LAS VEGAS SHOWGIRLZ: RecreationOff to greener football fields

Team moves up to international women's league

view file photoThen-Las Vegas Showgirlz quarterback Shawna Kennelly is pulled down by SoCal Scorpions Crystal Stokes and linebacker Tarrah Philpott in a game held July 2006. Advertisement

The Las Vegas Showgirlz women's professional football team has been playing the toughest competition possible since the team was founded in fall 2005. Now, the first and only women's football team in Nevada is moving on to the Independent Women's Football League (IWFL), a place where head coach and chief executive officer Dion Lee believes the Showgirlz will flourish.

"We're going to a league with more teams and it will cut down on our traveling schedule, so it's much more conducive for our team as a business," Lee said. "But we've also been playing the best teams across the nation for the last two seasons. We've played six teams that are probably among the top 10 in the history of women's football. These teams have been around for five to seven years. So now, going where we're going with so many more teams to play against, I see a championship on the horizon."

Founded in 2000, the IWFL is an international tackle football organization that is represented in 39 different markets in the United States and Canada with teams playing in two competition categories. Some of its standout teams that the Showgirlz will now be facing include the Sacramento Sirens, California Quake and Santa Rosa Scorchers.

"The Las Vegas Showgirlz is one of the best new teams in the sport today," said Kezia Disney, IWFL chief operating officer. "They have a solid organization with tremendous athletic talent. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome them to IWFL family."

In its first two seasons, the Showgirlz team, made up of female athletes from all over the Las Vegas Valley with varied backgrounds in many different sports, won four of its 15 games.

The Showgirlz played their first season's home games at Valley High School, and moved on to Desert Pines after that. Lee said the team attracts about 1,000 fans every game, a fairly strong following for a relatively new sport and a young franchise.

"In our first two seasons, the ladies really got a taste of good competition. They got to see what it takes to win a championship," Lee said. "This is not just a hobby. It takes a serious commitment."

The team has not settled on a home field for the upcoming season, which begins in April and runs through the end of July. But with the recent relocation of Las Vegas' other pro football team -- the Arena Football League Gladiators bolted for Cleveland after the end of the 2007 season -- Lee is confident the Showgirlz will continue to find community support.

"Women's football isn't like other sports because it's the same game as men's football," he said. "It might be a step slower, but the players are just as aggressive, if not more. A lot of times the women feel they have something to prove, so they'll go out and hit harder.

"With this move to the spring league and the move of the Gladiators to Cleveland, we should be able to increase our fan base."

The Showgirlz are looking for new players and are planning to hold open tryouts on Jan. 12 at a location to be determined.