Thirty men’s and eight women’s teams gathered to compete in the USAFL National Championships in Mason, Ohio, over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend on October 9-12, 2009.Following many months of recruiting and training, Calgary became the first club to field two women’s teams, the Calgary White Kookaburras and Calgary Blue Kookaburras, in an effort to defend the championship title won in Colorado Springs the previous year.
Our ladies arrived in a very wet Mason fearful that it would be a repeat of the sodden, near sub-zero temperatures of the previous tournament in Colorado Springs. Fortunately, the thermometer read a much more forgiving temperature.However, after an extremely muddy Friday night training session conducted in ankle-deep water, it was apparent that a waterlogged pitch would prove a challenge to all competitors, and especially our Alberta girls who rarely play or train in the wet.
Calgary White kicked off Saturday morning bright-and-early with a match against Milwaukee.Milwaukee put the first points on the scoreboard and didn’t let up.Calgary White fought hard and persevered in spite of the point difference, but Milwaukee’s experience overpowered Calgary White team and won 9.15-69 to 0.0-0.
Calgary Blue and Eastern Canada/Sacramento were next up.This was the closest it would come to a Battle of Canada, with individuals from both sides vying for positions on the Canadian national team.It was a tough, gritty game full of hard tackles and clashing egos.Calgary Blue emerged victorious by 7.5-47 to 0.2-2, with Holly “Witchy” Greatwich and Leslie “Gurbs” Gurba kicking two goals apiece and Rebecca “Becks” Jones, Lesley “Zed” Zmurchuk and Lori “Boss” Bossert each contributing a goal.
During our mid-day break, our ladies watch the Calgary Kangaroos men defeat Minnesota 6.6-42 to 3.1-19, and thump Kansas City 9.5-59 to 1.6-12.The Roos displayed much skill and finesse in moving the ball down the field and provided inspiration for our afternoon games.
Calgary White met Atlanta in their next game.As in their first, they came out strong but were slowly picked apart by their more experienced rivals who had contested every women's Grand Final in USAFL history.Calgary White managed to kick one point, showing that the Atlanta defense could be breached, but they weren't able to prevent Atlantafrom running away with the game 9.9-63 to 0.1-1.
Calgary Blue finished Saturday by facing New York.Both teams came out with their guns blazing, but with Kate “Spider” Ross in the ruck and Zed running up the wing, Calgary Blue was unstoppable.Becks controlled the midfield and a lot of opportunities fell to Witchy and Boss up forward.Calgary Blue defeated New York 7.2-44 to 0.2-2 with two goals to Boss and one apiece to Melanie “Hulga” Howard, Zed, Becks, Shelby “Buddy” McLean and Spider.
Calgary White faced Denver in the first Sunday fixture and, having had their hopes of making it to the final dashed the day prior, they had nothing to lose and came out flying.Jane “Tarz” Wardle scored the first goal for the White and it looked as though they may upset the more experienced Denver team.Unfortunately, it was not to be.It seemed that Tarz's goal woke Denver up and they responded with more vigorous attack on the ball.Calgary White didn't give up, and although Denver won 6.7-43 to 1.0-6, the margin was not indicative of Calgary White's effort.Calgary White walked off the pitch to a huge cheer of support, ending their national championship with their best performance.
Calgary Blue met Arizona in their last round robin match, which doubled as a semi-final as the winners would advance to the grand final.There were some tough tackles and skillful play from both sides, but Calgary Blue was true to form and racked up a commanding score with a whopping four goals from Boss, two from Witchy, and one each from Zed, Buddy, Hulga, Vicki “Hewy” Hewitt and Kathryn “Gangles” Zakus.The final score was 11.10-76 to 0.4-4 and with no goals yet scored against Calgary Blue during three round robin matches, they confidently advanced to the Grand Final against Milwaukee.
The weather and field conditions for the women’s Grand Final were far superior to the Colorado Springs tournament a year before. With the sun was shining and a gentle breeze, the pitch was better than it had been all weekend and it was shaping up to be a great game.Calgary Blue lined up with a healthy dose of pre-game jitters.The whistle blew and both teams came out strong.Erin “Sav” LeBlanc put the first goal on the scoreboard for Calgary and they all hoped the game would play out to a familiar script, wither several others to follow.It did, but unfortunately for the wrong side.Shortly after the opening goal, Calgary Blue conceded two 50-metre penalties for silly errors, which allowd Milwaukee to kick two goals and shifted the momentum dramatically in their favour. From that point on tt seemed as though Calgary Blue were a step behind their opponents and played catch-up for the duration of the game.Despite putting a few more points on the board, Milwaukee defeated Calgary 51-11.A dejected Calgary team walked off the pitch in tears, devastated by the result.
Earlier that morning, the Calgary Kangaroos had defeated Chicago to advance to the Division Two men's Grand Final against the Milwaukee men. Our girls made their way over to the beer tent to commiserate and cheer on the men against Milwaukee.It was a fairly evenly matched game, but Calgary looked very strong.Brilliant marking and great team play made for a very exciting game. The Calgary men battled constantly, never letting up, and with skill and passion managed to run out winners with a final score of 32-20.At least one Calgary team would be taking home a championship cup!
With the competition finished and the day still young, the teams made their way to the tournament after party for some good times. As disappointing as the result was for our girls, we are never outdone at a party. Ultimately, Ohio put on a great tournament even if the result wasn't what we had hoped. As our girls left the hotel the following day, most were looking ahead
to another great season of footy, and to redemption.
