Do you know how women develop their “inner bull terrier”? They sit on chairs, tables, and most of them on the floor of a small room in the building at the Burevestnik stadium on Plyushchikha, weaving each other tight spikelets of dark hair and intricate patterns of wide blue adhesive tape on each other’s ankles. Behind the captain's back they secretly pass mouth guards and nail scissors to cut off pieces of black tape into “strokes” of psychological attack under the painted eyes. The captain's back is almost bare - pink sports top and tattooed wings spread out.
“A kick-off is putting the ball into play, at the beginning or after a touchdown,” the blue-eyed blonde Marina revives the theory and draws formation diagrams on the board and sprinkles in other “downs” and “punts.” And all that remains is to meditate on the game of the biceps and phrases like “at any moment of the return there is a free catch,” because for the uninitiated, American football on the board is even tougher than on the field.
- They will hit the ball and run, angry, knocking you down like bowling pins!
They are the Dragonflies, today's opponent in the decisive game of the first regular Moscow women's American football championship. The analysis is over, and the Cherries are getting dressed for battle - three dozen women from sixteen to forty. Nine will take to the field at the same time - on the defense or attack team.
Marina holds a meeting before the game. Photo: Svetlana Vidanova / specially for Novaya
“A friend invited me and said we need big girls, the coach just looked at me and immediately took me to the Russian Cup,” the offensive player protecting the quarterback, in ordinary life nurse Nadya, throws extremely impressive hands over his head in spikelets. You can't help but find yourself thinking that the last position you want to be in in life is as a dragonfly attacking that quarterback. — Marina is four times smaller than me, but even the thinnest player is needed on the field, because success depends not on size, but on internal energy. Football is adrenaline, a release of negativity, because anything is possible on the field.
- Well, yes, and yell and fight! Within the rules, of course,” Nadya’s friend Masha, co-owner of a beer store, rubs the white bandage on her knuckles. She, like many, started with flag football - a lighter version of American football, without direct contact. But I wanted it tougher. - And no offense. This is a game - someone will get it from you, and you can get it yourself.
- Why did you wear cherry panties, please tell me?! — the captain asks the girl in a T-shirt with the LDPR logo.
“These are not cherries, these are Mickey Mouses,” she lowers her see-through yellow breeches. - If only the breeches were a different color!
- Next year there will be another one, we got it! - the captain growls. — The uniform needs to be worn for at least a couple of seasons, it’s expensive. The uniform is sewn to order or issued from the USA. The players pay for their equipment themselves. This is at least 10,000 just for the helmet and frame. They live off membership fees - 3000 per month. They also conduct tournaments themselves. At the first Russian Cup in 2015, only three teams competed - the oldest St. Petersburg “Valkyries”, “Cobras” from Khabarovsk and “Cherry”, or rather “Steel Cherries”, in honor of a temporary unification with the “Steel Tigresses” from Perm. In 2016, in the Moscow region they played without the Tigresses, but with the Dragonflies. Then it died out - the regions did not support “Russia”. The Valkyries already have other interests - last year they took second place in the Finnish regular championship. And this is the most serious European championship. In general, Muscovites came up with the capital's cup.
“Women’s American football in Russia is only five years old, and as a sport it officially does not exist at all,” says the CCM ski racing Marina, who once decided to switch to football and approached the men. They laughed at me, got furious, proved it, and went to gather “other crazy people.” - To get to international competitions- the same world championship, even at your own expense, must be registered with one of the clubs that will sign an agreement with the federation. We were lucky - Phoenix was hosted by Sechenov University. We have a training base, they have a well-functioning section. Sechenovka students study with us for free, and if we win the League, we can get increased scholarships for the girls.
At 6:30 p.m., they ran out onto the pre-marked field with masking tape from their right corner, barking to “Who let the dogs out?” - win.
