October 20, 2000

Dear Diary,

It wasn’t many years ago that the term “football widow” was first coined. Whether it was being played or watched, football appeared to be one of the last bastions of malehood.

Well, lo and behold, here we are a generation later and football no longer belongs exclusively to men. It is watched regularly by women and, in fact, is now played by women. I am one of those women and I will try to tell the story of the Women’s Professional Football League during its inaugural season.

I was always an athlete. I grew up with three brothers and was always in competition with them. Early in my life I honed the skills which I now use regularly on the gridiron. Throughout high school and college, I was actively involved in athletic activities. Softball, volleyball, and basketball are all sports I competed in and did well in. I was always interested in football and when I could I would watch both college and pro, gaining from this an understanding of the game.

Still, unlike my male counterparts, I understood little of the physical side of football – what it felt like to hit or be hit, block, tackle, or dog it out in the last quarter of a game when you must reach deep inside yourself to maintain enough stamina to keep on going till the clock winds down.

I am learning that football involves a lot of thinking and actual classroom work. To learn plays, to repeat them and learn them until they become rote, is a big task that many people don’t realize. The game of football is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.

We have three practices a day and it takes a toll on my body. It’s a lot of hard work, but in the end I feel — as do my teammates — that we are breaking new ground, that we are pioneers embarking on a wonderful experience and a new exciting time for womanhood and for sports. Every ache and pain, every long night of studying X’s and O’s, will hopefully pay off one day when our league is fully recognized.

Finally, I think I should mention luck. Not the luck of being in this league, because that has occurred as a result of hard work, but the luck of timing. The luck of being born in this time and age where women are finally being recognized for their skills and athletic abilities. It is a great time to be a female athlete. I can’t wait until our first game of the season (October 22, 1 p.m.). New England Storm get ready, here come the New York Sharks!

All the best,

Donna