Pigskins and Ponytails
Courtesy of the Chicago Force
With 37 seconds to go in the 2011 National Football Conference Championship, Chicago Bears backup quarterback Caleb Hanie dropped back and launched a ball that landed firmly in the hands of Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields. And with that turnover, the Bears’ season effectively came to a close, a disappointing result for most Chicago football fans. Yet many of those fans don’t know that Chicago football is in the midst of a historic year—they’ve just been watching the wrong game.
The Chicago Force, the city’s sole female professional tackle football team, is currently un-defeated in their division of the Women’s Football Alliance, busting through gender barriers like they bust through an offensive line. With two games left in the regular season, the Chicago Force is looking to do some damage in the summer playoffs in hopes of one-upping their male counterparts in the city while redeeming the team for their loss in the women’s league championship in 2008.
The team, founded in 2003, is comprised of 63 female players ranging in age from 22 to 45. By day the women work in a wide variety of professions, including education, law, and law-enforcement. After hours, however, these women practice throwing the pigskin and knock each other around with the force of a full-speed freight train.
The Force calls the North Side’s Jorndt Field—and its recently renovated stadium—their home. The team practices three times a week at different areas around Chicago from Bensenville to Melrose Park. And with an intense workout that includes weight and strength training, they are certainly built for the job. Some members on their defensive line could give a 250-pound NFL player a run for his money. “I sometimes feel like I’ve been hit by females harder than some males,” team member Rosalyn Bennett says. She is one of two South Side educators looking to help the team reach the championship again.
Kina Brown / Courtesy of the Chicago Force
Kina Brown, defensive end on the Force, works as a physical education and wellness teacher at the University of Chicago’s Woodlawn Charter School. Before her football career began this year, Brown played basketball in cities like Birmingham, Dallas, and Chicago for various teams in the National Women’s Basketball League, as well as overseas. Brown enjoys the relationship she has with her students, a good number of whom know she plays football. “They think I’m younger than I look,” said the slim, six-foot-tall defensive end with all smiles. “They thought it was a big deal and yeah, they really think it’s pretty cool.”
Rosalyn Bennett also comes from the South Side and is currently the dean of students at Walter H. Dyett High School in the Hyde Park/Kenwood area. This offensive line-woman, the league’s 2007 Rookie of the Year, played volleyball competitively in college at Alabama State University and has regularly participated in other sports such as softball and bowling.
Bennett takes her job in education seriously, and playing on the Force does have its advantages in that regard. She explained when working with children, she has to have a certain tough persona in order to gain their respect. As someone who deals with having to protect her head from being knocked off her shoulders by monstrous women every week, her students definitely know that she means business. “I think [the students] were a little bit impressed I would take on that endeavor and do quite well with it.” Bennett, while admitting that she tries to keep her football career separate from her work, sees it as an opportunity to become an example for young girls. “Right now we’re opening the doors for other girls to continue the movement,” she says, “I think a couple years from now, you’re going to see a lot of girls start to venture out there and play football.”
Although the bleachers are rarely filled for their games, the two players expressed their appreciation for Force fans throughout the city. Brown highlighted the fact that fan support has been increasing: “People are intrigued by it—very curious. They’re very supportive.” But there is still a lot of room for growth, both in terms of support and participation. “More and more women are playing, more people are hearing about it. It’s getting more exposure. It’s a pretty big deal—bigger deal than I thought,” said Brown. “I think it’s going to continue to grow and I think it’s going to continue to get stronger. It’s here to stay.”
