Sista Moves: WFU's Women's Football Clinic shares all the tricks of the big guys

Carllet McDonald waited her turn to learn offensive run blocking, just the way the Deacons football players do it.

"I want to see how far I can push somebody back," she said yesterday at the 12th annual Women's Football Clinic sponsored by the Wake Forest University Sports Marketing Department and football coaches.

The clinic was held at the BB&T Field off Deacon Boulevard, after a breakfast and brief speech by head football coach Jim Grobe in Bridger Field House.

As McDonald's opponent held up a yellow hand shield, Assistant Coach Steed Lobotzke told her --and several other women -- to keep to the right and "Knock 'em down."

Once Lobotzke gave the go-ahead, McDonald pushed with all her might. She didn't knock her opponent down, but she did manage to move the other woman back a few steps.

"That felt really good," she said afterward.

She came to the clinic with several members of the Sista's, a group in Winston-Salem that was formed on Facebook and does charitable work. This was McDonald's first time at the clinic, but some of her group's members have been coming for years.

Attendance at the clinic set a record this year -- 250 women attended, compared with 210 a year ago -- because many women return each year and bring their friends with them, Grobe said.

"They learn a little bit of football," Grobe said. "I think sometimes the men are a little jealous because some of the guys would like to come over here and get coached a little bit."

And it's fun, said Amy Gracely of Holly Springs, whose husband, Brian, and two children, Leah and Sarah, cheered for her from the sidelines.

"It's the camaraderie of all the women," Gracely said.

The clinic-registration fees go toward helping underprivileged children attend Wake Forest football games.

Grobe said that the clinic also gives women an appreciation for what it takes to play football.

"They're doing the same drills that we do with our football players," he said.

The women moved from station to station around the field, three for offensive drills and three for defensive ones.

Barbara Dery of Greensboro and Tina O'Connor of Winston-Salem were in the same group with McDonald. At one station they learned how to back pedal. First James Adams, a graduate assistant on offense, told them to walk backward. Next they ran backward, then learned to turn and run with a receiver.

Dery, who works in the Atlantic Coast Conference office in Greensboro, raised her arms triumphantly and grinned after completing the drill.

Even the agility station that required stepping quickly through thick pads on the ground didn't stop her.

One of her favorite activities at the camp was hitting the stand-up dummy pads.

She got that opportunity when Brad Lambert, an assistant coach and defensive coordinator, went over the basic fundamentals on how to make a tackle.

"We tried to make a station specific to a position," Lambert said.

For example, the tackling station focused on linebacker moves.

O'Connor started coming to the clinic in 2004 after a friend mentioned how much fun she'd had at one.

She had her own strategy yesterday when it was time to deal with her opponents on the tackling station.

"I was growling, trying to psych them out," she said.

■ Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com