The Daily Toreador - Student Newspaper of Texas Tech

Issue date: 7/16/02 Section: Local News

Texas Tech football coaches will host the second annual Football 101 Clinic for women from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on July 27 at the United Spirit Arena.

The clinic offers an opportunity for up to 360 women to learn about the basics of football. Individual tickets are $20, and groups of five or more are $15 per person.

The clinic will include a buffet dinner, a free T-shirt and a clinic playbook complete with football terminology.

Tamara Metcalfe, a senior broadcast journalism major from Midlothian, has worked for the football coaches doing community and player relations for three years.

"At the beginning we will have the Tech offensive coaches teach about the offense. And they will bring players up to show what a typical quarterback or receiver looks like," she said. "Then we will bring women from the audience and the equipment coach will put on a uniform for them so they can see what it is like."

Following the equipment presentation, there will be halftime with a highlight video. Party Time photography will be on location taking pictures of participants with football coaches and players.

The second half will focus on defensive players and their techniques.

"I think that women around here are really exposed to football all the time, and I think that women understand the sport in general but don't necessarily understand the details or the plays or what it is really like to be a football player," she said. "This clinic has taught me to watch the game in a totally different way now. It makes me appreciate the athletes, coaches and coaches' wives."

Most NFL teams and other major colleges have women's clinics and Tech coach Mike Leach wanted to start it here, Metcalfe said.

Dennis Simmons, assistant director of football quality control, said the clinic holds huge value for the team by increasing fan support.

"So many think of football as a guy's game, and it is really not. We have just as many women who come out and watch," he said.

Heather Sombito, a senior nursing major from Galveston, participated in the clinic's inaugural year.

"I thought it was fun because they had some of the football players there, and they showed the football gear they wore. They help you learn not how to play football, but basic phrases and words that the coaches use and the different symbols that the referees show," she said. "They gave out pamphlets and it helped a lot. It was fun and interesting, and it helped me enjoy the game more because I knew more of what was going on."

Chris Stacy, a student assistant for Tech football, said the goal is to get women in the Lubbock community involved in the football family.

"It is a good chance to put a little more personal touch on our program. It is a classroom setting atmosphere, it is real relaxed, real animated," he said.

Reservations can be made through the Tech football office at 742-4260.

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