A Night to Remember posted 8-9-04

 

On an unseasonably cool summer evening, some 400 spectators turned out at A.I. DuPont High School in Greenville, Del. to watch the Delaware Griffins make their Women’s Professional Football League debut.

 

It was a fitting venue for the first women’s football game ever to be played in Delaware. A few miles to the south in Wilmington, DuPont Country Club hosted one of the premier events in women’s sports, the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, for 18 years.

 

Tonight, the women wearing the silver and black uniforms of the Griffins, along with their opponents, the Syracuse Sting, were looking to make their own distinct impression, which they did. The Griffins prevailed 20-16 in a closely contested, entertaining contest.

 

 

It was an evening Renee Ejdaharian will likely remember for the rest of her life, and not just because her team came out on the long end of the score. It was a night when she lived her dream.

 

It was the first time that Ejdaharian had ever played in a tackle football game. She had loved the game since girlhood and while growing up in Northeast Philadelphia had played softball, soccer and ice hockey and later flag and rough touch football. But though she had wanted to give tackle football a try the door had been closed, until she found out about the Griffins.

 

Then, like so many athletes before her, male and female, Ejdaharian found out that the dream was still there. And after seven months of preparation, the 40-year old high school and college mathematics teacher found herself wearing a black jersey with a number 13 on it, pulling on a silver helmet, stepping onto the field in front of a crowd of paying customers and stepping under center as the Griffins’ starting quarterback.

 

Ejdaharian, who stands 5-5 and weighs 145 pounds, played well in her debut. She opened the evening by throwing a touchdown pass on her team’s first possession and all evening long showed poise and athleticism. On this night, living the dream was every bit as wonderful as dreaming the dream. The smile she wore on her face as she came off the field at evening’s end was bright enough to light up all of Delaware.

 

“It was the best experience in the world,” she said. “My first game, playing in this league and being the quarterback. I just can’t explain how it felt. I finally got a shot.”

 

Many of Ejdaharian’s teammates had more experience than she did and she had some concerns beforehand about how she would adjust from practice conditions to the environment of game night. As things turned out, the transition was relatively smooth. “I didn’t know what it was going to be like for me,” she said, “If I was going to remember everything I was taught when I came out, but it all just came together.”

 

 

Most women who are currently playing tackle football had success playing some other sport. But the majority will say, without much prodding, that playing football is unlike any other athletic experience they’ve had. Ejdaharian is no exception. The final score was almost secondary to the experience of playing.

 

“Its just exhilarating,” she said “I’m real competitive and I want to win. But just being out there as a team, that feeling is like no other. Eleven girls out there, moving together.

 

“We’ve been practicing since January and it’s been worth all the time we’ve put into it.”

 

It was just one game in what will be a long season and the challenges Ejdaharian and her teammates will face are sure to be many and varied. But whatever lies ahead, this was a night to remember.

 

As she headed off the field toward a crowd of well wishers, Ejdaharian looked at her questioner. “Does this smile tell you anything?” she asked.

 

In fact, her smile told us everything.