The Gridiron girl

The
Gridiron Girl
From the classroom to the locker room, Elizabeth "Liz"
Jackson makes the transition easily
…………………………………………………………………

BY TRACEY RHOADES
Special to the Rice News

As the sun slowly
slips beyond the horizon, the crowd grows antsy. With only
a few minutes remaining before game time, referees take
their places, and the opposing players line up, poised for
action. Once the football is placed on its tee, a momentary
calm settles over the stadium. The whistle is blown, the
teams charge forward and another season commences.

As in countless
other arenas, the sights, sounds and smells are the same.
But one voice calling out above the din of clashing helmets
and pounding feet — “Go get ’em, Mom!”
— affirms that this game is drastically different.

Shocking to
some and intriguing to others, it’s just game day for
Elizabeth “Liz” Jackson ’00, who plays center
for the Houston Energy, one of nine teams that comprise
the Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL). When
Jackson doesn’t have on her game face, she spends her
sideline time teaching math and science to inner-city sixth-graders.
“It’s a struggle to balance my professional career
with football,” Jackson admitted, “but I don’t
think I could handle the stress of teaching if I couldn’t
look forward to hitting someone on the weekends.”

From a very
early age, Jackson has been a fan of the gridiron game.
“Growing up, I remember watching football with my father,”
Jackson said. “Now my family comes to watch me play.”
In addition to earning a bachelor of arts degree, Jackson
also was able to nurture her love of the game while at Rice.
For four years, she was a member of the Will Rice powderpuff
football team, playing positions on the offensive and defensive
lines, quarterback and linebacker. As a fifth-year senior,
Jackson forfeited her eligibility to play for the college
and tried her hand at coaching. “I had already begun
playing with the Houston Energy,” Jackson explained,
“and I didn’t want to risk getting a powderpuff
injury.” While the team wasn’t victorious every
time it took the field, Jackson noted, “Our priority
was always to have fun, and most of the time we were successful
in that department.”

Despite two
back-to-back championships with the Houston Energy, it hasn’t
been all fun and games for Jackson. During her senior year
at Rice, Jackson decided that she wanted to become a teacher
but didn’t want to spend more time and money obtaining
the necessary certification. She applied to Teach for America,
the national nonprofit organization that places applicants
in paid teaching positions in public schools located in
low-income, urban and rural communities. “Teach for
America enabled me to get into the classroom right away,”
Jackson said.

With more than
5,000 yearly applicants vying for 1,000 positions, the organization
can be selective when choosing the best candidates for the
job. After a thorough screening process, which included
a daylong interview, Jackson was accepted into the two-year
program. She then spent an intense five weeks learning classroom
management skills, effective lesson design and practical
teaching tools. “Although I learned a lot during those
five weeks,” Jackson said, “it didn’t prepare
me for all the difficulties I would have when I actually
stepped into the classroom.”

Besides suiting
up on several Saturdays from July through October and carrying
out her responsibilities as a full-time teacher, Jackson
is working on certification courses. She is considering
going to graduate school at the conclusion of her two-year
Teach for America commitment and would like to combine her
classroom and athletic experiences in some way. For the
time being, though, Jackson’s students keep her from
taking any timeouts. “My job is often very frustrating,”
admitted Jackson, “but there are enough moments of
brilliance from my students that it keeps me coming back
every day.”

Being a female
football player has its advantages with her students, too.
“Several of them heard about the team winning its second
WPFL championship this past October,” Jackson said,
“so on Monday morning, that’s all they wanted
to talk about.”

What the future
holds for Jackson’s football career and the WPFL is
uncertain. Unlike the National Football League, the WPFL,
which began in 1999, doesn’t have big-dollar backing.
Many teams have come and gone before they even played a
game, and most of the existing teams are operating in the
red by season’s end. But the Houston Energy, which
was founded in 2000 by local businesswoman Robin Howington
and her partner, Dona Bozca, continues to score touchdowns.

Even though
Houston Energy players don’t receive a salary for their
efforts on the field, that didn’t dissuade more than
400 women from trying out for the team’s inaugural
season. The majority of Jackson’s teammates, who range
in age from 19 to 40, hold full-time jobs and include teachers,
school administrators, police officers, firefighters, engineers,
architects and corrections officers. WPFL games are conducted
much the same way as those in the NFL. The most noticeable
difference — other than the gender of the competitors
— is that the football is smaller. And for the mothers
on the team, there’s also a place for the kids —
they serve as the team’s ball boys and girls.

While the WPFL
has not yet become lucrative or caught the attention of
fans nationwide, Jackson has received a lot of local support
from family and friends. “My parents attend my home
games,” Jackson said, “and I sometimes hear my
mother telling the opposing team not to hurt me.” Fellow
classmates have come out in full force, too. “Last
season, a group of Will Ricers came to a game, and they
all had a cutout of a green lizard attached to a stick with
a picture of my face glued on it,” said Jackson. “The
owner of the team was very impressed with my cheering section,
and many of my teammates still call me ‘Lizard.’”

No longer a
rookie in the classroom or on the field, Jackson likely
will return to the lineup next season. As a veteran of the
team, she will automatically make the first cut at tryouts
next June, where there no doubt will be plenty of other
ambitious football players eager to earn positions. And
for the less adventurous, the team is looking for a cheerleading
squad.

For more information
about the WPFL or the Houston Energy, call (713) 926-7677
or go to <www.houstonenergyfootball.com>.

— Tracey
Rhoades is the editor of the Owlmanac.