acmeanvil49
10-21-2004, 10:45 PM
Hard to find out much info on the Louisville team lately.
When does the season start?
Does the Karma have a website?
I couldn't locate one.
Found 2 mentions from the net so far.
Cincinnati Inquirer
July 4th 2004
The Cincinnati Sizzle, an expansion team in the National Women's Football Association, kicked off its inaugural season June 26 with a 21-6 exhibition win over the expansion Kentucky Karma.
The team, coached by former Bengals running back Ickey Woods, will try to play two more exhibitions before next year's full participation in the NWFA.
Mean Girls
Don't rule out women's pro football until you've seen the power these ladies pack
By Lisa Hornung
http://www.velocityweekly.com
http://www.velocityweekly.com/2004/0728/life/images/v_0728FootballDiva.jpg
Yes, that's a woman underneath those pads. Go ahead, tough guy. We dare you to try and start something.
Liz Hardin isn't playing football just for herself. She's playing for the future.
It's "for my daughter and future daughters of the world," said the 39-year-old nurse and member of the Kentucky Karma, a franchise in the fledgling National Women's Football Association. "I'm trying to lay the groundwork for them. In the future, girls will be playing football, so they've got something to look forward to."
Well that, and, admittedly, she does love to hit.
If you think girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, well, you haven't met the Karma.
These ladies are taking the game of football and turning it on its head — along with a few of their competitors.
The Karma is the newest member of the NWFA. The association has more than 40 teams, and the Karma will begin regular season play in 2005. The team has played three scrimmages so far, and the players are starting to feel a little more confident.
http://www.velocityweekly.com/2004/0728/life/images/v_0728FootballRun.jpg
A Detroit Demolition ballcarrier looked for running room as she eluded a Philadelphia Phoenix defender.
The Karma first had tryouts late last year, and so far they've dressed 46 players. "We've still got some holes to fill," Head Coach Tom Hawkins said.
The players already on the roster are a diverse bunch. There are ladies who range in age from 18 to 51 who come from all over the region, from the West End to Lexington and work in every kind of profession you can imagine. But there are a couple things they have in common. They love football, and they have been waiting for years for this chance.
Hardin couldn't play much this year because of injuries, including a broken foot that is still healing. But she'll be back next season to take on the 310-pound lady on the Asheville Assault that scared the bejesus out of the Karma quarterback during a scrimmage.
"It's nerve-wracking to see this, 5-foot-8, 310-pound person" coming at you, said Nancy Martin, 35, of Goshen. "She was standing over me saying, 'Don't get up, rookie.'"
Hardin promises it won't be a problem next time. "I'm gonna handle her," she vowed.
If football were available to women in their younger years, "we'd all have done it then," said Tammy Fox, 39, who plays tailback. While they've all watched football for years, some of them playing it in the schoolyard as kids, the players have had to learn the details of the game from scratch.
"When you're a kid playing, you say, 'Go to the telephone pole and take a left,'" said Fox, who is also a professional jockey. "Now it's one, two, three, step, turn. You've got to learn which holes to run through. Then they give you so many plays that you need to know the next day. When you go into the huddle and (the quarterback) tells you which play you're doing, you've got a few seconds to remember which one it is."
Hawkins, who has coached high school boys in Oldham County for years, has seen a difference in coaching women.
"We have a tendency to move a little too quick for them," he said. "We assume with guys that they have been playing for four or five years and you just plug in another level, but that's not the case here. This is like teaching at the middle-school level, simply because of the lack of knowledge."
Hawkins acknowledges it's not the players' fault they don't know the intricacies of the sport.
"Most of these ladies are athletes and they have played sports and have been around football," he said. "And they will tell you, being around football, watching football and knowing what to watch for in football and playing football are just worlds apart."
But just because it's new to them doesn't mean they aren't going to kick some ass.
Aggression is something the Karma have had to work on a lot this year, Hawkins said.
"They say, 'I don't want to hurt you,'" he said. "They're afraid to hurt." But, he said, since his players started scrimmaging against the Cincinnati Sizzle, another new team, their aggression has blossomed.
Tight end Lauren Baker, who looks like she could be a high school homecoming queen, is the one that gets into the most trouble. The 18-year-old from Ballardsville has gotten into a fight in every scrimmage.
"The first person I had to get on about warning about a penalty was Lauren," Hawkins said. "The youngest one I have! She actually took a swing at a girl."
If you come out to see a game, don't expect to see a lot of girly-girls running around on the field worried about breaking a nail. These women play football according to NFL rules. The only accommodation to size is the slightly smaller ball.
The biggest difference is in the paychecks.
These players are taking hits and suffering injuries, but they make nowhere near the cash that NFL players pull in. In fact, they're not getting paid at all. Hawkins said he'd like the get to the point that he can pay the players within a couple of years. But even then, the teams in the league that do pay their players shell out at most $125 per game. Right now, the Karma is still owned by the NWFA, but the league is looking for a buyer and sponsorships, which will ease some of the burden for these players and their coach.
But these athletes aren't doing this for the money.
"It's a stepping stone for females," said Martin, who finds inspiration in the WNBA, a women's pro basketball league. "The WNBA has taken off, and this is just another avenue for females."
Hawkins said he was skeptical about coaching when he was first approached about the job. But he sees the dedication and willingness to learn these players show and his heart is now in it.
