Ex-EWU track star hooked on football

Back when track and field was her participatory sport of choice, Adrienne Wilson had it made – financially, at least. “Buy a pair of spikes and you were good to go,” recalled the 1996 graduate of University High School and former track and field standout at Eastern Washington University.

But much has changed for Wilson in the seven years since she left Spokane to check out life on the west side of the state and ended up falling in love with football.

“Blame it on the Seahawks,” explained the 31-year-old Wilson, who is in her third season of playing tackle football for the Seattle Majestics of the Independent Women’s Football League. “Growing up, I liked sports, in general, but I wasn’t much into football.

“Then I got over here and started going to Seahawks games and watching them on TV, and really liked it. Then I found out there was a football team I could actually play for, and now football is my life. It’s all I think about, and all I talk about.”

Which is probably fitting, considering how much Wilson has already invested in her newest sports addiction.

As a wide receiver for the Majestics, she spends close to $2,000 a year on player fees, equipment upkeep and travel expenses. And after recently being named to the 2010 Women’s National Team that will travel to Stockholm, Sweden, later this summer to compete in the International Federation of American Football’s inaugural Women’s World Championship, she’s trying to scrape up an additional $2,800 to finance her trip.

“It’s an expensive hobby,” admitted the 5-foot-9, 150-pounder, who was the only Seattle player to make the 45-woman roster of the USA’s first national team. “Our owners do an excellent job of running our team, but women’s football is still an up and coming sport that’s not very profitable, yet, and they can’t afford to pay for everything for everybody.

“So, we end up doing a lot of fund raising and trying to get sponsors.”

The Majestics owners, according to Wilson, pay only for hotel rooms when the team is on the road. Getting there is the players’ responsibility – and expense.

In Seattle’s IWFL season opener against the California Quake in Downey, Calif., two weekends back, Wilson caught a pair of scoring passes that accounted for her team’s only touchdowns in a 50-14 loss. She had planned on flying to the game, but by the time she got around to purchasing her plane ticket, she discovered it was too expensive.

“So I ended up having to drive down to Los Angeles with a couple of teammates, and it ended up being a 19-hour drive,” she explained. “I’m never going to do that again. Our next flying game is in San Diego, and I’m going to make sure I buy my ticket way in advance.”

The Majestics, who play their home games at Kent-Meridian High School, are off to a 0-2 start in the Pacific Division of the IWFL’s Western Conference after making the playoffs each of the last two years.

Wilson first learned about the team a couple of years after arriving in Seattle and has since moved to Kent to shorten her commute to practices, which are held twice a week.

“A friend I had met at Eastern told me about it,” Wilson said. “I didn’t realize there even was such a thing as women’s football, but after I went to that first tryout, I was hooked.”

Wilson figures she spent more than $2,500 to play as a rookie in 2008, mainly because she had to purchase all of her equipment, including helmet, shoulder pads, team jerseys and pants.

“It was quite a bit of money,” she admitted. “I could have saved some by buying used gear, but I like to look good, so I splurged and bought new.”

At the time, Wilson was working one of the several odd jobs – ranging from installing windows to detailing cars to helping out at a health club – she has held since leaving Spokane. She is currently unemployed, however, after recently enrolling as a full-time student at North Seattle Community College, where she is pursuing an associate’s degree in the applied science of electronic engineering technology.

“I’m really excited about it,” Wilson said. “I just felt like I should give school another chance.”

Her initial introduction to higher education at EWU did not go well.

“My head wasn’t in the right place back then,” admitted Wilson, who lettered in both indoor and outdoor track and field for the Eagles in 1997 and 1998, setting a then-school record of 19 feet, ¾ inches in the long jump as a sophomore. “I was kind of there just for track. At the time, I was young and wasn’t really into school.”

As a result of her indifference to academics, Wilson lost her scholarship following her sophomore year and quit school.

She “kicked around” the Spokane area for several years after that, working various jobs.

“But then I just wasn’t feeling the Spokane vibe anymore,” she recalled, “so I moved over to Seattle to try something different, and I’ve been over here ever since.”

Wilson’s parents still live in Spokane, as do her brother and sister and their families.

“So I make it back for holidays,” Wilson said. “And my parents make it over here for every single one of our home games.”

Despite the expense associated with her upcoming trip to Sweden with the USA National Team, Wilson is eager to set out on her next great adventure.

She is scheduled to join her USA teammates in Round Rock, Texas, on June 18 before traveling to Stockholm on June 24. The six-nation World Championship, in which the USA team is seeded No. 1, will be held June 26-July 4.

“It’s going to be a whole new world over there – something I’ve never experienced, ever,” Wilson said. “The farthest I’ve been is Canada, as far as a foreign country is concerned, and I don’t really count that. And this is such a good time to go because the championship is a first for women’s football.

“It’s a real honor to be part of something so big.”