Nomads girls teams experience big-time football

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This article was published 27/11/2017 (3231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The North Winnipeg Nomads girl tackle football teams emerged triumphant from games against American girls’ teams in Mooresville, Ind., on Nov. 18.

The Nomads play in the Manitoba Girls Football Association (MGFA), which was founded in 2011, with teams in the league’s senior and junior divisions. In 2017, both teams were provincial finalists. 

Junior team head coach Dennis Radlinsky said the teams drove 20 hours by bus to Mooresville to play teams from the Indiana Girls Tackle Football League, who welcomed them with cakes with the Nomads logo on them. 

Radlinsky wanted to give the girls the chance to see how other teams are coached and said the international trip was an opportunity for the 42 Nomads players to learn while they played a mixed-rules game.

“We felt that we could be a big part of the game development in North America if we pulled this off,” he said.

The Nomads play six-a-side tackle football while the Indiana Girls Football League, which was founded in 2016, plays eight-a-side. 

On Sat., Nov. 18, the teams sang their respective anthems and got down to business at what was billed as the “Battle of the Borders.” 

The Nomads junior team set the mood with a 33-31 win in which one of its special-needs players scored the final points. The senior girls then went on to win by a 40-6 score.

“I feel like the MGFA, and the coaches that we have, are really teaching them right. It’s a fundamentals game, and you could tell they (the Nomads) were more fundamentally found,” Radlinsky said.

“We never knew how we measured up to other divisions,” he added. “You can’t tell when you just play in your own city all the time and you know everybody. We thought this game would give us an idea if we are on the right track and if the girls can take in all the instruction.

“We are doing it right up here.”

Radlinsky said the players from all teams got along very well and formed friendships quickly. The Nomads are a close group, and the coach was pleased by their discipline and their good rapport with everyone involved with the event.

“We wanted to give them the feeling that this is what it’s like to play big-time football,” he said.

Nomads junior player Emily Radlinsky (yes, she’s the coach’s daughter), has been playing football for four years and said she likes that it’s a physical sport. The 12-year-old said she was excited to play against a team that plays by different rules. 

“The different rules down there are very interesting. They have three running backs, and we only have two,” she explained.

The Nomads and the Indiana girls had been preparing for the game since early September but the teams hadn’t had any contact before their meeting on Nov. 17.

 Emily said they became friends really fast and it was difficult to be competitive against them.

“Meeting up with all the girls was so much fun, and the game in itself was amazing,” she said. “I believe that everyone on our team and their team played a great game.”

The IGTFL plans on coming to Winnipeg next year.