"I've learned that football is football," he said. "It doesn't matter the gender or age."
When does the season start?
Does the Karma have a website?
I couldn't locate one.
Found 2 mentions from the net so far.
Cincinnati Inquirer
July 4th 2004
The Cincinnati Sizzle, an expansion team in the National Women's Football Association, kicked off its inaugural season June 26 with a 21-6 exhibition win over the expansion Kentucky Karma.
The team, coached by former Bengals running back Ickey Woods, will try to play two more exhibitions before next year's full participation in the NWFA.
Mean Girls
Don't rule out women's pro football until you've seen the power these ladies pack
By Lisa Hornung
http://www.velocityweekly.com
http://www.velocityweekly.com/2004/0728/life/images/v_0728FootballDiva.jpg
Yes, that's a woman underneath those pads. Go ahead, tough guy. We dare you to try and start something.
Liz Hardin isn't playing football just for herself. She's playing for the future.
It's "for my daughter and future daughters of the world," said the 39-year-old nurse and member of the Kentucky Karma, a franchise in the fledgling National Women's Football Association. "I'm trying to lay the groundwork for them. In the future, girls will be playing football, so they've got something to look forward to."
Well that, and, admittedly, she does love to hit.
If you think girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, well, you haven't met the Karma.
These ladies are taking the game of football and turning it on its head — along with a few of their competitors.
The Karma is the newest member of the NWFA. The association has more than 40 teams, and the Karma will begin regular season play in 2005. The team has played three scrimmages so far, and the players are starting to feel a little more confident.
http://www.velocityweekly.com/2004/0728/life/images/v_0728FootballRun.jpg
A Detroit Demolition ballcarrier looked for running room as she eluded a Philadelphia Phoenix defender.
The Karma first had tryouts late last year, and so far they've dressed 46 players. "We've still got some holes to fill," Head Coach Tom Hawkins said.
The players already on the roster are a diverse bunch. There are ladies who range in age from 18 to 51 who come from all over the region, from the West End to Lexington and work in every kind of profession you can imagine. But there are a couple things they have in common. They love football, and they have been waiting for years for this chance.
Hardin couldn't play much this year because of injuries, including a broken foot that is still healing. But she'll be back next season to take on the 310-pound lady on the Asheville Assault that scared the bejesus out of the Karma quarterback during a scrimmage.
"It's nerve-wracking to see this, 5-foot-8, 310-pound person" coming at you, said Nancy Martin, 35, of Goshen. "She was standing over me saying, 'Don't get up, rookie.'"
Hardin promises it won't be a problem next time. "I'm gonna handle her," she vowed.
If football were available to women in their younger years, "we'd all have done it then," said Tammy Fox, 39, who plays tailback. While they've all watched football for years, some of them playing it in the schoolyard as kids, the players have had to learn the details of the game from scratch.
"When you're a kid playing, you say, 'Go to the telephone pole and take a left,'" said Fox, who is also a professional jockey. "Now it's one, two, three, step, turn. You've got to learn which holes to run through. Then they give you so many plays that you need to know the next day. When you go into the huddle and (the quarterback) tells you which play you're doing, you've got a few seconds to remember which one it is."
Hawkins, who has coached high school boys in Oldham County for years, has seen a difference in coaching women.
"We have a tendency to move a little too quick for them," he said. "We assume with guys that they have been playing for four or five years and you just plug in another level, but that's not the case here. This is like teaching at the middle-school level, simply because of the lack of knowledge."
Hawkins acknowledges it's not the players' fault they don't know the intricacies of the sport.
"Most of these ladies are athletes and they have played sports and have been around football," he said. "And they will tell you, being around football, watching football and knowing what to watch for in football and playing football are just worlds apart."
But just because it's new to them doesn't mean they aren't going to kick some ass.
Aggression is something the Karma have had to work on a lot this year, Hawkins said.
"They say, 'I don't want to hurt you,'" he said. "They're afraid to hurt." But, he said, since his players started scrimmaging against the Cincinnati Sizzle, another new team, their aggression has blossomed.
Tight end Lauren Baker, who looks like she could be a high school homecoming queen, is the one that gets into the most trouble. The 18-year-old from Ballardsville has gotten into a fight in every scrimmage.
"The first person I had to get on about warning about a penalty was Lauren," Hawkins said. "The youngest one I have! She actually took a swing at a girl."
If you come out to see a game, don't expect to see a lot of girly-girls running around on the field worried about breaking a nail. These women play football according to NFL rules. The only accommodation to size is the slightly smaller ball.
The biggest difference is in the paychecks.
These players are taking hits and suffering injuries, but they make nowhere near the cash that NFL players pull in. In fact, they're not getting paid at all. Hawkins said he'd like the get to the point that he can pay the players within a couple of years. But even then, the teams in the league that do pay their players shell out at most $125 per game. Right now, the Karma is still owned by the NWFA, but the league is looking for a buyer and sponsorships, which will ease some of the burden for these players and their coach.
But these athletes aren't doing this for the money.
"It's a stepping stone for females," said Martin, who finds inspiration in the WNBA, a women's pro basketball league. "The WNBA has taken off, and this is just another avenue for females."
Hawkins said he was skeptical about coaching when he was first approached about the job. But he sees the dedication and willingness to learn these players show and his heart is now in it.
"I've learned that football is football," he said. "It doesn't matter the gender or age."