FORT MYERS, Fla. — Football season is just a few weeks away, and this upcoming year there will be a brand new squad to cheer on. The Florida Legacy is the first women’s tackle football team to come to Fort Myers.
Chynna Blake played tackle football for several years and decided that it was time to start her own here in Southwest Florida.
“Since we’re the first team, we may have a lot of people coming out because people want to play but just can’t relocate to Miami or Orlando or Tampa,” said Blake. “So this will be like the central part where everybody can actually play at.”
Joining Blake and co-founder Antoine Beard is Madison Schmatz as head coach. Schmatz played for 12 years in the Women’s Football Alliance for the Minnesota Vixen.
“I moved down here, and I fell in love with Florida,” said Schmatz. “And then when I found out that they were starting a team, they offered me the head coach position, and I was like, absolutely. I want to grow women’s football.”
The Legacy have hosted two tryouts so far this summer, one in June and one in July, and have pretty much a full roster that they continue to add to.
“We’ve had over 100 people registered to try out for all of our tryouts, which is a huge thing,” said Schmatz.
“We’re gonna be doing drills or semi-practice; just let them know, ‘Okay, this is your position’,” said Blake. “This is what we need from you to play in the future season.”
The Legacy have a few different women’s tackle leagues to choose from, but they haven’t made their decision yet. Once they do, they’ll have a schedule set in the late fall, begin practice in the winter, and the season will start in April of 2024.
As women’s tackle football grows across the US, two big goals stand out for the Florida Legacy. One of them — being a good role model.
“[I] definitely want to inspire young girls to know that they can do, you know, and achieve their goals and their dreams no matter what it is,” said Schmatz.
And the other — to get to do what they love…professionally.
“I know the WFA is trying to make a professional league for women,” said Schmatz. “So hopefully, eventually down the road, there will be one for women so that we can actually get paid for doing, you know, something that we’re just as passionate about as the men are.”
“We can do the same exact thing that they can do because we’re playing the same exact sport,” said Blake.
Tryouts will be held again for women 18 and older on Aug. 27 at City of Palms Park from 12:30-3:30 PM.
The post The Florida Legacy make history as first women’s tackle football team in Fort Myers appeared first on NBC2 News.
