Sheila Sickau is a wide receiver and kicker for Kansas City Glory, a female tackle football club, when she is not working for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Sickau is not new to football, as many of her colleagues are. She began playing in high school, when she was the team’s lone female member. Sickau did not play with boys because she desired it; she did so because it was the only choice available to her and she enjoyed the game.
Sickau believes that high school girls should have all-girl football teams in the future.
“A lot of girls do not want to play on the men’s squad,” Sickau explained. “It is just the only option available to them. If you can have an all-girls high school squad, it will begin with flag, pique attention, and then evolve.”
Sickau believed her football days were finished after high school. She attended college and competed in track, but football remained her love. Sickau was employed as a special education teacher in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2014. The principal informed her about the existence of women’s football teams, and she was overjoyed to learn of such a thing. She auditioned for the Knoxville Lightning and was accepted. She hasn’t looked back since.
Football changed Sickau’s life, as she pursued a master’s degree in sports administration and then an internship with the Chiefs, which brought her to Kansas City and the Glory, which she now refers to as family. Sickau is a full-time business administration representative for the Chiefs and was instrumental in connecting the Chiefs with the Glory.
Sickau noted that girls are being introduced to and developing an interest in the sport early, which she believes will result in more females choosing football as a vocation.
“Girls need to understand that they are capable of anything and have equal possibilities,” Sickau explained. “It’s finally beginning to steamroll with flag and getting the ball in their hands, getting them doing drills, just the IQ and understanding, the football language.” It’s growing more popular with young females, and they desire to do so. They’re beginning to see it on television with the incredible women in the NFL and other roles. And if they perceive it, they have the ability to be it.”
According to Sickau, the game instills positive values and sportsmanship regardless of the player’s gender.
“Flag serves as the foundation for virtually every other sport, such as basketball. You’re still collaborating as a team; it’s still agility,” Sickau explained. “You’re still learning the notion of teamwork on attack and defense. It is the foundation of a sport. It’s simply a different ball in their hands; you should not be concerned.”
On the other side, tackle football provides for a greater range of body types among players, Sickau said, adding that girls should have the opportunity to play tackle as well.
“The beauty of football is that every body type is needed in a role position. Your wide receivers, quarterbacks, and running backs are powerless without your offensive line. And that o-line, often those sorts of females struggle to be as effective in other sports as they are in football,” she explained. “Therefore, everyone has a place. Everybody plays a part. You are every bit as significant as the person next you. And that is something that ladies do not find in a lot of other sports.”
Women 18 and older (or younger with parental permission) have the opportunity to play in tackle football at the Kansas City Glory’s team tryouts on Nov. 6.
The team’s head coach, KeKe Blackmon, stated that no prior experience is required for tryouts. Several of the team’s female members had never played football before joining, she explained.
“We’re going to raise their football IQ and they’re going to learn a lot from us,” Blackmon said of those that audition. “In terms of tackling, it’s a really safe sport because we make it such.”
Blackmon is ecstatic about the successes of the women she trains, but modest about her own in the game. She played competitive football for 11 seasons and instructs freshmen guys at Olathe East High School in addition to coaching for the Glory.
She began playing tackle football with the Kansas City Tribe in 2008 and was named team captain the following year. Among several other honors and recognitions, Blackmon earned a gold medal for the United States of America as she captained the Dallas Diamonds to victory in the 2013 IFAF Women’s World Championship. Blackmon met Jen Welter, the NFL’s first female coach, during those years.
On Oct. 17, Blackmon, Welter, and other Kansas City Glory players sponsored a flag football camp for females aged 6-18 at Legends Field. It was a continuation of Welter’s statewide tour of flag boot camps for females, Grrrdirion Girls.
As was the case with Sickau, Blackmon lacked football chances as a young girl, which is one of the reasons she values boot camps and coaching so highly.
“It means everything to see what we’ve accomplished materialize itself in the form of small children and young ladies who genuinely want to play this game and enrich it in the ways that we have,” Blackmon added. “It makes me feel fantastic.”
Blackmon expressed her desire to have flag football provided to high school females, as they now only have the opportunity to play competitive football by joining the boys’ team, like Sickau did.
“We’re not attempting to join them on the pitch,” Blackmon said of men’s teams. “At the very least, I am not. I’m not coaching (Kansas City Glory) to compete against guys; I’m coaching them to compete against one another and demonstrate that we have just as much brilliance and guts as men in this game.”
Syreeta Gapelu, who will play defense for the Glory’s upcoming season, said her teammates have empowered her and helped her become a better role model for her children.
“We’re like a family,” Gapelu explained. “I’m a huge fan of the game. I am a single mother who is quite busy with my children and their athletic activities. Therefore, staying active outside of my involvement with my children serves as therapy for me.”
Rocky Ray, a Kansas City Glory defensive defender, was named Rookie of the Year last season. Ray had never played football before joining the Glory, but she had always admired her brothers who did.
“Sports are for everyone,” Ray stated. “For all the individuals who came up at a period when this game was not considered appropriate for girls or anything, just give them a chance. Take a look at how they are, for things are not as they used to be. Girls are far tougher than people believe; in fact, I believe we are tougher than guys.”
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