Football Player.............YES I AM!!

So as some of you might know, I got the chance to do not only something for an AMAZING cause but also something FUN for myself too!  On Saturday I went to Iowa City for the Iowa Ladies Football Academy.

What is this, you ask? Well, first off it is a GREAT fundraiser for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.  They are building a NEW hospital set to be completed by March of 2016.  Kirk and Mary Ferentz are HUGE supporters of the hospital and the players try to go over and visit the kids as much as they can. 

So three years ago Mary started the Iowa Ladies Football Academy.  It is for Ladies only and it is a day all men can be jealous of!!!  If you are a football fan of any kind and especially a HAWKEYE fan this is the thing for you, Ladies!!! 

This year there were 225 ladies that took part and we raised a combined total of $230,523.00!!!  This makes a total of $717,523.00 raised for the three years they have had the academy going!!!  Their goal was to make $1 million in 5 years.............I think they will make it next year!!!

I decided last year at one of the football games, I was doing it!  It cost $50 to register and you have to raise a minimum of $500 to be able to participate the day of the event. I set my goal high but I wanted to win the prize of the most raised................they have some pretty great prices!!!  But for my first year, I didn't make my goal but I didn't pretty well, I thought.  I didn't have as much time to raise money as I thought I would.  I am going to start WAY earlier next year and try to raise all year long. 

I headed over the night before and stayed in a hotel just so I didn't have to get up as early and worry about traffic and all that stuff.  I had a nice dinner and then just relaxed in the room and read my book.  I don't get to do that very often so I took full advantage of it!

The next morning, it was "Game Day!"  We had to check in at 11 a.m. and bring all the money we had raised.   My phone was my camera for the day and wouldn't you know, it was all but dead!  So I tried to leave it charging in the car as long as I could to get the most battery I could. (If you are a long time blog reader, do you sense a pattern with the cell phone battery being dead......just sayin!)

Anyway, y'all this was very out of the box for me! I didn't know ONE PERSON there and I don't usually do things like this.  But, I jumped in with both feet and I am SO glad I did!!!  Walking into the new indoor practice facility, I met a wonderful young lady and we hit it off instantly!! She was a first timer as well and didn't know anyone either!! PERFECT!!  So we headed in and checked in for the day!!  While in line, we met another super sweet lady who was a first timer and all alone so we quickly became a group!!  Then within minutes we had two more first timers and loners and we became the Pink Ladies!!!  (More about that in a little bit!)

 

Inside the Practice Facility

We started by checking in and handing in our money. Then we headed over and got our back pack, t-shirt, and bag tag.  Inside our back pack had a Hawkeye towel, bug spray, rain poncho, Coach Ferentz game day gum and some other little goodies.  So we change our shirts to the "practice gear" and head to the weight room!

The Pink Ladies: Teresa, Abby, Me, Ashley, and Kelley

 

 In the weight room we got to take pictures with some of the players and check out their daily routine.  I would LOVE to have 1/4 of the machines and weights they have at my disposal!!!  But then again, I am not a football player so,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I guess they need those things more than I do!!  LOL

On to the bus just like the players do on game day!! We took a charter bus from the weight room area over to Kinnick for the Hawk Walk!!  That was pretty sweet!!!  We even got to rub Nile Kinnick's helmet just like the boys do!!!

Into the locker room for the pre-game talk.................well kind of!!  Their locker room is SWEET!!!

We went from here to the tunnel and onto the field!!!!  I cannot even put into words what this was like!!!  It was pure amazement!!!  They had different stations set up on the field for us to do.  We got to try tackling, punting, kicking, passing, we even got to try on the uniform.  Helmet and all!!!

Let's see your Game Face!

Now for the best part of the day!!!  Meeting Coach Ferentz!  I have met him before and he remembered it!! Him and his wife Mary came to Des Moines for a walk around the Capital area for a Healthy Iowa thing.  Mary even held B!!!  She remembered that!!  SO COOL!!!

One of the NICEST guys in the world!!

We grabbed some lunch and took a short break.  Then we got to watch the dance team perform a little bit and the Honorary Captains perform with them.  They are triplets that were 3 months premature and stayed at the U of I hospital for a while.  They were VERY CUTE!!!  The players even showed some moves............yes even the white boys!!! LOL

Then to finish the afternoon we got put into groups by our wrist bands.  This is where the Pink Ladies comes into play...............we all 5 "conveniently" had pink wrist bands.......SO we got to be in the same group!!!!  We had a BLAST!!!!  We spend all day together already and got to do drills together too!!! 

Drills were great! We learned what Tight Ends, Linebackers, Defensive Ends, Special Teams, Quarterbacks, Defensive Backs, Running Backs, and there were two more but for the life of me I can't remember them!  We got to see the coaches in action and throw the ball around with the players, it was GREAT!!

Once we were all finished it was PRIZES time!!!  The top money raisers got prizes and then they had three raffle prizes they gave away. On of our Pink Ladies did win for raising money!! Way to go Abby! I didn't win anything but just getting to be there for the day............was PRICELESS for me!!!  I was even quoted in this Hawkeye Sports article!! For more pictures from the day check out my facebook page under Photos Album Ladies Football Academy.

I will for sure be back next year and this was right up there with one of the TOP THREE OR FOUR things I have ever done!!!!  And my daddy and hubby are both pretty damn jealous!!!

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all!!!!  GO HAWKS!