BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Women playing tackle football is still growing within the sports world.
"It's definitely not something you hear very often, but I started playing when I was 7," said Lisa Landano.
Lisa grew up with a father who coached and two brothers who played, so she naturally wanted to participate.
"I wanted to play in high school, but I was told no," said Landano.
After high school, Lisa saw Buffalo was hosting a professional women's football team and thought her dream of playing was coming full circle.
"It was just like the NFL, but it was just females. Like full equipment, everything," said Landano.
The best part of her career was playing professionally for the WPFA and the NWFA. However, each league struggled behind the scenes.
"It didn't have a ton of money. We did a lot of fundraising to try to make up for the cost because it is a lot of money," said Landano.
For the next 15 years, Lisa reverted to two-hand touch style football.
Then, life gave her a new opportunity to coach Villa Maria's first Women's flag football team.
"I just thought, this is pretty cool. I want to be a part of it," said Landano.
The Vikings are the only local team in the area that offers the opportunity to play at the college level.
"I actually heard of the flag football team when I applied here. I got accepted, and they told me there was a flag football team, so I'm like, 'even better'," said Laila Adeyola.
Having a coach with over 25 years of experience teaching the basic fundamentals is what Landano hopes is a step in the right direction.
"I see eventually at the college level it becoming that big where every college has a flag football team," said Landano. "I don't know if there will ever be a professional flag football team, but why not? Dream big."
