INNISFAIL - Ever since Lillian Watkinson was just a little girl, she had a dream to be a gridiron hero playing in the big football stadium of her heroes.
This month she has that chance.
The 15-year-old Innisfailian is the first girl from Central Alberta to play tackle football on an Alberta team for the first-ever 2022 Women’s Under-18 Championship, which is being played in the new state-of-the-art Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan. The tourney began July 3 and ends on July 9.
The national event, sponsored by Football Canada, features provincial teams from Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick, joining the hosts from Saskatchewan.
“I feel really cool. It's like crazy to think that I’m the first ever in Central Alberta. And our entire team is like the first to play for the girls’ under-18 tackle football,” said Lillian.
“I played for boys’ teams my whole life, and this is my first girls’ team,” added Lillian, adding the honour of being selected to go to Regina is extra special because the Saskatchewan Roughriders are her favourite professional football team. “To be able to play in Regina, in the home stadium of my favorite team, is like the craziest thing to think about.”
Lillian is no stranger to the local football scene. When she was just a tyke her brother Caleb, who was playing for the Innisfail Cyclones, showed her the finer points of gridiron and she was instantly hooked.
“Caleb was the first person to show me how to throw football, and ever since then I just kind of wanted to be like him,” said Lillian. “So, I did things that he liked and I tried football, and I really liked it. It was a really happy environment.”
That environment included her mother Talitha, a former president of the Innisfail Minor Football Association (IMFA).
“Watching her from the time she was little and seeing how well she's done and how she's grown and how well she's played over the last years, we are all very proud of her,” said Talitha.
With that inspiration and strength from family, Lillian entered organized minor football at the age of seven at the atom level for the IMFA’s Innisfail Cyclones. After three years, she then went to peewee for one season, and then played one year for the Olds Bulldogs.
Lillian then went up another level to play bantam for two years for the Red Deer Cougars. Most recently, she played defensive halfback for Red Deer’s Notre Dame Cougars. It was always the boys she played with and against.
Nevertheless, she was catching lots of attention with her on-field spirit.
“She's very athletic. She's very fast and she's extremely tenacious. She doesn't miss many tackles at all,” said Ian Rattan, head coach of the Notre Dame Cougars, adding Lillian, who is an honours student going into Grade 11, played defensive halfback last season and did so with a superior attitude and work ethic. “She's got a phenomenal attitude. She works really hard. She's a great kid. And I had her in physical education class as well, and she's always going above and beyond.
“We're looking forward to having her on defense next year, and our specials as well.”
Today Lillian is just five feet tall and weighs 100 lbs. but scouts for the Alberta team also liked what they saw in the young teen.
When tryouts for the Alberta team started in May in Edmonton, there were 60 young women competing for a spot. By mid-June that number was down to 20, and Lillian was chosen to go the big show.
“I'm very excited because I didn't know what to think about trying out for girls’ team because I'd only played for a boys’ team. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I played for the girls, but I was blown away by their aggression and everything,” said Lillian. “The girls I'd say play much harder than the guys, because we all have to prove ourselves. So the girls’ team was crazy aggressive and I feel like I really fit in there much more than in the guys’ team.”
Her Alberta team’s first game in Regina was held July 3 against Ontario. It was a dream come true for the young teen to walk out onto the field of Mosaic Stadium, the home of her favourite football team. Last week before heading out, she was already thinking about that moment.
“I've played at McMahon Stadium in Calgary many times before,” said Lillian. “But I googled Mosaic Stadium and I'm so excited. It's going to like feel really real.”
