On a beautiful
Sunday afternoon at the Ann Arbor Pioneer High School practice
field, sporting activity was everywhere: soccer, baseball, tennis,
little league football and most important, SPITFIRE FOOTBALL!
Fourteen women and four coaches came to work this morning. After
warm-ups the squad broke into offensive groups with backs and
receivers going one way, and the linewomen going the other.
The hands look good
on the receiving side of the ball. The veterans have still got it
and those rookies are working hard – some even trying to get some
one-on-one practice with the coaching staff. “Block first, watch the
ball, catch the ball and run”, the rookie tight end was told.
more...
Full contact what?
Tree Town who? Have you lost your mind? These are the questions
that flooded my brain when my husband called me one Saturday morning
and told me he ran into a recruiter from a local women’s football
team. He said that the recruiter paid more attention to him than
his female coworkers once he mentioned that his wife would be
interested!
I think my husband
was more excited than I was at the time. I was not sure if it was
something I really wanted to do or whether I could actually squeeze
it into my schedule. I had just retired about 7 months ago to stay
home and be my husband’s right-hand-woman as he pursues a doctorate
degree. Did I really want to commit to something that seemed to
need more from me that I thought I could give? What if I got
hurt? I mean, this is full contact tackle football…no little flags
hanging from your hips.
more...
PLAYER
SPOTLIGHT:
SANDI
“ONE-EYE” BOWEN
By Erin Throneberry
A 7th grade Sandi Waters was asked to jot
down which sports she might be interested in playing for the year. A
friend suggested she write football because she was a big fan of the sport. As her teacher
(who turned out to be the football coach) walked around and saw her
answer he told her to “pick another sport.” For the next several
years she did just that; she played basketball, soccer, ran track
and field, but the football bug was festering underneath. In 2002
her husband Glen saw an article in the newspaper about tryouts for a
new woman’s football team and she knew she had to tryout. Six years
later she is still with the same team. Coach Val was asked about
Sandi’s leadership and has said that since the middle of the 2003
season she has lead by example by being at practice and working hard
so that she and her teammates become better football players. Even
in the face of an overwhelming situation “Sandi maintains a positive
outlook, digs deep, and does her best.”
more...
THREE
AND OUT -
FOOTBALL THE COACH TED WAY
By Ted Moore
We had a very good
turnout for the October 7th practice, but we still need more line
players. In my opinion, the line is the best place to play because
of the constant action and the fact that you always get to hit
someone until the play is over!
Our lone returning
starter from last year is Shirley Davis, a 2-year veteran. Nose
guard is Shirley’s best position because her raw strength makes it
very hard for just one person to move her out of the way for runs up
the middle. Shirley was put in the nose guard position her first
year against Milwaukee and shut down their bunch offense.
more...
Sponsor your favorite player or the team!!!
It takes a community...
Click on the name of your desired sponsorship level
Smoke $25 Name in program and message to player/team
Spark $50 Name in program, message to player/team,
and one season pass or Spitfire T-shirt
Flame$100 Name in program, message to player/team, and two
