VIPER TOUGH
Women play football for love of the game
Monday, March 19, 2007
BY MARY KLAUS
Of The Patriot-News

When Kate Bermel was 12, she asked her parents for permission to join a youth football league. They refused.

"Dad said that girls don't play football," the Lancaster woman said.

Next week, Bermel and the other 33 women of the Central PA Vipers will prove him wrong.

The newly formed team, one of 46 affiliated with the National Women's Football Association, will hold its preseason scrimmage against the Philadelphia Phoenix at 1 p.m. Sunday at the William Penn High School football field, Sixth and Division streets. Admission is free.

"We're women who want to play football for the love of the game," said Heidi "Speedy" Johnson of Harrisburg, a running back.

The Vipers show that love each time they play full-contact semipro football in an eight-game season running from April 15 through June 16.

These women aren't afraid to tackle or be tackled, chase or be chased. They live up to their motto of "no limits, no boundaries" and display bruises on their arms and legs with pride.

On the field, women with such nicknames as Speedy, Pratt Attack, Tuffy and J Kid aggressively pummel each other as though attacking their enemies.

"Sometimes you get beat up, but you keep going," Bermel said.

"Our pain tolerance is higher than most men's," said Desrae Omo of Harrisburg, a right offensive line tackle and special team captain.

Off the field, the women heartily insult each other, laugh loudly at their jokes and joyfully thump one another's backs while trading good-natured barbs. But when a Viper needs help, her teammates are there for her.

The Vipers, ranging from 19 to mid-40s, are single and married, mothers and grandmothers, chefs, students, soldiers, teachers, auditors and more.

Quarterback Lisa Haley is a truck driver and mother of three. Offensive tackle Mary Pratt is a commercial real estate and marketing director and mother of three. Fullback Tamika Howard, a security guard, is a mother of one. Most Vipers call playing football a dream come true

Kendra Amrhein of Harrisburg, an inside linebacker and defensive co-captain, said she was the only girl on a football team when she was younger.

"I wanted a helmet, shoulder pads and football for Christmas," she recalled.

Lori Locust of Susquehanna Twp., a right defensive end and defensive co-captain, dreamed of playing football for years.

"When I was a kid, I could play on the neighborhood boys' football games when they let me," Locust said. "But a girl had to earn her spot."

With the Vipers, they still do.

A woman doesn't just sign up, suit up and start playing, said Kerry Wisher, who owns the Vipers with Lindsay Snowden. Wisher said applicants first are interviewed to be sure they have "heart." They also sign a contract with the Vipers. Then comes the work.

"We condition three times a week, two to four hours a time, from September to March," Johnson said. "We stretch and warm up, do calisthenics and lift weights. Then we suit up."

On the field, the Vipers practice their positions, then put it all together. Johnson called football "an excellent way to get and stay in shape." Locust, 42, said she finds that football "keeps you young."

Most Vipers are "hard-core NFL fans, especially of the Pittsburgh Steelers," Johnson said, although Wisher said she prefers the New York Giants. Wisher said the team needs corporate and individual sponsors, donations and fans to come to the games.

"Anyone can play sports," Johnson said. "It's not so much that women can't play football; it's that most women don't want to play. We do.

"If we didn't have ponytails hanging out the back of our helmets, you probably wouldn't be able to tell we're women."

MARY KLAUS: 255-8113 or mklaus@patriot-news.com

ALL PHOTO'S BY--PAUL CHAPLIN, PATRIOT NEWS