From the time
she can remember, Cheryl Fields has always loved football.
It didn’t matter if she wasn't sitting in front of
a big screen television or she was bumping around with
other players during a fun game in a park or backyard,
football is Ms. Fields love.
The love has carried her to fight for a professional women’s
football team in Kansas City.
Wishes granted.
Ms. Fields is the general manager for the Kansas City
expansion team that will be playing in the National Women’s
Football League (NWFL), which is a professional league
for women interested in playing football. Kansas City
is one of 30 teams that will make up the league. Kansas
City is just one of several expansion teams in the league.
Texas and Chicago have recently joined the league and
teams from Iowa and Evansville, Ill., also plan to get
in on the party.
Thanks to the Women’s National Basketball Association
(WNBA), leagues such as the NWFL as well as the women’s
professional soccer league may be avenues for the sports-hungry
female.
Ms. Fields, an African American, hopes the addition of
a women’s professional football team in Kansas City
will give area females a chance to strut their stuff,
just like the WNBA ladies.
""The WNBA has really helped this league out
a lot," said Ms. Fields, who recently moved to Overland
Park, Kas., from Topeka, Kas.
Ms. Fields says that getting a professional team in Kansas
City was tough. When she started her journey, she remembers
the jeers and the downright cruel remarks she get regularly.
"I had been involved with football since the early
1990s," she said. "I was trying to organize
a team here and all I would get is condescending remarks.
I get statements like, "no one will come to see females
play football. Even potential players at the time were
hesitant about the idea."
Not anymore.
At the first tryout camp held a month ago, 20 women showed
up said Ms. Fields. A second tryout brought out 60 women
with over 100 people standing on the sideline watching.
A third tryout is slated for October 12 at 125th and State
avenue in Kansas City, Kas., between 4 and 8 p.m. Ms.
Fields anticipates up to 75 new players trying out for
one of 45 roster spots.
Ms. Fields enjoys all the stuff that many women enjoy
-- cooking, entertaining, writing, public speaking and
traveling. But she’ll tell you football is something
she loves.
"I’ve always enjoyed football. I’ve been
an NFL fan for years. I’ve always wanted to play
or give someone else a chance to play for some time."
That chance has arrived.
