Lee Woman Vying For Gridiron Glory
.jpg) Donna Bruce says she doesn't plan on retiring until she wins a championship. |
The Lee native has been throwing herself into athletic challenges all her life - a journey that has taken her from the sandlots of her home town to the biggest stage available in her favorite team sport, which happens to be football.
Bruce, 52, is an all-league wide receiver and defensive back for the Medway-based New England Intensity, one of the top teams in the Independent Women's Football League.
Last weekend, the Intensity beat the Philadelphia Firebirds, 31-13, to earn a berth in the IWFL conference championship round, where Bruce' team will meet the Carolina Phoenix on July 14 in Greensboro, N.C.
If the Intensity wins that game, it will make its second straight trip to the IWFL Tier 2 championship game in Round Rock, Texas.
Playing against often much younger competitors, Bruce has averaged more than 15 yards per reception for the Intensity, which is 7-2 in a season that began back in April.
When she is not strapping on helmet and shoulder pads, the former girls soccer coach at Lee High School works in the outdoor sports department at Canyon Ranch Resorts in Lenox.
She is no stranger to athletic competition.
"I used to be quite a golfer, too, but I gave that up for football," Bruce said on Thursday. "I was Berkshire County champion one year. I was obsessed with golf. I get that way. When I started running, I had to run a marathon. That's just my personality. Whatever I do, I want to be good at it.”
Q. How long have you been playing tackle football?
A. Too long. I'm playing my 17th season. It's crazy.
For a little while there, there were to leagues. One played in the fall and the other in the spring, and I played in both. So it's been 17 seasons, not 17 years. I've been doing it a long time, though. Longer thought I would.
Q. How did you get into it?
A. One day I was reading the Boston Globe and saw this story about a woman's football team that was having tryouts out in Haverhill.
I said, 'You know what? I think I want to do this.' I'm always looking for adventures. I ran marathons for a while. I do mountain biking.
Q. And have you always loved football?
A. I've always been a football fan. I love sports, all sports. I played field hockey, basketball, softball, all that. But I always loved football, so when I saw it, I said, 'This could be fun.'
And it's been amazing. I've been so fortunate in so many ways. My body has held up well. I've got a great husband who is my biggest fan and very supportive. I work at Canyon Ranch so I get to use the amazing facilities there.
Q. Did you have opportunities to play football - powder puff or anything like that - growing up?
A. I'm 52 years old, believe it or not. I'm quite old for this. I'm probably one of the oldest players in the league. Growing up we didn't have sports for girls, but we had a great neighborhood. My neighbors all played high school football, and my tomboy buddy and I played with the boys.
In high school, Title IX came around so that opened up some opportunities, but before that we just played with the neighborhood kids.
.jpg) Bruce said she started as a quarterback and later moved to wide receiver. |
A. Now we have a couple of 'kids' - I call them kids because some of them are younger than my own kids - who have played in high school. … But football is still not the sport most girls are going to go out and play in high school.
Q. Do you still get funny looks from people when you tell them you play?
A. Oh God yeah. The thing is, a lot of people don't even realize there is women's football. They're pretty shocked. They'll say, 'Do you mean powder puff?' No, it's NFL rules with pads and hitting and everything. The only thing that's different is the ball is a little smaller.
My husband is the president of a bank, so I have to get dressed up and go to these functions with him, and people are kind of surprised when the subject comes up. I joke around and tell them, 'I can hit people and don't get in trouble for it.'
It's kind of a rush. I've played a lot of sports - individual and team - but for me there's really been nothing else like football.
Q. What's your schedule like during the season?
A. I travel two nights a week - Tuesday and Thursday - to Chelsea for practice. I travel 136 miles one way. I get home at 1 a.m. Thankfully, I have a job where they kind of know that Wednesday and Friday I'm not going to want to do anything too early.
So we practice Tuesday and Thursday and game day is Saturday. If it's an away game, we travel on Friday night.
Q. What style of football do you play in the league? Is it a wide-open, passing type league?
A. It's evolved. It's come a long way. Years ago, I was a quarterback. I was a smart quarterback, but I couldn't throw the ball a long way. Nowadays, a lot of these kids coming up have great arms. It used to be more ground and pound.
Now we have an awesome quarterback (Rebecca Lopez). She came from Tampa, Fla., and went to UConn for her doctorate. Now she comes back and forth from Tampa on the weekends to play in our games.
Our quarterbacks are much better now, which is great for me because I'm a receiver.
Q. Your team went to the league championship game last year and you're back in the conference final again this year. To what do you attribute that success?
A. Good solid players and consistently getting people back every year. The more you play together and practice together the more in synch you are. Ben (Brown), our owner, is a phenomenal guy and also our strength and conditioning coach. He gets us all in shape.
We have a great coaching staff, and a lot of us have been around a while. That makes a big difference.
Q. How much longer do you see yourself playing?
A. I'm chasing the ring. I keep saying I'll retire when I get it.
Honestly, it's been a year-to-year thing the last couple of years. It's a matter of how I'm feeling in December. I don't know. I can't say. I'm 52 years old. I probably should retire before … I've had lots of broken fingers, hands, rotator cuffs, but I've been pretty lucky with injuries.
My husband says, 'You can't retire until you find something else to do.'
