By Shannon Russell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

They hunched over five-page packets, gnawing their fingernails and chewing their pens. Wives, mothers, nurses and saleswomen sprawled across the Skyline Community Center's dusty basketball court on a rainy night in Colerain Township, scribbling on paper dotted with X's and O's.

Cincinnati Sizzle quarterback Wendy Headrick of Hyde Park avoids a sack during practice. (Jeff Swinger photo) Could you be a Sizzle? Take the tryout quiz

After handing finished quizzes to the team statistician, they plowed through sprints, stretching and position work. They asked questions, lots of questions. With an inaugural exhibition game less than two months away, the 40 players on the Cincinnati Sizzle - a National Women's Football Association expansion team - don't have time for inhibitions.

They need to learn football, and fast.

"If you're going to take it easy, you're going to run again," bellowed Ickey Woods, former Bengals running back and Sizzle head coach. "Let's go!"

Catching up to the league's 35 other teams is a priority, and the Sizzle are wasting no time. While the league launched its fourth season April 3, the Cincinnati franchise is preparing for four exhibition games beginning May 22. The Sizzle officially competes in an eight-game season in 2005, playing home games at La Salle High School.

"This is something I've wanted to do all my life. It's my passion," said Wendy Headrick, 35, of Hyde Park. "Someday I want to be able to put my jersey in a frame and tell my grandchildren I was part of this."

Sizzle defensive captain Sheila "Sarge" Nurse (right) of Price Hill directs her line during practice. (Jeff Swinger photo)

The women's game bears a striking resemblance to the NFL, though the ball is smaller, the players are not paid and the league reports an average attendance of 1,250. It's full-pads, full-contact, just like the men. The biggest difference, Woods said, is getting used to estrogen in a formerly testosterone-dominated sport. Think there's no crying in baseball? Try NFL-style football.

"There are a lot more emotional things to deal with because women are more sensitive than men," Woods said. "You've got to be a little more patient."

Seventy players showed up at five tryouts between November and March, but it was Woods' wife, Chandra, 38, who landed the team a manager. The aspiring tight end and defensive end - and mother of six - learned of the initial tryout and decided to give it a shot. It was only after she'd made the team that she brought her husband aboard. The same husband who helped lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl during the 1988 season.

"I kind of stuck my foot in my mouth," said Woods. "I said sarcastically, 'If they need a coach, I can help out.' Lo and behold, she came back and was like, 'Oh honey!' So here I am."

Not only did Ickey Woods sign on as head coach, but he and Chandra became two of the club's six owners. Chandra extended a bejeweled hand and wriggled her fingers when speaking of the head coach, acknowledging her 15-year husband's no-nonsense approach to the franchise.

She tugged at a gold loop in her earlobe and laughed. "We can't wear these," she said. "We'll have to run laps."

The rules are simple: No jewelry. No makeup. No fingernails beyond the fingertips. No extended bathroom breaks. And no dancing in the end zone.

Say what?

Sizzle head coach Ickey Woods. (Jeff Swinger photo)

Woods, whose Ickey Shuffle triggered an NFL crackdown on end zone celebrations in 1990, was forced to move his dance to the sidelines until his career ended in 1991. He initially warned his female players against similar shenanigans, but learned the women's league doesn't dole out fines for it.

"Personally, I'm a celebrationist. That's fine with me, as long as we play by league rules," Woods said.

Sizzle players are ages 18 to 50 and come from Cincinnati, Dayton and Northern Kentucky. Some, like Headrick, played Powder Puff, flag or tackle football as adults. Others, like part-time administrative assistant Vicky VonHolle, came in with scant knowledge of the sport.

The 36-year-old from Morrow learned to play football by watching her sons Chance, 12, and Easton, 9, in pee wee leagues.

"I wanted to show I could be a mom and wife and play professional sports," said VonHolle, a 5-foot wide receiver and outside linebacker. "I was just going to try out to see if I could make it, and surprisingly I did. This team is very instructional, and you never have to worry about asking questions."

That's the beauty of the NWFA, league vice president Debby Lening said. No matter how much a player thinks she knows about football, none played professionally before the league's inception.

The parity ensures a certain amount of equality among newcomers, a trend Lening saw firsthand as an aspiring defensive lineman for the Nashville Dream.

Lening attended tryouts before she broke her ankle and began working in the front office. The first day, a coach ordered tight ends on one side of the room, wide receivers on the other.

When no one moved, the coach hastily amended the statement: "Big girls over here, small girls over there." Then it clicked, Lening said.

"Most people don't know the rules coming in," Lening said. "They just want to hit."

Sizzle coaches are still searching for linemen, girls "between 200 and 250 pounds," Woods said, although the team is mostly set.

Prospective players or anyone interested in corporate sponsorship can reach Ickey and Chandra Woods at 236-2886 or by e-mail at ickster0228@aol.com.

By the numbers

35: Teams competing in the National Women's Football Association's 2004 season that began Saturday.

3: Expansion teams for 2005 - the Cincinnati Sizzle, Kentucky Karma and Antelope Valley Bombers.

0: Dollars players are paid.

$300: Cost of a Sizzle uniform (including helmets and pads).

$25,000 to $50,000: Cost of an NWFA team license.

3: Timed drills every woman must complete in an NWFA tryout - the 40-yard dash, shuttle run and four-corner drill.

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E-mail srussell@enquirer.com