Team with coach. Photo: Svetlana Vidanova / specially for Novaya - There she is, look! — Masha’s boyfriend Maxim shouted from the podium. Nearby, friends were looking out for Masha on the field. Although he admitted: “He beats me,” he said it so contentedly that Masha only lightly kicked him before the match: “Why are you lying! Outside of football, I’m a very calm person, it’s hard to get me angry. But it’s easy on the field.”
Whistle. How to describe this crack of the frames when they crash into each other at full speed? For them, this sound is a drug, for mothers it is a quiet horror, which is why there are no mothers among the few spectators. Their children fly over their heads on the field, and throw themselves at other people’s feet, and fall to their knees on the sideline, sucking on a five-liter bottle of water.
Coach Zhenya with her daughter. Photo: Svetlana Vidanova / specially for Novaya - Your child is screaming! - Gritting his teeth, another old-timer of the American women's IRA throws it to one of the coaches. Fresh from the field - hands on knees, crimson face, dreadlocked tail. Ira’s daughter, eight months old, crawls at the edge in a walker. Ira entered the field a month after giving birth.
- My? - Zhenya, a prominent man, clarifies. A couple of years ago, Ira was looking for a coach for Cherries, and also found a husband.
“I’m playing,” she mutters, and Zhenya sits down to spoon-feed the child.
Next door, on the edge, the one with Mickey Mouse is crying - something is wrong with her ankle.
“If you move and it hurts, then you can’t run anymore now,” the emergency doctor tries to persuade her.
The first quarter is lost, and Marina, who did not plan to enter the field - a clavicular ligament tear - melancholy tears off the supporting bandage from her arm, receives an injection in the buttock and, putting on her helmet, says:
- I'll go play.
-What do you need to make you angry? - offensive coach Alexander hisses with cold, beautiful eyes. And you can see they are angry.
And fitness trainer Nina, tattooed from her wrists to the edge of her short hair, rushes like an arrow along the right flank, and Nadya knocks down the pins, and the doctor runs to someone on the far sideline - it arrived in the sun. Two hours later - victory.
She yelled at her with good liberating obscenities and placed her daughter Ira on her torn thigh, the trainers were doused with water, Marina taught her to “press her tits” with a frame, to fit into a heavy helmet (“The best one, it cost half a ton, but I still want a new one - I’m a girl, and he I’m three years old, the pads are already worn out”) and rushed off to supervise the cleaning of the field from the tape.
If you search for “women’s American football,” the first thing you’ll come across is the Lingerie League. “The peculiarity of the game is that, in addition to clothing protection, the players only wear a bra and panties,” says Wikipedia.
“For a long time, my boss really thought that I was playing in my underpants,” Russian Railways economist Masha wearily runs her hand over her wet boyish haircut in the locker room. “But it annoys me more when it’s confused with rugby.”
“But I think that it would be possible to make several such games to attract attention to sports,” begins a good housewife with a pedagogical education, and she is covered in a roar of protest.
Another one of the team leaders, Katya, adds that real American football is chess on the field, therefore it is not for stupid people, and everyone goes to the hall, where head coach Alexey encourages ladies to take out loans for an away game in Yekaterinburg.
On the field. Photo: Svetlana Vidanova / specially for Novaya “The Ministry of Sports now does not perceive us at all, because football is “American”, and we have sanctions,” coach Alexey said at about ten in the evening, wearily lounging on the sofa in the Burevestnik lobby next to Sergei from the Moscow Dragons. Yesterday his “Patriots” beat the Perm “Steel Tigers” and reached the final of the Russian championship. — In 2002, when I came to this sport, we went to games in the States at the expense of the budget, in 2004 we held the championship at the Olimpiysky, and then that’s it. The Russian men's team now traveled to the World Championships entirely at their own expense. Well, that’s the name, but the fact is that we are also struggling, trying to reach European level, protect your flag... Let me talk already!
- Bye, coach! — the girl’s coach clapped their palm into the palm of the girl’s coach once a minute.
