Former Gamecock tackles transition to all-female football league

It was in the months after her softball career ended at South Carolina in 2014 that Brooke Barnhill realized how much she missed competitive sports.

And it was from her view of the Brooks Stadium field as an intern at Coastal Carolina University that Barnhill felt the tug of her sports-hungry heart toward a desire she harbored for years: She wanted to play football.

“It looked so stress-relieving that I wanted to go help them out,” she said of seeing the Chanticleers practice. “It was cool to watch. They worked really hard.”

Barnhill, from Mauldin, is living that dream and staying active in sports, competing as a cornerback for the Atlanta Steam in the Legends Football League.

The all-female game is fast-paced and full contact, a 7-on-7 format with helmets and shoulder pads played on a 50-yard indoor field. It has the feel of the male arena league along with the toughness and showmanship of roller derby.

Barnhill describes the uniform as resembling that of beach volleyball and said it is “way different” from what she wore in her two seasons with the Gamecocks. The transition from softball to football proved to be a physical and mental challenge.

What’s an option? What are trips? Barnhill had no idea.

“I was pretty bad at the beginning,” she said. “I didn’t really know anything that was going on. When it came to contact, I wasn’t really there. I worked hard and I got there eventually. It’s a passion now.”

The LFL began in 2009 as the Lingerie Football League (it was rebranded in 2013), and Barnhill watched early-year games on MTV2.

“That’s so cool, to play football and be a girl,” she recalled of her early LFL impressions.

There is no draft. Players earn a roster spot through tryouts, and Barnhill’s big break started with an email to Steam coach Dane Robinson.

This is her rookie season, and she remains in development, according to Robinson.

“The hardest thing was to get her out of the softball mentality,” he said. “Over the course of a couple months, you start the see the mentality change. She’s understanding how to read wide receivers and how to tackle better.”

Barnhill started with softball as a third-grader and played it into her early 20s. Her previous gridiron experience was limited to her days as quarterback during powderpuff games at Mauldin High.

When it came time to train and practice for the LFL, she reached out to her USC football connections for guidance.

“I’m really close to the Dixon brothers. If I need advice, I'll talk to them,” she said. “Gerald (44), every time I talk to him about football, he says, ‘I don’t care what you do, you’ve got to stay low.’”

Six teams from across the country make up the LFL. Women from age 20 to 37 form the Atlanta roster, with the members traveling from across the Southeast (as far away as Tampa, Fla.) to be part of the team. Barnhill, 23, splits time between Columbia and Lawrenceville, Ga.

When she’s not working out or practicing with the Steam, Barnhill is a Hooters waitress in Georgia. Everybody, including the coaches, has a day job (senior account executive, business analyst, fitness director and Air Force staff sergeant, among other things).

Players are not compensated for their LFL efforts, but the team does pay travel costs, provides equipment and covers gameday meals. All have fitness or athletics backgrounds of some sort.

Barnhill saw a quarter of action in one game this season and is in line for more playing time when the Steam wrap up their home schedule Friday.

“I still have a lot of learning to do with football IQ and the mental stuff,” she said. “Effort-wise, I don’t feel rookie-ish. I’m just being an athlete. I really feel like this coming game I’m going to do well.”

The LFL is the NFL of women’s football, Robinson said, and Barnhill has laid the foundation for what could be a lengthy career.

“It takes a very special woman to be able to play in this league,” Robinson said. “The Brooke Barnhills of the world are the ones we want to see continue to develop in this sport and take this sport forward. Softball was a different time period for her. She’s a football player now.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 9:12 PM.