Lingerie football: Not just a pretty face

Kate Marshall has a killer smile — and a football game to match.

Marshall was first in line when the B.C. Angels set up shop in Abbotsford.

And now she’s being rewarded for her steely determination — named LFL Canada’s top defensive player at the league’s first awards dinner as the Angels won the inaugural national championship last month.

“It’s been an amazing year,� says the confident young 24-year-old, a communications/marketing grad who manages Vancouver Urban Winery when she’s not playing or practising.

“We played the game of our life to win it all.�

Marshall was in the public eye quickly — The Province took care of that with a front-page photo the day the Lingerie Football League announced it was expanding to the Bible Belt.

“I woke up one morning and there it was.�

That attention made her the instant face of the Abbotsford franchise, making the rounds of media interviews.

But that front-page fame also garnered its own brand of skepticism — people doubted she had the game to back up the smile.

“Even my coach said, ‘I wonder is she’s going to be any good,’ laughs Marshall. “The other girls were asking me how I got on the cover.

“I told them it was just a fluke.�

But her emergence as a standout on the football field is no fluke.

Two athletic parents taught her to strive to be the best, and she did — captain of the Carson Graham senior rugby team, as well as a rugged defender in three other sports- soccer, basketball, and flag football..

Some athletes shy away from physical contact, but Marshall thrives in the heat of the battle.

“I didn’t realize it was going to be so physical, so aggressive — if you can’t hit, and you can’t be hit, you might as well get off the field,� said Marshall, who ended the season at middle linebacker, the most physical position of all.

“If you don’t get hit on every play, you’re doing something wrong.�

The game is played on a hockey rink — a 50-yard field with seven players a side.

“It’s just a padded hockey board — when you’re in the game you don’t feel it. With the adrenalin, you don’t feel it during the game, but you feel it after,� said Marshall, who’s watched teammates and opponent go down with concussions, broken bones, and season-ending injuries requiring surgery.

“It’s not breaking nails — put it that way — it’s broken bones.�

Though her own parents are “ecstatic� about her success — mom was a competitive bodybuilder, so exposing a little skin isn’t an issue — life’s been a little tougher for some of the girls.

“Some of them changed their names to play, and others have lost their jobs, I’ve just been lucky to carry on.�

At training camp, the true nature of the sport came to the surface.

“There were a lot of wonderful athletes who hadn’t played football. I knew a few of them from playing rugby. A lot of the girls had no athletic ability — they discovered pretty quickly how competitive it was.

“You can’t just come and be a pretty face. A lot of the girls found out they couldn’t take the intensity.�

iaustin@theprovince.com

twitter.com/ianaustin007

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