You Go, Girl -- to Football Camp

March 7, 2006 — -- Pads, helmets and jerseys are all typical items you expect to see in a football player's gym bag -- but sports bras and barrettes? Hard-hitting, aggressive tackle football is no longer just a guys' game -- girls are getting in on the action, and the NFL is lending a hand.

Going to football camp isn't usually on the agenda when teenage girls make their Saturday plans. But recently, over 150 girls chose to skip the mall and spend their weekend inside New Jersey's Giants Stadium, mecca of men's football, to learn how to play the game. Little did they realize they were making history.

The NFL has long been a supporter of youth football leagues. But until the recent joint venture with the Independent Women's Football League (IWFL), the Junior Player Development program was only for boys.

Andra Douglas, owner of the New York Sharks, an IWFL team, saw room for change.

"This is the first ever NFL camp for girls. There are a lot more women playing tackle football ... it's growing, and programs like this will raise people's awareness," said Douglas. "The availability for girls to participate is crucial and this program will hopefully open that up."

While girls playing football may seem revolutionary, women have actually been playing organized football in the United States since the mid-1950s. By 1974, the renamed National Women's Football League had 14 teams, including the Tulsa Babes and Los Angeles Dandelions.

That league folded in the mid 1980s due to rising franchise costs. Nearly 20 years later, the IWFL was developed and now boasts a roster of 35 all-female teams.

But outside the pro level, opportunity is lacking for female football players. Today the only option is to join a boys team, but that worries parents. Most school-age boys are physically bigger and stronger than their female counterparts.

Bob LeClair started an all-girls league in York, Maine, when his daughter expressed an interest in football. He said the myths about injuries may cause parents to keep their girls off the field.