“Any women’s team sport is specific, especially if the coach is a man,” Alexey continued in the empty hall. “Any fight they have at home affects you, they can snap at you, plus two or three more days in a month that blow your mind.” They either cry or quarrel with each other. You need an individual approach - hug someone, send someone - it will start faster. That’s why there are so many trainers - each is responsible for a group of 5-6 people. For girls, this is a surge of adrenaline or aggression, I personally just live for football. The wife says: “Have you gone to see your women again?” At home one woman is looking at you - there is love and everything else, but here 30 are looking at you, and you understand that you have to help them with something. They just don't listen to anything. “No, I won’t do that, my leg hurts here.” Yes, yes, okay, whistle, 30-50 push-ups, acceleration - and off we go.
The head coach of the Moscow “Sirens” team, Alexander Rudnev, in an exclusive interview with “Zhivu Sportom”, told how American football is doing in Russia, where girls and children can practice and talked about the attitude Russian girls to the lingerie league.
American football is still a very mysterious sport for average Russians. If in our country we are still accustomed to men in helmets, then about women's football There are a lot of stereotypes in society. The coach of the Moscow “Sirens” team, Alexander Rudnev, helped the “Living Sports” portal dispel them. It turns out that anyone can play, and the lingerie league, with which women's American football is often associated, has nothing to do with Russian reality. Read more in our interview.
– Tell us about yourself, what do you do, how did you come to American football?
– I am the coach of the Moscow “Sirens” women’s team in American football and flag football. All American football in Russia is amateur. Most of the time I work as an IT specialist at RIA Novosti. All our players and coaches do not receive money for their activities. Even the Russian national team travels to all international tournaments at its own expense.
– What is the difference between American football and flag football?
– Flag football is a sport without equipment or helmets, played five on five. The capture here is replaced by flags. Here players rip flags from their belts to stop their opponents. Hence the name. We can say that this is an ideal sport for development. You can even play in the hall. Everything is like in big American football, but without contact.
– Are there many people involved in women’s American football in Russia?
– In Russia there are four active teams in Moscow and one each in Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg. There are also two women’s clubs in the Far East - in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. The team in St. Petersburg, Valkyrie, plays in the Finnish league, one of the strongest in Europe, and shows good results. She was the very first - she is already 5 years old. All other clubs are three or four years old, ours is generally two.
This year in Russia, a regular league will start for women for the first time - the Moscow Women's League of American Football. Everyone will play each other twice. We will hold a full-fledged championship for the first time.
– Can anyone come and study?
– Our sport is still young, so anyone can start playing. We issue equipment, first month trial classes for free. Then we look at who is doing what, and whether the players themselves like or dislike it. We don't have any restrictions.
We don’t kick anyone out or expel anyone. After the first month, if a person wants to study, he begins to pay club fees - 2,500 rubles per month. This money is used to rent the stadium for games and training. Another issue is real games. If a player is not ready, he will not be included in the squad, but there are no restrictions on training.
– Is the situation the same in men’s?
– It’s the same for men, but there are more players involved, the players are better prepared, and they perform longer. But, in general, newcomers, if they want, can come.
– And if we talk about children's sections?
– There are two children’s sections in Moscow. This is sports school number 77 and a children's team based on the Spartans men's team. You can study from the age of eight, as far as I remember. Our team accepts girls from 16 years old to play flag football and from 18 years old to play contact sports.
– There is a stereotype that only ugly girls play American football. Is this true?
– Yes, this is a common stereotype. For example, I have a model on my team. In our country, unlike rugby, nothing can happen to your face.
The most that can happen from “regular injuries” is bruises on the arms. The face is protected as they play with helmets. The girls who train are all different, but the fact that they don’t come out beautiful because of fear is an absolute stereotype and stupidity.
We have more than ten different playing positions on the field. Everyone can find a use for themselves, regardless of physical data and build. From players weighing 120 to 60 kilograms. I will say that this is the most democratic sport.
