What do a dairy farmer, a librarian, a former Miss Ohio, the CEO of Deutsche Bank, a truck mechanic and Hamilton's associate director of foundation, corporate and government relations have in common? All happen to be women and professional athletes – members of the Women's Professional Football League (WPFL).
Amy Lindner spends her days researching and writing grant proposals for Hamilton faculty members. On the weekends, she straps on her helmet and shoulderpads to take to the field for the Syracuse Sting, one of 20 teams in the WPFL and one of 125 professional women's full contact tackle football squads in the country.
At 5'5", 125 lbs., Lindner is one of the smaller members on the Sting's 36-woman roster. Although she never played football before team tryouts last spring, she did excel on the soccer field both in high school and at the University of South Carolina. Her eye-foot coordination translated nicely to the football field, where she serves as one of the team's kickers.
"Football is frustrating, and not something that comes naturally to me, especially since I didn't grow up playing it," she said. "The coaches are men who've always coached boys, so the dynamics are interesting."
Lindner, who admits "football is my life," grew up a Chicago Bears fanatic and continues her football obsession by playing in two fantasy football leagues. Sundays find her and her husband, Mike, camped in front of the TV flipping from game to game thanks to a season subscription to Direct TV's football package.
Making the transition from fan to player was a little harder than she expected. "It's much more complicated than I ever realized; you really have to be smart to play," she said, "Everything that happens on the field is so coordinated — like a ballet. I never thought I'd spend every evening studying play books!"
And then there's the hitting and tackling. "You just have to trust those pads," she said. "You learn pretty quickly that fear is your enemy!"
Although the players participate in a professional league, it's not the lure of big contracts that attracts the women to the game (in fact, each player pays $1,000 to offset travel and other expenses). Echoing the sentiment that pops across the top of the WPFL's Web site, "It's Our Turn to Play," Lindner said that the majority of the women on her team play because they believe in gender equity and regret not having had the opportunity to play the sport growing up. They also believe they are laying the foundation for future generations of women football players.
Lindner, on the other hand, admits that she plays more for the novelty of it and because she loves the sport. Plus her husband is on the team's medical staff. And while she isn't one of the standouts on the team, she did have a moment of glory when a small fan approached her after the first game for an autograph.
The Sting plays a summer-fall schedule. Each Saturday they host games at Syracuse's P&C Stadium or travel to play such teams as the Florida (Miami) Stingrays, Dayton (Ohio) Rebellion and Indianapolis Speed. For information on how to catch Lindner in action, visit http://www.syracusesting.com.
