Playing Football Not Just For Boys
Girls, women step off the sidelines to play in their own games
Football isn't just for boys anymore. Girls and women are becoming serious football competitors.
Perhaps football's glass ceiling hasn't shattered yet, but there is certainly a large spiderweb crack. With the creation of teams just for them, the movement amongst girls and women toward playing organized football continues to grow.
Some girls clearly want to play and are denied parental permission, as evidenced by this entry in Yahoo! Answers. Others, such as Olympic soccer player Michelle Akers, wanted to play and were told they couldn't.
But the tide of denial and discouragement is clearly changing, as more and more opportunities for women and girls to play are becoming available.
Even the National Football League is getting involved. Last year, the NFL sponsored a girls' football camp at Giants Stadium. In some areas, NFL Flag Football is being offered in the offseason for girls, right alongside boys' programs.
Many high schools in Florida now offer flag football as a sport for girls. The girls' teams get newspaper coverage and compete for their own championships, just like teams for boys. The rules differ from tackle football; there are seven players on each side instead of 11, and fumbles do not exist because the ball is dead if it hits the ground. The focus is on the passing game.
Several professional leagues now exist for women wanting to play football.
The Women's Professional Football League, headquarted in football-crazy Texas, has added three new teams for 2007. The WPFL began holding professional women's tackle football games in 1999. The league attempts to model the men's professional game as much as possible.
The Independent Women's Football League is also adding a team in 2007 and presently has 31 teams. The IWFL was founded in 2000 with a focus on "providing opportunities for women to play this great American sport while providing exciting and progressive entertainment for the American public."
The National Women's Football Association boasts over 40 teams, with three expansion teams coming on board in 2008. Founded by Catherine Masters in 2000, the NWFA created the Gender Bowl, which features men and women players playing against each other. The Whammys, also created by the NWFA, were the first awards program for women football players.
Someday, perhaps there will be an organized path to follow for the little girls who would someday become professional football players. For now, at least they can start their own playing careers with the knowledge that they now have a professional-level goal to reach for.