In men's football, we had a player weighing 220 kilograms for the national team. A person of any size can play American football. You just need to attend training, gym and have a great desire. Within six months, even if you are very thin, for example, you can be ready to enter the field.
- Regarding injuries. What will happen if a girl weighing 120 kilograms collides with a girl weighing 60 kilograms?
- Nothing will happen. American football is a contact sport, but what makes it different from most games is that people are prepared for contact and collisions on the field. Everyone is already waiting for this contact in advance. We teach how to group correctly and everyone knows what to do.
For example, in European football, players do not expect that they will be hit in the legs at a certain moment, let’s say a person is running and they hit him from behind. General trauma is a common myth. Nothing to do with reality.
After the game there are abrasions and bruises, but there are no more serious injuries than in regular football or basketball. This has been proven more than once by statistics.
– If we talk about uniforms, how much will one set for the game cost?
– Different teams have their own system. In Sirens, I buy the equipment myself and the players don’t need anything. We provide equipment, and in the future we are considering providing it free of charge to players who show high results.
Again, you need to understand that equipment can be different levels. Someone wants to buy themselves an advanced helmet or an improved frame. Let me emphasize that no one is left without equipment.
The equipment costs a lot of money. A good set will cost $500. You can’t buy anything in Russia, we order from the USA by mail. You can buy used helmets, for example. Naturally, we take new shorts and clothes. You can’t even buy boots in Russia; we need special ones specifically for American football.
– In Russia, at one time, a video of women’s American football, where girls play in their underwear, was gaining popularity. Do you think Russia should take this path, how do your girls feel about it?
- Yes, I am aware. I can say that all the players in American women's football have an extremely negative attitude towards this. We don't have a show, but a sport high achievements. We have championships, a national team that we want to represent on the international stage.
The girls look at this critically. Very often, in fact, those who hear about women's American football are shown this video. That's not the case with us at all. We do not have any lingerie league, and there is no desire to develop such entertainment yet.
– Give advice to those who want to play American football, but are embarrassed to come to their first lesson?
– The main thing is not to be afraid. We have several people who didn't play sports at all before college football. They have already arrived mature age– 23-25 years old. And a year later they played for the Russian national team. There are absolutely no restrictions - anyone can start, from 16 to 34 years old.
If a person likes sports, team sport, then there will be no problems. We have a great atmosphere, nothing to worry about. We come and try, and then it’s up to you.
Interviewed by: Georgy Shakov.
All photos in the article are taken from the official
This spring I thoroughly enjoyed reading First & Goal's series of articles about reasons to root for various LAF teams. Frankly speaking, it is unlikely that any of them have greatly increased the number of fans in our closed football community. But absolutely, they showed us how and how all these teams live today, what interesting things are happening in them, they gave us many reasons to follow them, they made us look differently at their results and what they do and don’t do well. In other words, following LAF, knowing much more about the teams that play in it, has become much more interesting!
But even being subjective towards my team like no one else, I still couldn’t help but think about it in this context. The one to which our football fans (with the exception of trololo-publics) pay much less attention, while important reasons There are also a lot of things to keep track of. Therefore, today I will tell you about – albeit my personally and extremely biased – list of reasons to follow the St. Petersburg “Valkyries” this season.
"Valkyries" perform at the highest level of all Russian teams
For the second season in a row, the Valkyries will play in Major League Finnish Championship, which by a huge margin is the coolest women's club tournament in Europe.
The Finns themselves carry one of the oldest traditions of women's football on our continent and are its undisputed leaders, having not lost a single match to anyone other than the national teams in the entire history of the World and European Championships North America. The brand holds them too club championship, the Major League of which is a kind of “Big 6”: the best football players on the continent play here, the highest requirements for the level of play and organization are here, the best foreign players from the continent and overseas come here.
