LADUE — Dozens of wannabe football players gathered in a circle after their warmup jog.

The prospects introduced themselves and shared what brought them to the field at Ladue Horton Watkins High School on a mild December afternoon. One wanted to see what full contact was like. Another grew up in a “football family.” A former soccer player said that she missed being involved in team sports.

Then Quincy Davis, the head coach for the St. Louis Slam , spoke.

“You are the few who are trying to play a collision sport,” said Davis, who goes by Coach Q. “You are a little weird, and you are welcome.”

Rookies and returning players listen to a post-tryout talk from head coach Quincy Davis. The St. Louis Slam football team held their last tryout of the year at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in Ladue on December 7, 2024.

The Slam’s fall tryouts drew 45 women — twice as many as in previous years — who were interested in joining the ranks of the reigning Women’s Football Alliance champions. Some, like Amy Gamlin of Shrewsbury, got hooked last July when the Slam bested the Boston Renegades in a 30-27 come-from-behind nail-biter.

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She watched the game on TV and knew she wanted in.

“I like to hit people,” said Gamlin, 42. “And I am not getting any younger.”

That’s the kind of fearlessness that the Slam’s six coaches want to see as they prepare to defend their national title. Most of their veterans are returning. But outside demands — and the seeming inevitability of injury — require a deep bench.

Amy Gamlin, 42 from Shrewsbury (center), runs a drill with other rookies and returning players. She has two sons who play football at Vianney.

Gamlin wouldn’t be the oldest on the team, by at least a decade. The roster includes players from their 20s through their 50s. In their real lives, they are chefs and corrections officers, therapists and nurses.

And they are driven.

“You would think you’re in a college program,” said James Moore of Olivette, the linebacker coach.

They memorize formations, scout opponents and study game film. Three-times-a-week practices begin in January for the April-to-June season. July is playoffs. And the fall means flag football, unofficial weight room workouts — and breaking in the newbies.

“They put it all together,” said Moore. “And take it to the field.”

Expanding the base

When the Women’s Football Alliance formed in 2009, it scooped up about two dozen teams, including the Slam, that had been part of a shuttered league. Growth was slow at first, said WFA co-founder Lisa King, who lives in Exeter, California.

But a recent wave of enthusiasm for women’s team sports — from the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry in the WNBA to the birth of a new professional women’s hockey league — helped feed the football alliance’s momentum.

Returning offensive lineman Malissa Durell, 52 from Fenton, runs a drill at Slam football tryouts in December.

Now, the WFA has 60 teams, sorted into three divisions. Since 2022, ESPN2 has aired their championship game. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, displays the jersey of the league MVP. Last season, it was 29-year-old Slam wide receiver Kerry McMahan.

More high schools are offering girls’ flag football — a pipeline to tackle — and many WFA teams, including the Slam, host introductory camps for girls. A couple of months ago, King locked down the league’s first investor.

“We’re using women’s soccer as a model,” said King. “Every year, things get better. We get more support. We’re continuing to build up that fan base.”

It’s a stark change from when Myrt Davis was a kid. Davis, who is not related to Coach Q, used to listen to her dad’s stories of his high school football days. They’d watch NFL games together.

“I can’t wait until it’s my turn to play,” she told her dad.

He had to break it to her: Girls don’t play football.

Returning SLAM quarterback Jaime Gaal, 33 of St. Louis, stretches before the tryouts.

But in her early 20s, Davis, who lives in Collinsville, found the St. Louis Women’s Flag Football League . She heard there were tackle teams in other cities, and lobbied with others to get one here.

In 2003, the Slam suited up for the first time, part of the now-defunct National Women’s Football Association.

The biggest adjustment was the gear. The pads added weight; the helmet and faceguard limited vision.

“You move very differently in it,” said Davis, 50. “Your reach is different.”

Davis — the only one left from the original squad — played for 15 seasons, usually defensive tackle. Reconstructive surgery on her shoulder shifted her duties to coaching.

Rookie Sam Smiley from Pacific stretches under the guidance of Slam assistant coach Myrt Davis.

Sometimes she misses chasing down quarterbacks, but she enjoys the perspective from the sidelines, too.

“My favorite thing is standing here, and watching the players’ progression,” she said.

A place for everyone

The Women’s Football Alliance is considered a semi-pro league, but no one is paid. For players, a season can ring up at almost a thousand dollars for fees, equipment and travel. Practices are shoehorned into fields when they are not in use for boys’ games.

There’s a role for everyone, said McMahan, the league MVP: players who move quickly, players who can read their opponents, “big dogs” who can block.

And one more type: “You need a little bit of crazy on your team to succeed,” said McMahan, who lives in Maplewood.

A Slam advertisement on the Cardinals jumbotron is what caught Mary Altepeter’s attention a few years ago. Altepeter, of south St. Louis, jotted down the email address against her boyfriend’s advice.

“You’re going to get hurt,” he told Altepeter, a former Division I field hockey player.

She joined the team — and broke up with her boyfriend.

“I missed being part of that sisterhood, playing at a competitive level,” said Altepeter, 30, who is on the defensive line.

Most of the recruits who showed up for the December tryout arrived with no formal football experience.

Slam head coach Quincy Davis talks to the group about catching passes before a drill.

Coach Q was reassuring. The skills will come, he said. The experience will come. The commitment is what matters.

Coach Q, an IT consultant from Olivette, has led the Slam since 2017 and was named the league’s coach of the year last season. But he deflects credit for the team’s success.

“It’s a bunch of hard work on their part,” he said.

Almost two hours into the practice, the footballs finally came out. The offensive players ran routes. The defensive line worked on blocks. Then, one last task for everyone: tank-emptying sprints.

“You killed it,” Coach Q told the panting huddle of women afterward. He closed practice with a final instruction.

“We need our veterans to help our rookies understand what the culture is,” he said. “And the rookies to buy in.”

They will have to be ready. Come April, the other teams in the Women’s Football Alliance will be gunning for them.

View life in St. Louis through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.

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