DW:  Oh, my goodness!

 

DCUrbanSports:    I know when you girls watch those games you have to be thinking, did you see that guy miss that play?

 

DW:  “You know, it all comes down to belief in yourself, and belief in the system and the team.  You’ve got to lock in and focus and have that belief.  If you don’t have that, and if you’re looking across from you and you don’t trust the player next to you, or if you don’t trust your coach, it doesn’t work."

 

“So, I think the bottom line is it starts with belief and having that common vision. “

 

"When the team buys into the vision, and plays championship football, everyone finds their role and they do their part.  When you’re distracted and you don’t have a common vision, then you’re all over the place. Egos get in the way, and that becomes more important than winning more than what the team wants to accomplish.”

 

DCUrbanSports:  How did you get started in football?

 

DW:  "It was my childhood‘s most favorite sport, the one that I always wanted to play.  So, when I heard women were playing, my first thought was I wanna be in a city that has football.  When I heard that Washington was going to be one of those cities I just knew I was in the right place."

 

DCUrbanSports:   Where are you originally from?

 

DW:  “Riverside, California.”

 

“I came out here on a fishing scholarship at Columbia Union College, was able to play basketball and volleyball, and other sports as well, and just waited for the opportunity.  It was two years after I graduated.  I was 26 when I put on football pads for the first time.  Now, at 34, being able to be, now in the prime of my career, and still playing – it’s just great.”

 

DCUrbanSports:  How many more years do you think you have?

 

DW: "I think it’s indefinite as long as I choose to continue to want to play." 

 

"With the technology we have now for getting the body truly healthy and recovered, the chronic injuries I had in my twenties, are not plaguing me anymore.  So, from my perspective, with technology and change, and my mental approach to the game I think I can play until I want to hang it up." 

 

"I wanna play for ten years.  So that will give me the next two seasons, and then after that as long as I can make a difference and keep impacting the game, I want to play.”

 

DCUrbanSports:   We know about the men and how they deal with their injuries, talk about the women and how they deal with their injuries.

 

DW: “I think the first thing is because we don’t have million dollar contracts over our heads, we might be more willing to play through some injuries, that you wouldn’t be allowed to play through on the men’s side."

 

“I actually played through a torn ACL.  Played in a game, played several plays, and there was no way if I was an athlete getting the same kind of salaries the guys are getting that they [the organization] would have even risked me going back on that field in that situation." 

 

"For me it was just about pride and being able to contribute in that situation. I think they realize that we come back on the field and we work just as hard at getting better as any guy does.”

 

DCUrbanSports:  That’s an interesting point. Talk about the salaries and how there is such a disparity in salaries for women in professional sports.  Is that at all disparaging to you?

 

DW:  “Well, we don’t get a salary." 

 

"We get paid a commission, so we have to contribute to the team to get paid.  So, it’s a very different perspective.  It puts us in the community a lot.  It gets us out promoting our sport because we realize that gets us to the level of getting paid.”

 

“You know, I just think it’s evolution of society.  We’re growing past all of our inhibitions, all the stereotypes, all the reasons why we’ve kept people down.  We’ve had that, but we’re growing through that." 

 

"Pay in women’s sports is just moving through one more barrier that society is working hard to remove, and I think that a critical thing for all us is to see more of our commonality and our oneness, than what divides us.”

 

“So, women breaking through and showing their potential, that’s just one more step in the process of us unfolding.”

 

DCUrbanSports:    Are you ready for the upcoming season with the Divas?

 

DW:  Oh, yeah! [sounding excited] The season starts in April, but tryouts are in September and October.  Camp starts in October/November.

 

DCUrbanSports:  Always looking for new blood?

 

DW:  “Always looking for new blood, tough athletes, a little extra aggression; as well as people who want to make difference and have an impact in something you were told you couldn’t play.”
_____

 

We thank Ms. Wilkinson for taking time out to chat with DC UrbanSports, and wish them much success in the upcoming season.

 

For more info on the DC Divas, see their web site at DCDivas.com.

 

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