Yes, yes, this year the Finnish Major League became the first ever women's club tournament on the continent in which American women (not just those who ended up there by chance, but specially arrived on a professional basis) will compete on a regular basis. Or another example to better assess the level of this tournament - think about how many men’s teams there are in Russia (with the exception of the top ones) that can field an attack line, all of whose players will weigh over 100 kg? And in the “Higher School” of the Black Sea Fleet there are such women’s groups! This is who the Valkyries will have to play with this summer.
For this alone, they already deserve the attention of Russian fans, and even without being in any way connected with this club, I would still be extremely proud of our girls.
No other Russian team costs football as much as the Valkyries
When they say that everyone who plays American football in Russia is a hero, I never tire of adding that the girls who do it are triple heroes. Of course, they face exactly the same difficulties as everyone else, but besides this, they have incomparably more of them!
For example, from a purely financial point of view, due to the current exchange rate of the ruble, only the direct costs of participation in the Black Sea Fleet (fees, visa, travel) cost each girl 50-60 thousand rubles... Which is comparable to contributions to the Black Sea Fleet from the whole team grown men! This is money that many people have to save for a whole year and for the sake of which they really have to constantly sacrifice such joys of life as a normal vacation or a new dress. And this is only direct money for the Finnish championship - no one exempted them from the costs of training, uniforms and everything else that football players have to pay for in Russia!
But money is only one part. Time also plays a rather cruel joke on the girls: for games in Finland they have to travel there by night bus (usually on Friday), and then return back (on Saturday), after which they have no energy left for anything at all. And what, accordingly, the whole weekend is immediately spent on. And the girls will have such games every week in June and July. That is, while men complain that the LAF schedule does not allow them to take a vacation in the summer, the Valkyries will practically not even have a weekend off in the summer! Instead of dachas and barbecues, they will spend these days on or next to a stuffy bus.
And these are all, I repeat, just examples of additional difficulties that this particular team is experiencing, in addition to all the others that everyone is experiencing. And in the end it turns out that for no one playing football costs as much and is not as difficult as for girls. Isn't this a reason to wish them success?
"Valkyries" are developing at a cosmic pace
If you look at the results of the matches (1-6), it may seem that last season was not very successful for the Valkyries. But think about this: this was the first competitive season for our girls, and they immediately played it in the toughest competition in Europe.
Let's rewind a little - the Valkyries actually played American football for the first time only in 2014. But even then, in their second friendly match, they found themselves stronger team Tampere Saints, who that season progressed through the First Division (immediately after the Premier League) without a single defeat.
This game and the level that the team showed in only the second game in its history were the reason that when the team entered the Finnish championship the following year, they were taken immediately directly to the Major League, where an additional vacant place became available after the withdrawal of one teams.
And if you look at the result of 1-6 (and penultimate place) from this point of view, then it was nothing more than a justification for such a credit of confidence given to the Valkyries before the season by the Finnish federation. Proof that we belong in this league. League of the best women's teams in Europe.
Not only are they moving forward, but they are also pulling the rest of women’s football in Russia with them
While the Russian men's teams are just looking for loopholes in the regulations so as not to show each other videos of their games, the Valkyries are doing everything in their power to ensure that women's football develops throughout the country.
The open camps that the Valkyries hold every winter have already become annual, when all interested girls can come to visit them to learn from them and best trainers our country. "Valkyries" organized the first Russian Cup, which helped women's teams finally play with each other and gave them all new push in development. In the end, without the Valkyries, the women’s team of our country would not have taken place, which also became such an important milestone in the development of this discipline.
“Valkyries” are investing everything they can into the development of football among girls in our country, so their success is also the success of all women’s football in Russia. And that's the final reason I think Valkyries is worth keeping an eye on this year.
I would like to complete the presentation of the sample team of this season for fans with a short list of its key personalities, whose stories also contain a lot of interesting things.
Virineya Yatsyna (DL; comparison with LAF player - Alexander Simanchev)
An interior defensive lineman who, like no one else, can both control his run against the run and break into a pass rush. Virineya played the entire last season with torn cruciate ligaments in her knee, and spent this off-season recovering from surgery on it, and is only now approaching the peak of her form. Thanks to a combination of incredible athleticism and complete “sickness” of football, she (in my opinion as a national team coach) is in shape regardless of position.
