik, it’s the largest the team’s has enjoyed in its six years as a football squad.
Olynik, 38, is playing in her fourth season as a member of Fearless and plays the position of defensive back. She says that football is an emotion sport and that when a group of women get together to play it’s double the emotions on the football field.
“It’s a young team with a lot of rookies and lots of growing pains,” said Olynnik. “It we hang onto a lot of the girls, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
