THREE RIVERS AREA — Her long blond hair and big smile would never lead one to believe this young woman could aggressively tackle someone to the ground. Brittany Reinbolt, 26, may not be a large woman, but her football skills took her to a world championship.
With a football tucked under her arm, the Augusta High School head girls basketball and girls track coach stood at the door of the girls dressing room in the gym. As the athletes emerged in their workout clothes, they spotted the football.
“Are we going to play football today?” one of them asked with a huge smile as a few other girls looked at their coach, awaiting her answer.
Some of her girls described her as athletic, claiming that she does look like a football player.
“I’m not saying you look like a dude,” eighth-grade athlete Ashley Helms said to her coach. “You’re justfast and look strong.”
Reinbolt, who always loved football, decided that she would love to play, but she said she was too shy to ask the coach if she could try out in high school.
“I wanted to play football since moving [to Searcy from Los Angeles in the fifth grade], but I was committed to other sports,” Reinbolt said. “I had heard about women’s football leagues when I was in high school.”
As a Searcy High School Lion, Reinbolt ran track and played soccer.
“My dad was like a huge Bears fan,” Reinbolt said, and that is what sparked her interest in football as a young girl.
As the first person in her family to play competitive football, Reinbolt believes that girls should play with girls, and boys should play with boys.
“There’s a sisterhood and a brotherhood in these sports,” she said.
With her desire to play competitive football in the back of her mind, she attended Winona State University in Minnesota. Majoring in physicaleducation with a minor in aviation, Reinbolt got her pilot’s license and became a flight instructor after graduating from college.
In 2007, Reinbolt played football for the Wisconsin Wolves, then took the next season off. In 2009, she tried out for the Los Angeles Amazons and made the team.
Based on her athletic ability and character, Reinbolt was chosen out of 500 women to join 44 other women to form a national football team to compete for the 2010 world title.
The United States won the first International Federation of American Football Women’s World Championship gold medal with a 66-0 victory over Canada at the Zinkensdamms IP Stadium in Stockholm, Sweden.
“We outscored 210-0 of three games,” Reinbolt said about the world championship games. “We dominated everyone.”
Playing positions such as safety, receiver, kicker and cornerback, she believes that being a current athlete anda coach helps her relate to her students better.
“Being an athlete helps me relate to my team,” she said. “I know what it is like to be in their shoes. Not many coaches still play.”
Playing football is high on her list, but Reinbolt always tries to put her coaching first.
“I’d rather work with kids,” Reinbolt said. “I want to try to change the world and help motivate kids to do something big with their lives.”
In her second year of coaching at Augusta, Reinbolt fills her summers with football; however, her heart is with the kids she leaves behind when she travels the world.
“I want to motivate these kids to conquer the world, and they just need someone to tell them they can,” she said.
She is also a big fan of flag football and has been trying to get a league in Augusta. She often has her basketball team play football, and they seem to love it.
Some of her girls want to follow in her football-playing footsteps.
Tenth-grader Nancy Carroll said she would love to try out for the Augusta High School Red Devils.
“All the boys think that girlscan’t play, and I want to prove them wrong,” Carroll said. “I’ve got to convince my momma, too.”
Carroll has been an athlete most of her school career, playing basketball and softball.
In addition to football, Reinbolt said she loves to surf, snowboard and skateboard.
“I surf a lot in the summers and on spring break,” Reinbolt said.
When asked what advice she would give to any young woman who wants to play football, Reinbolt said, “Just do it.”
Encouraging her girls to go for what they want, she said as long as a girl isn’t undersized, she could always try out for the kicker position on the high school team.
“Eventually, after I win a few state championships at Augusta, I’d like to coach at the college level,” Reinbolt said.
She also said she may try out for the Memphis team, which is also a competitive tackle football team.
- jbrosius@ arkansasonline.com
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getting to know Brittany Reinbolt
Birth date: April 12, 1984
Birthplace: Riverside, Calif.
Biggest influence: Jesus Christ through the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes and Francis Chan
First job: Flight line service
As a child, you said, “When I grow up, I want to be ...”:
In the Olympics
One thing you want to accomplish in life but haven’t:
Coach Augusta’s girls basketball team to a state championship
Most people don’t know: I’m a certified flight instructor.
I cannot live without: God
My favorite memory is: Riding a 150cc scooter across
America with my sister
Hobbies: Sports and editing videos
My favorite sport is: Currently, flowboarding
Favorite quote: “Most good things have already been said far
too many times and just need to be lived.” - Shane Claiborne
Three Rivers, Pages 148 on 08/29/2010