Photo courtesy of Ilya Kravtsov
Daria Bryukhovetskaya (LB; comparison with LAF player - Ruslan Gadzhiev)
He is the same prototypical Mike linebacker as Ruslan. Her size, combined with excellent horizontal speed and pursuit, and the ability to play hard in any passing game really evokes associations with this particular player. Although I’m speaking here subjectively and as a defensive coach, because Dasha also plays running back and gained the most rushing yards for the team last year.
Photo courtesy of Ilya Kravtsov
Anastasia Diskovskaya (DB; comparison with LAF player - Viktor But)
There are players with such a combination of a developed sense of balance, agility and acceleration who can easily play both as a receiver and as a defensive back. Nastya belongs to this category exactly to the same extent as Viktor Bout. After leading the team in receptions a year ago, she easily transitioned to the cornerback position full-time this season.
Photo courtesy of Ilya Kravtsov
Elizaveta Komanak (OL; comparison with LAF player - Stanislav Pakhomov)
You may have seen her story on First & Goal, but it doesn't reflect the full impact that Lisa has on her position - with all the extra training and activities, she truly is the leader that a true offensive line center should be.
Photo courtesy of Ilya Kravtsov
Angelina Stepkina (TE; comparison with LAF player - Andrey Ivanov)
Playing both defense and attack, Lina has rare toughness and contact, which, combined with the softest and most reliable hands, makes her an even more outstanding player. As in the case of Ivanov, she is unlikely to miss any ball thrown even approximately in her direction - and after that no one will envy the defender who will have to tackle her.
Photo courtesy of Ilya Kravtsov
Natalya Voroshilova (DB; comparison with LAF players - Denis Khalturin)
What other coach wouldn't want a fast, sharp safety who used to play defensive line? With the help of her toughness, which she gained while playing “in the trenches,” Natasha (just like Khalturin) not only captures, but punishes receivers with any contact with them, while doing this without compromising the quality and reliability of the cover itself.
Photo courtesy of Ilya Kravtsov
Elena Proskurikova (VR; comparison with LAF player - Denis Pisarev)
The most reliable hands of our team and one of the most reliable in the entire Finnish Championship. Lena catches the ball with one hand, one finger, one foot - whatever; at the same time, preventing her from even touching the ball also seems to be a huge difficulty due to her sharpness and coordination, as well as linear speed.
Photo courtesy of Ilya Kravtsov
Valeria Krutikova (DL; comparison with LAF player - Akaki Rurua)
Effective pass rushers are often talked about in terms of their “engine” - their drive and efficiency during every split second of the play. Rurua, for example, with his restless work at speed, takes advantage of this - just like Lera. When you see a receiver who has taken a pass all the way to the end and is successfully pursued by a defensive lineman, you know exactly who came out to play football today and not fool around.
Here, in a nutshell, is my opinion on why and who exactly is worth watching this season in Valkyries. But how exactly to do this? Unfortunately, Polyakov’s creative hand has not yet reached the Finnish Federation of American Football and teams do not yet broadcast their matches (until the playoff stage), so the only way to see the match in real time is to travel to Finland with the team. Fortunately, the Valkyries are always happy to take fans with them on the team bus, you just need to ask.
But with or without support, I still know that this team will perform well this year, despite all the difficulties that women's football faces in our country.
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The St. Petersburg “Griffins” spent the past hot weekend preparing for the most important match of the summer. On July 16, the guys will play the “derby of two capitals” with the Moscow “Patriots”. In the 2015 season, patriotic Muscovites fought with the Griffins for the title until the last moment. champions of Russia, losing only after an exciting head-to-head confrontation.
