On The Field:
Veteran Brittany Tegeler leads the team through conditioning drills prior to the football drills getting started.
Rookie Kyle DeHaven is catching everything thrown her way, regardless of whether she is playing offense or defense, including one amazing one-handed grab on a long pass while tightly covered by a defender. Teresa Andrews, despite being smaller and thinner than most of the other girls, is tough, determined and not intimidated by anyone. Kelly Campbell is a tough and loud tackler, as she hits the padding and tackling dummies during drills. Little sparkplug Christina Deavers has both ankles taped up for protection, but still goes full-speed until she cannot walk anymore and has to be helped to the side to be looked at by the team trainer.
All the girls have sore muscles as well as assorted bumps and bruises, yet you see no whining or excuses being made by anyone. A couple of players in attendance, but not practicing, are fresh off of surgeries related to injuries suffered either last season or recently. Yet, they still show up at practice to cheer their teammates on.
Classroom Session:
After a full practice of both conditioning drills and football –related activities, while head coach Rick Reeder took the quarterbacks into another room to go through offensive situations, Assistant Coach J.J. Morrison sat the rest of the ladies down to go over defensive strategies. Strength & Conditioning Coach Shannon Wallace led the players through a real tough cardio and stretching workout, complete with dragging heavy weighted sleds and sprints, along with stretching and yoga-type moves. The football drills included defensive line blocking assignments and one-on-one blocking drills.
Once the exhausted players were in the classroom, Coach Morrison detailed on the chalkboard the different defensive schemes the team would be running this season, asking the ladies if they needed any clarification. Despite the seven-on-seven limitations of the arena-style game, it appears the typical NFL defense known as the “Tampa-2” is also the base defense in the Lingerie Football League. Assistant Coach Kent Bryant walked them through the formations and explained the need to read the opposing team’s offense to adjust the defense accordingly. The discussion centered around protecting and defending “your” zone, and passing the responsibility to your teammate as opposing player leaves your zone for another position’s.
He made multiple mentions of the Baltimore Ravens’ constantly moving defense, which was called “organized Chaos” under former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, now head coach and running the same schemes for the New York Jets. Regardless of the pre-play motion, the players will still need to know their responsibilities once the ball is snapped.
These classroom strategy sessions are further proof that the LFL is still real football, despite the sexy uniforms that most people see and write off without ever having witnessed the skill quality that the LFL offers. This is far from powder-puff football, as the girls not only play and hit hard, but they are taught to understand the inner workings of football as well if not better than most fans of even the pro game.
Head coach Rick Reeder continues to challenge the ladies, by saying, “you are all intelligent, but you have to be football-smart.” He asks if they have any more questions on positioning, understanding the concept of the Cover 2, Cover 3 and ‘Man’ defenses. To show the level of strategy that is an integral part of the LFL game, veteran Katie Sauter asks, “How can you read the offensive line when every receiver is pass receiving-eligible?” Assistant Coach Bill Fallon responds, “if the players is in a three-point stance, they’re probably going forward and if they have their hands on their knees, it’s probably a pass play.”
Once the strategy session was over, the team began to put together one of their team chants and huddle performances that the cameras will certainly be fixated upon as team comes on the field to prepare for the regular season games starting in September.
Tags: Baltimore Charm, bill fallon, Brittany Tegeler, christina deavers, j.j. morrison, katie sauter, kelly campbell, kent bryant, kyle dehaven, LFL, Lingerie Football League, rick reeder, shannon wallace, teresa andrews
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