The “powderpuff” in their name notwithstanding, the University of Toronto’s Powderpuff Football Team are no softies. “At the end of the day, we all want to win; we want to do our best and want to be champions,” says Kathie Le, a rookie on the team.
Le and her teammates have limited opportunities to achieve those aims, though; the team only plays a couple of tournaments a year and is technically a club, even though they play against teams from other universities.
U of T will play host to a powderpuff tournament of its own on January 21. “This year’s the first time we’re hosting our own tournament,” explains Patrick Yan, president of the team.
York University and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology are the other two universities sending teams to the tournament. “We have an understanding that the other schools have an experienced team and a rookie team [at the tournament],” notes Jessica Ventura, a captain, key player, and vice-president, external for U of T’s team.
Having two separate teams is quite an achievement for a club that’s only in its second year. “We started last year,” confirms Yan. “The program was kind of fathered by the Varsity [Blues] football program — the men’s team. We pick coaches from the team and we come and coach up girls in ten-on-ten flag football.
“We’ve grown from about 25 girls [last year] to about 55 now, so it’s a big jump.”
Tiffany Russell, one of the team’s captains, can see the improvement. “Last year, we came from flag football backgrounds — no real contact, no blocking, no O-line, no D-line,” she explains. “So last year … being exposed to it for the first time, it was a little bit different. A lot of the girls didn’t know what to expect. It was a great time, we competed the best we could, but still it was a lot of unknowns.”
The team now has the necessary experience to continue to grow. “I think both [our] teams are going to compete at a high level,” predicts Russell.
The support of the Varsity Blues players who coach the team is key. “When they coach us, we’re just googly-eyed staring at them because they know what they’re talking about — they can definitely see the skills that the girls have and the athletic ability that they have,” says Russell. “Their eyes light up when they see a good cut or a good pass or a good route. So having them along with us and having that support, I think that will go a long way.”
The players agree that the absence of intercollegiate status reduces the pressure in training and practices. “The balance between work and play — it’s a good one because we’re also friends with our coaches, so that fosters a really good learning environment,” says Le.
That’s not to say that practices aren’t taken seriously, though. “They’re great coaches, but by no means do they take it easy on us because we’re a club,” notes Russell. “They want to compete at the highest level. How they’re used to being coached, that’s how they coach us.
“So they adapt that Varsity mentality… Everything is very structured with them.”
Training is geared towards ensuring that the girls are competent players. “As [coaches], we will never get a girl who wants to play and just put her on the field,” notes Rolli Adenmosun, vice-president, internal. “There has to be a process of being developed as a player: her understanding of the game, her understanding of the risk, so she can be comfortable playing that position.”
Injury is part and parcel of the game. “[Injury] is why we have a larger team. There’s 10
girls on the field at once, we’ll usually have 10 for offense, 10 for defense and then we have substitutes because people do get hurt,” explains Ventura. “We try to train our girls so that everyone can play more than one position, so that if you need to substitute for someone else who got hurt, you can. That just [gives you] a bunch of players who have a lot of good skills.”
The team starts practising around the time intramurals end, in October. Many of the players come from intramural flag football teams, particularly the St. Michael’s college women’s team, which Yan says works “as a farm team.”
Adenmosun points out that the powderpuff team is a way for the girls to continue playing football once intramural season has passed. “During the winter, there is no flag football, so [it’s a way to] pull all the girls who play for different colleges to come and combine as a U of T collective against other schools,” he says.
“Collective” is a big part of what the team is about, and the team spirit is clear when talking to the players and executive alike. “It’s not just an athletic club — it’s more of a social club as well,” says Yan. “It allows you to develop socially if you don’t have good friendships or leadership.”
The players concur. “I can say for myself at least it’s been kind of like my niche in university,” says Ventura. “People come and they join different clubs, and this is my club… It’s just fantastic; that’s the only way to put it.”
Last year, the team played all its tournaments away from home, most notably the one hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University.
Some 32 teams from at least 12 different schools attend the Laurier tournament; some schools, including the host and McMaster University, send four teams each. Travelling to and playing at away tournaments is a great way to build team spirit.
“When you’re travelling with a team and you’re spending time in rooms with them and the down time in between games and [when you’re] buddied up and sleeping with them in the rooms, you end up getting to know people a lot,” explains Russell.
So what does the future hold for the team? Yan believes that powderpuff football at U of T can grow well beyond its present reach. “We’re trying to attract both [players and fans] right now and just advertise the program as much as we can,” the team president says. “Eventually, the school could maybe hold four teams, it would be a great thing for U of T to be the spearhead and help organize a league.”
A formal league, and also intercollegiate status, is a possibility. “In a lot of high school programs, they have flag football teams, but there’s no platform for [women] to engage in that sort of activity at the university level,” notes Adenmosun. “So that’s something we see in the future, not necessarily in the near future.”
Russell believes a Varsity Blues women’s flag football team could be a reality. “If it stays on this pace, it definitely has the potential to be a Varsity sport,” she says. “I wish I was a first-year, because in the next couple of years or so it definitely could take off.”
For now, though, the objective is just to be successful. “I think this tournament is a good way of showing [who we are], introducing ourselves to the U of T community, and gaining support,” says Le. “Hopefully [we can] win some games so we get more support!”
And as Le points, it makes no difference to anyone that it’s a girls’ team. “I don’t think it’s a gender-based thing; we’re all athletes, we love football, and we want to play it.”
The U of T Powderpuff Football Team hosts its first home tournament Saturday, January 21 from 9 am to 5 pm on Back Campus.
