San Diego women eager to have people watch, look past gender and see that it's just football, even if some players have ponytails
If you were to ask anyone on the San Diego Rebellion what they wish more people knew about women’s tackle football, it’d be this: that it exists.
Now, San Diego’s roster is 53 strong, a little larger than league average, according to Brandon Archie, the team’s head coach. And from the start the veterans made it clear: The goal was to win a championship. “I’ve met so many amazing women playing football ... I’m blown away all the time who’s out here and what they do on the outside in their real life, which we sometimes don’t really have a chance to talk about too often,” Munoa said.
The offensive line for the San Diego Rebellion, as well as the team’s running backs, sit together in front of a television screen as they watch film at offensive lineman Becky Munoa’s house in May. “We tell everybody, we just flip the blank page for anyone that comes on to the team,” said Ott. “You come in, you want to be part of this, you want to buy into what we’re doing here, we’d love to have you.”
“I looked for a little bit of everything just to try to connect me back to who I am and the type of person I am with the sport because this is my passion, this is what I love to do and this is the only reason I continue on playing,” she said. Adriana Gutierrez, one of the team’s running backs, was selected to compete in the International Federation of American Football’s Women’s World Championships in Vantaa, Finland, this summer. She’ll need to pay her own way, including player fees, travel, food and training camp in Ohio. Gutierrez has established a GoFundMe to cover the approximately $6,000 cost.
A friend from high school initially encouraged Chambers to play football after college. By 2012, she was on the San Diego Surge and won Rookie of the Year honors. Football found its way into Chambers’ life again as she began coaching the sport at Patrick Henry High School. Martin and Ott cite live-streaming as a boon to the public’s awareness of and access to women’s football. Rebellion was the first team in the WNFC to stream its games online, first on Facebook and later partnering with a live-stream company, Vyre Network. Ott said that the live streaming has helped connect the team with new fans, as well as those who come to support the team because they know a player personally.
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