While the Gryphons sat down in the gym, the best half of city football took to the field. The St. Petersburg “Valkyries” played another match in the Major League of the Finnish Championship, where they play due to the lack of a strong women’s championship in Russia. The Finnish championship is the strongest on the continent. He constantly puts high bars, but Sunday's game was out of the ordinary. The Valkyries were up against the nine-time and current national champions, the leaders of the current season, the Demons from Helsinki. The victory of the young St. Petersburg team shook the whole world of European women's football!
The match started predictably. Having scored one touchdown in each of the opening quarters, the home team went for big break with a comfortable advantage of 14:0. Outside observers could shrug their shoulders, but experts were surprised to understand that the score was explained by the mistakes of the Valkyries themselves, and not by the advantage of the favorites. The Russians only had to gather their courage to change the course of the game. They changed it.
Our team set a wild pace from the first play of the third quarter: Daria Bryukhovetskaya returned the kickoff to the end zone. The score is 14:8, and the match suddenly begins to struggle. After that, the Valkyries defense immediately took the ball away. The confident passing game of quarterback Lyubov Lukina again led the St. Petersburg offense into the opponent's end zone. Again Bryukhovetskaya breaks through there - and already the St. Petersburg women lead 14:16!
The experienced Finns had a lot of time left to make up the tiny gap. Time after time, their offense came close to our team's end zone, but each time the Valkyries fought back, winning the ball with interceptions or by number of attempts.
While the waves of the “Demons” attack crashed against the defense of the St. Petersburg team, the latter’s attack was distinguished by an excellent rally: Oksana Arbatova, with a run across half the field, secured a touchdown on a reception from Lukina. 24:14 in favor of the underdog! The Finns are exhausted, they are enough for the final assault on the Valkyries’ defense, but Ksenia Derevyanskaya intercepted another pass and made a “control” touchdown to the head of the forecasters. 30:14! The sensational victory of the Russian team not only significantly increased the Valkyries’ chances of reaching the playoffs of the Finnish championship, but also made people talk about the breakthrough successes of the Russian school of women’s American football.
Match between the teams "Valkyrie" (purple uniform) and "Dragonflies". Photo: Pavel CHAYKIN (vk.com/pavel711 )
In the Russian Federation, the first women’s team appeared five years ago, and in Sineokaya the history of the “American” is essentially just beginning – on December 1, recruitment began for the first women’s team.
Remember the classic scene from many Hollywood films? A broken group of friends sits with chips and popcorn in front of the TV, clinging to the screen, watching as athletes in uniform with “puffed up” shoulders and intimidating helmets with visors try to take the ball from each other with their hands, huddling together in a small heap... The rules of the game - and this is what we’re talking about about American football - little is understood by our ordinary viewer - in contrast to the usual classic football, where they kick the ball and kick it into the opponents' goal.
WE'LL TEACH YOU EVERYTHING AND GET IT IN SHAPE
To be fair, some Belarusian girls are already playing this American game, more precisely, its variation - flag football (non-contact version of AF). There are several amateur girls’ teams in the republic, for example, based on the Minsk club “Pagans”. Just the other day, at the beginning of December, selection for the first women's team begins at the base of the men's American football club "Litviny". The name of the team remains a secret for now. But the new girls will have to immediately get involved in an active game, because closer to the summer the team plans to hold a couple of friendly matches, and already in the fall of 2017 take part in the Russian Flag Football Cup.
There are no teams in Belarus that would nominate themselves to participate in the Cup, but we know about plans for 2017. If everything works out, then we will be happy to accept Belarusian teams in our competitions,” said Artem Polyakov, executive director of the Russian American Football Federation, in an interview with SV. Women's Cup Russia will take place, most likely in September 2017. Some teams did not participate in this year’s tournament (five teams played in total), but everything is going to ensure that the next tournament will be very representative. And the Belarusians will have to compete with strong rivals.
However, frankly speaking, it is still impossible to compare the level of play with the strongest Russian team – and the St. Petersburg “Valkyries” have become Russian champions for many years now. home championship difficult.
