Local women's football team continues to grow

Football is no longer the male-dominated sport its name and image conveys. And the Central Coast Heat, an all-women, full-contact football team, is out to continue breaking this stereotype.

“Team drills, conditioning, and anything else they do, we do, with the obvious difference being that they’re men and we’re women. Other than that, it’s football,” team captain Knengi Martin said.

In its second season, the Central Coast Heat is a part of the Independent Women’s Football League, which is comprised of more than 1,000 women and 30 nonprofit teams nationwide.

Though still young, the team’s history runs a little deeper.

When the small recreational league containing the San Luis Obispo Heat dissolved in 2005, a representative from the IWFL contacted Martin, one of the Heat’s players who had also tried out for a San Diego women’s football team a few years before, about starting a team based on the Central Coast.

Rallying many former Heat players behind her, including coach Edward Dyer, Martin and the rest of the team entered their inaugural IWFL season in the fall of 2005.

Because the team’s players hail from Santa Maria in the south, San Miguel in the north and anywhere in between, the more neutral team name of Central Coast Heat was decided upon.

Last year, the team mostly consisted of previous San Luis Obispo Heat players, Martin said.

However, through advertising and word of mouth, they “were lucky to get new players who are really an asset to the team” added to the roster.

But this has provided the team with a good base, one that perhaps led to its 32-0 national championship win last year over Boise State.

“A championship takes hard work and dedication from the players and the staffing coach,” Martin said. “We already have a strong foundation, though. And with a strong foundation, it’s much easier to build a strong entity – there’s less of a chance for it to collapse. We can grow and build as a team.”

Tryouts for the 2007 season were held Jan. 28.

“Right now, we’re looking to get (information about the team) out there, expand it,” Dyer said. “There’s a lot of girls out there, especially between the colleges – Cuesta and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, and Allan Hancock in Santa Maria. We have a lot of potential to grow.”

Though able to use the resources of the IWFL to market and promote women’s football, teams operate independently, focusing their efforts on targeted local audiences. In the case of the Heat, running the team is a five-person board of directors that oversees fundraising efforts, coordinates practicing facilities and ultimately helps the team grow.

Eventually, the board, as well as everyone else involved, hopes to expand the team from its current participation in the “sixes” league (six-on-six games) to the standard 11-player format, Martin said.

With the 15 or so women who currently play on the team, they play six-on-six games. With less people on the field, quarters are shorter, lasting 10 minutes instead of 15, and all players are eligible to score.

When the team reaches a membership of 35 to 50 players, they can make the transition to playing with 11 women on the field. Martin said that the initial goal is to have a traveling team and then work on building an 11s team.

It is an experience that is unlike most other sports available for women.

“It’s a more in-depth look at football,” Dyer said. “More options – it’s a full-contact sport. It’s another avenue for women to experience playing sports.”

And since it is a full-contact sport, blocking, one-handed catches and “all the good things that comes along with the game of football” are included, Dyer said.

“I play because I love the challenge of the sport,” said Stacey Johnson, 29, who has been playing with both Heat teams for the past five years. “Every day you learn something new and push yourself to become a better player. This has been an amazing experience. I only hope it continues to grow.”

But they’re more than just a team – they’re like family. That’s a notion the whole team seems to agree upon.

“I love the camaraderie,” Johnson said. “The fact that we can come into a practice and knock each other around and leave as friends is great. We’re all so competitive, constantly pushing ourselves and others to work harder and get better.”

This year, the team will be playing against Boise State once again in its season opener March 31, which should prove to be a big game, Martin said.

The team will play six regular-season games and hopes to reach the championship in August for a second time.

The team practices five days a week, usually at Santa Rosa Park.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/centralcoastheat.