Carol Grubb Football

Carol Grubb has always enjoyed a challenge. So when the opportunity to be a pioneer with the National Women's Football League's Philadelphia Liberty Belles came along it was too good to turn down.

And Grubb took advantage of it, becoming one of the most tenacious linebackers in the league.

An athlete since the age of seven Grubb has always loved football. She grew up watching Miami Dolphins games on television and wanting to play Pop Warner football but the opportunity never presented itself so she settled for softball, field hockey and later, flag football.

When she joined the Liberty Belles playing linebacker seemed like a natural fit. "Playing defense is incredible," she said. "So much emotion flies at every snap of the ball and when you finally do make that hit all the emotions come to you. It's incredible."

Like her teammates, Grubb heard Head Coach Russ Carfagno and his staff talk about the emotional intensity of the sport and she soon realized how true that was.

"Football was more a team sport than I'd ever played before," Grubb said. "With football you rely on those other 10 girls out there on defense to protect you, to save you, to help you on a tackle. The bond you form with the other players is unmatched by any other sport."

Grubb credits the coaching staff for not only teaching the players the fundamentals of the sport but for getting the players on the same page emotionally. "I don't think we were the tallest team on the field," Grubb said. "I don't think we were the fastest and I don't think we were the strongest. I just think the coaching staff put our abilities in the right spots and I think they deserve a lot of credit for teaching us how to play those positions."

Although the Liberty Belles went through the regular season in fine style, winning seven of eight games, it wasn't until they traveled to Pensacola, Fla. to play the Pensacola Power in the league's inaugural championship game that Grubb and her teammates got a taste of the impact they were making. After being largely ignored by the Philadelphia media for most of the season they found they were celebrities in Florida. When the Belles beat the locals 40-7 to claim the championship trophy more than 5,000 fans showed up.

"We got off the airplane and they knew who we were," Grubb said. "Then we go back to the Philadelphia airport and it's like 'Who are you?'

"Pensacola's smaller and they don't have many professional sports teams down there to begin with so they seemed to latch on to (the Power) which was a great feeling for them and it was kind of neat for us too because we were the outsiders stepping into the territory. But it was an incredible experience."

The Belles themselves had a small but loyal following; their biggest crowd at home was some 2,000 fans. Grubb would like to see the league attain the level of public awareness that other women's sports leagues like the WUSA have reached. But at the same time she's concerned about the NWFL taking on too much, too fast.

" When I found out there were 21 teams in the league this year I thought we were getting too big too fast," Grubb said. Sometimes when something gets too big to fast it ends up folding or not working. I hope we can get a good base set of fans that come to all our games like the Charge (the Philadelphia franchise in the WUSA). They'll want to see us and get to know us because we're available after the games to talk to the fans or whoever. It would be nice if they latched on to us and cared about what goes on."