SLAM Open Tryouts for the 2012 season will be held on Saturday, 12/17/11 – at CBC High School Gym, 1850 De La Salle Drive, St. Louis, MO  63141 from 4pm – 6pm.  You must be 18 years old to participate.  Please bring a $10 tryout fee, proof of medical insurance, & water with you to the tryout.  If you have questions please contact the SLAM at slamfootball@hotmail.com.

‘This isn’t the lingerie league’: Metro-east female football players are in it for the love of the game
BY SUZANNE BOYLE – News-Democrat
ST. LOUIS — Girls just wanna play football. Tackle football.

It was almost 10 p.m. on a Wednesday in May. Members of the St. Louis Slam were almost done with the three-hour practice, spent in the gym because of rain, working on specialty teams, running drills and coaches talking strategy.

The women practice three to four times a week, usually after they’ve finished a full day of work or school, with many handing off kids to spouses and family so they can train.
“We don’t get paid. It’s full contact. This isn’t the lingerie league,” said veteran nose guard Myrt Davis, 36, of Highland. The LFL (Lingerie Football League) is famous for its heavily endorsed, scantily clad players.

None of that in St. Louis. Slam players buy their own uniforms — a helmet can cost $200. They pay for hotel rooms, meals, bus rental and the gas to fuel the bus when traveling to away games. They seek out individual endorsements to raise funds.

They get injured, despite many of them being fit former prep, college and club athletes.

Second-year wide receiver Brooklyn Dunihoo, 27, of Pinckneyville, is a former college basketball player. She held up her hands, showing off several crooked fingers.

“This is what you get for not catching the football correctly,” she said of the broken bones. She was grinning.

So was Myrt Davis. This is not a game for wimps.

“We make our mistakes at full speed,” she said.

Seated in a classroom at Ladue’s Horton Watkins High School after practice, the players gathered up granola bars, water bottles and gear after watching game film on a new opponent in their league, the Chicago Force.

Head coach Quincy Davis, surrounded by several of his coaches, had only a few parting remarks as players took off jerseys and pads, reconfigured sweaty ponytails and stuffed helmets into duffel bags.

“They’re a tough team,” he said looking around the silent room. “Please study your notes so you can recall them quickly.”

Heads nodded and about 40 women of many sizes, ages and backgrounds made their way out the door.

The St. Louis Slam is a full-contact, professional football team that has been in existence since 2003 and is a member of the Women’s Football Alliance. Division champs since 2006 and national champs in 2009 (among more than 50 teams), the Slam would go on to lose to Chicago in both of its matchups, ending its 2011 season 4-3, missing the playoffs.

Computer programmer Michelle Marcus, 36, of St. Louis, is the team’s assistant general manager. Finding talent isn’t the biggest challenge, she said. “It’s getting the word out.”

Practice is in Ladue. Home field is Oakville High School. Games are played at night. It’s hard to fill the stands. As many as 1,000 have turned out, but the number is usually considerably lower.The regular season runs from April to mid-June. Practice starts in January. About 20 percent of the team’s 50 or so players are from Illinois.

Outside linebacker Amy Lopez, 40, of Troy, just finished her rookie season. Older son Alex, 15, plays for Triad High School.

“It’s like not normal,” Alex said, shaking his head about Amy playing what is largely considered a man’s sport. “It’s just Mom.”

It’s a wonder these women want to play.

But they do.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/06/26/1759493/girls-tackle-a-tough-sport-st.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz1RooWPLY1