In the football world, those who know Odessa Jenkins would say that she’s got fire, spunk and the ability to turn things up a notch.
It’s an apt description for Ms. Jenkins, a native of what was then known as South-Central Los Angeles, who has distinguished herself in the world of female tackle football as a Women’s Football Hall of Fame running back, holder of eight world titles and three gold medals from various sports entities, and as head coach for the Texas Elite Spartans.
Ms. Jenkins, 44, who now resides in Dallas, was deeply frustrated with the lack of diversity in the male-dominated field of football. Though she found some avenues to play, she was painfully aware that there were not many such opportunities for other women — and those that did exist were not profit-generating and didn’t offer economic stability.
In 2019 she founded the Women’s National Football Conference, W.N.F.C., a for-profit, full-contact women’s professional football league whose mission is to foster financial equity for women and girls through the power of football.
“I wanted women to be recognized as professional football players and to be paid for it,” she said. “I didn’t want to wait another 60 years for that to happen.”
The league started out with 15 teams across the United States, including the Texas Elite Spartans. Since then, the league has gained three teams.
Ms. Jenkins, the youngest of four children, was born and raised in Los Angeles during a period of heightened violence and gang activity. She was the first in her family to graduate from college, California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Her brother and nephew were murdered, and her aunt died from AIDS, tragic losses she endured among other heartbreaking experiences.
Nevertheless, Ms. Jenkins has remained resilient, “sprinting forward through life,” she said. “That’s when you score and win. Through all my adversity, I’m building something, so I never have to fall down again.”
Ms. Jenkins was interviewed by phone. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
Why did you create the W.N.F.C.?
Nobody knew women were capable of playing professional football. I wanted to change that. To play professional football at the highest level, women had to give up their financial possibilities of making money or becoming a brand.
The for-profit business entity for women’s football is just starting. I wanted to give women financial opportunity and revenue by building a business with the intention of developing professional women’s football like the N.F.L. with TV contracts, sponsorships, partnerships, community engagement and apparel.
What are the greatest challenges for women in this field?
Professional opportunity. We have been excluded and not taken seriously. There’s no opportunity for girls to play tackle football in grade school right now, there’s only tackle football for boys. So there’s no awareness that adult women can play. That’s going to change because in 2028, women’s flag football will be an Olympic sport.
Are people surprised to learn women are playing professional football?
When people hear football, or think of physical strength, or potentially being violent, they don’t associate that with women. I want to change that narrative.
We have perpetuated a patriarchal idea that good women do soft, feminine things and that beauty is assigned to a certain type of woman. Now women are deciding that beauty can come from their mind and what they can do with their body.
What will move the women’s professional sports needle?
Awareness and resilience. When you play women’s tackle football, you immediately become someone that is going to be challenged, that is going to be called ugly. We need to create space for women, and then for women to create space for other women.
With your wins and records, were you taken seriously when you started the W.N.F.C.?
To be taken seriously as a woman, you can’t just be great at what you do, you must be extraordinary and do it over a long period of time. People don’t take women’s accomplishments and expertise seriously. No one cares about what you have achieved if you can’t make them see themselves in it, and it’s very hard to make people see themselves in you, as a Black woman.
What has had a deep impact on women in sports?
Title IX, from a legislative standpoint, which was an equal rights law passed in 1972 that required colleges and universities to create and make room for equality in sports or in the education system. And the advent of social media, influencer marketing and the ability to become a star overnight by telling your own story with your cellphone without having power or money.
What successes are a direct result of founding the league?
We didn’t just create a sports league, we created a recognized sports property, and that made brands see us differently and take us seriously. Through telling the story of women in football, we brought awareness to a sport that was overlooked. For the first time ever, major global brands are sponsoring women’s tackle football. That’s huge.
Women’s sports is nowhere near its peak, but it is accelerating. I’m still fighting for the opportunity to have equal play, pay, awareness and attention, and an equal chance to show the world what women are capable of.
The post All She Wanted to Do Was Play. Football, That Is. appeared first on New York Times.