Women's American football appeared in Russia not so long ago: 2011 was the impetus for the creation of the first women's team "Valkyrie" in St. Petersburg, on the basis of the men's club "Griffins". The name of the girl was chosen collectively - so that it would be militant, but at the same time feminine. There are currently 25 girls in the team's main roster, but during the off-season there is a constant recruitment of players. Any girl can become a “Valkyrie” if she is already 17 years old. The main qualities you need to have are courage and determination. We will teach you the rest, and when necessary physical fitness“We’ll bring it,” Valkyrie coach Ilya Kravtsov tells SV.
WE WILL NOT GET OFF WITH BRONZE!
The girls even regularly travel to Europe, for example, they took part in the Finnish Championship in the Major League, where last year they took third place.
So far, it is very difficult to compete with the Valkyries. They successfully play in the Finnish Championship, where American women's football has been developing for about 20 years. There they get serious gaming experience. Their victory there is one of the main tasks for our representatives of women’s football,” adds Artem Polyakov.
Bronze in the strongest European Championship is a breakthrough, he believes captain of the Russian national team and player of the Valkyrie team Virineya Yatsyna. Now the girls are preparing for the new season.
Now we have plans for the final of the Finnish Championship. And we won’t get off with bronze! – promises Yatsyna. - The level of play in Finland is many times higher. You look at a girl and think how can she even move with a mass of about 130 kilograms? Maybe, maybe! Finnish girls are very athletic. I admire it, I'm waiting new season to meet them again on the field.
You look at the slender beauty, and you want to ask only one thing: Virineya, how did you get into this rather tough, contact, and, as many people think, not at all female appearance sports?
But by chance. Mom got married and on her honeymoon she and her husband met a Griffins player who invited our family to watch the game. I went and watched the whole match in fascination. Very dynamic, exciting, smart game! Many people think that the players there only push and hit each other! But, no, American football is full of strategies. Since then I fell in love with this sport. For a year I was afraid to come to training with the Valkyries, I thought that I wouldn’t succeed. But then I decided and now I’m happy.
Photo from personal archive
HELP "SV"
On sheer enthusiasm and “recklessness”In Russia, American football began to be played back in the 1930s, thanks to workers and specialists from the United States who participated in the construction of large industrial enterprises. The game was not widely used at that time.
The full emergence of AF in the USSR began in the second half of the 1980s. According to one version, in the Chelyabinsk region. Alexander Kovrigin, public instructor at plant No. 22 of the Mayak Production Association (now the city of Ozyorsk), local trainer hockey team, decided to develop American football. He didn't even really know the rules of the game. On December 15, 1987, the first training session took place. This day began to be considered the birthday of the “Feds” club. The first enthusiasts, in the absence of a real form, used the old one hockey uniform and repurposed motorcycle helmets.
In 1989, the “Bears” team was created in Moscow; it included retrained rugby players, track and field athletes, and wrestlers. Without government support, the Bears' players and coaching staff developed American football on Russian soil with their own enthusiasm.
Was there too interesting story: after just three weeks of training, the Bears management decided to announce the club to the whole world. Thanks to promoter Tom Kelly, we agreed to hold friendly match with one of the strongest clubs in Europe, the champion of Germany – Berlin Adler. Soviet athletes arrived there without uniforms and proper equipment (they simply didn’t have it!). Journalists and German athletes laughed and were surprised at the “recklessness.” Tom Kelly solved the equipment problem and the historic game took place on September 17, 1989 in West Berlin. Under the pressure of a highly experienced non-German team, our newcomers lost with a score of 77:6. But how they fought! The goal was achieved - the world learned about the Bears.
Russian national league American Football was established in 1993. It was headed by Alexander Viktorenko and Alexey Bazhenov. In 1994, the first AF schools began to open, and a year later the Children's League appeared. Since 1996, the Russian Championship among juniors has been held, and since 2002, the Russian Championship among senior teams.
