Going into the inaugural 2009 LFL season, the Tampa Breeze had firmly seated Jenn Myers as its starting quarterback. Even before she played a single down, Myers was ranked as one of the top five QBs in the league, just based on her talent alone. She had rock-solid physical ability, a strong arm, good field vision, and a sharp mind. She had everything a football coach could want in a quarterback.

Backing her up was Denisha Crawford, a recreational athlete who hadn’t played a varsity-level sport since high school.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t have potential.

“I started off playing soccer in the 3rd grade. I wasn’t the best player but I was fast and I could kick the snot out of the ball. I played soccer until my freshman year in high school.”

“I started playing basketball in the 5th grade and surprisingly, I was the center. I was tall (for my age) but then I stopped growing! I was very good at basketball and continued to play even in the rec leagues in college. My first love is basketball and I still play from time to time.”

“In the 6th grade I started running track, where my father noticed that I had a gift for jumping. I competed until the end of high school where I set the school records for long jump, triple jump, 110m hurdles, and 330m hurdles.”

She wasn’t completely unprepared for football. You don’t play sports in Florida without knowing a few things about the game, and Denisha had some experience throwing and catching thanks to flag football.

“I started playing flag football in high school and it pretty much rolled over to college. I played rec flag football at the University of Florida. Our team went to Nationals twice and left with a 2nd place trophy and a 5th place trophy. I earned All-Tournament Team recognition at both visits. I then played rec flag football at Florida State University and won the campus championship there.”

“I was introduced to the LFL from a high school friend. I was skeptical because the name of the league is very misleading but after I watched one of the practices I was amped! I still had to be convinced about the uniforms, but ultimately, I just wanted to play football.”

And that’s how she found herself standing on the sidelines watching Jenn Myers run the Tampa offense in its first game of the 2009 season against the #1-ranked Chicago Bliss, a game Tampa would lose on a heart-breaking offensive drive that stalled late in the final minutes.

Against Philadelphia the following week, Tampa found itself playing a Passion team that had thoroughly scouted the Tampa offense. Myers was able to move the ball down the field, but the Breeze couldn’t punch the ball in. As the clock continued to run, she once again began to move her team down the field.

The Tampa bench held its breath as the offense lined up. The Passion broke huddle and matched up against them.

Myers called the cadence, took the snap, and the players deployed to their zones. As she dropped back, with a Philadelphia player in close pursuit, her foot found a slight lump in the artificial turf and her ankle rolled over.

Jenn Myers, a Top Five quarterback, was done for the night.

Denisha Crawford was in.

The Tampa offense was confused and erratic, the result of a backup quarterback who suddenly found herself in a critical situation playing in an arena dominated by hostile fans, most of whom gave a Philly cheer to the Tampa huddle as Denisha tried to keep her team, and herself, together.

That night wouldn’t be the Cinderella story of an underdog player saving her team. There was no “Miracle on Turf”.

Tampa lost again.

The plane ride back was long.

Three weeks later, after the holidays had passed, Tampa played at home against a New York team fighting for redemption. Jenn Myers was still nursing her ankle injury and had limited mobility in a game that demands constant movement. Denisha Crawford was tapped to once again lead the Tampa Breeze, now 0-2 and fighting to avoid elimination from play-off contention.

New York received the kick-off and carried the ball across midfield, deep into Tampa’s territory, then scored on their very first play from scrimmage when Nicole Stanley connected on a pass to Tanyka Renee to put six on the board.

Tampa was shocked.

And their back-up quarterback, who had only three weeks to truly learn the offense inside and out, was about to come into the game down by six points.

No pressure.

The Tampa coaches had revised their playbook to take advantage of Denisha’s speed and agility, and she had pushed herself to learn the new offense as quickly as she could. All those years of basketball and flag football had given her fantastic lateral movement and downfield vision, and now she coupled her athleticism with her new role as the team’s starting quarterback.

Denisha, with the support of the entire Breeze team, came out gunning.

It paid off with a Tampa victory.

And not only did she help win the game, she also won the game’s Most Valuable Player award.

Not bad for a recreational athlete.

Is turning your team’s season around and winning an MVP award your greatest accomplishment?

“My greatest accomplishment is earning my Master’s degree a semester early in 2006. After earning my Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management at the University of Florida, I headed over to my ARCH-RIVAL, Florida State, to pursue my Master’s degree in Sport Administration. I am 95% Gator and 5% ‘Nole. I worked in the office for FSU women’s basketball and wore my Gator gear all over the place. I ticked everyone off.”

Do you get recognized as the quarterback for the Tampa Breeze?

“Yes, I was recognized at the gym by a Breeze fan. The girl came up to me and asked if I was the QB for the Breeze and told me how awesome it is for women to be playing real tackle football. I was very flattered. I’ve also gotten recognized at a few a parties and I always seem to get the same questions. ‘Do you get paid?’, ‘Do you like the uniforms?’, ‘How do you get in shape?’. I really enjoy talking about the league and my team. I am definitely a walking advertisement!”

Any advice for girls who find themselves being the understudy to another player?

“I would tell all back-up players to continue to practice and play as hard as possible. Even if you NEVER get to start, you are pushing your teammates to play even harder. No one can get better without some good competition. I never thought I would get a chance to start last season, and I was perfectly fine with it because Jenn is an amazing player. If the Breeze weren’t there pushing her, she wouldn’t be as good as she is.”

Being a back-up player is not an easy assignment. You have to convince yourself that you will play every week, even though the game program says you won’t. You have to push yourself to get ready for the challenge of competition while the attention gets focused on the player ahead of you. To have that level of self-discipline is one of the most daunting tasks in sports.

It’s also the measure of a person’s character.

Because when victory hangs in the balance, your team will be counting on you to be ready. If you fail them, you fail yourself.

And the harder you push yourself, the harder you push them, too.

It’s the same in sports, in business, and in life.

Just ask a back-up player who went 2-1 in her first season and won MVP in her first game as a starter, but still credits her greatest accomplishment as having earned college degrees from each of the state’s premier universities.

And now she can add one more title to her list.

Welcome to the All-Whigham team, Denisha.

Long live sport.