by Troy Whigham

The Drake Relays are considered to be the track meet to go to if you’re an elite athlete. It’s where the royalty of the sports world gather every year. It’s the Super Bowl of track season. In the social circles of athletics, the Drakes are strictly a black-tie affair.

For one hundred years, collegiate stars, Olympians, and professional athletes alike have competed at the annual meet held at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In fact, the meet is so big that it has become the “second homecoming” for alumni and is celebrated by the surrounding Des Moines community as a neighborhood holiday.

Anybody who is somebody has competed there. NCAA Champion, Olympian, and pro football player Herschel Walker competed there. So did world-record-setter Olympian Bruce Jenner. And Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Wilt Chamberlain, Wilma Rudolph, Lolo Jones, and Stacy Dragila.

But when the Drakes aren’t going off, it is also the venue for some very good high school meets. To the kids, it’s like playing football at the Louisiana Superdome in a Super Bowl year. It may not be the Big One, but it’s where the Big One is held, and that’s still pretty cool. In high school competitions held there, wide-eyed Gabrielle Marie from Waterloo, Iowa, was walking in the footsteps of greatness. Actually, she was jumping in them.

Growing up as the youngest of four daughters, she played almost everything; golf, tennis, softball, basketball, swimming, and gymnastics to name a few. She also played football, jumping into sandlot games with the neighborhood boys whenever the opportunity arose. She liked running around and playing sports so much that she quickly developed a dislike for dresses. They slowed her down and weren’t very practical for a rough-and-tumble tomboy.

When she got to high school she picked up a new game. Volleyball. She was fast and agile and could jump. She was also left-handed.

Left-handed people are the odd balls. They’re the ones that, when writing a message with an ink pen, they have to drag their hand through the fresh ink. That’s how you can tell when a ransom note has been written by a left-handed abductor; the ink is always smudged left to right. Lefties also have to have special scissors. They need special golf clubs. They can’t use the same ball mitt that the other kids use. Rifles eject hot shells onto their arms while their right-handed Army buddies laugh at them on the firing line.

But being left-handed is a very distinct advantage when you’re a right-side hitter on a volleyball court.

The left-handed right-side hitter can reach for the set ball, instead of waiting for it to come to her, cross her body, and connect with her right hand. Reaching for the ball with the left hand shortens the air time of the set and gives the opponent less time to react while still preserving the power of the hitter’s swing.

Lefties are ideal on the right because the setter usually is stationed to the right of the middle hitter, so the set tends to come much more quickly to the right-side hitter than to the left-side hitter waiting way out on the other side of the court, where the ball has to travel a greater distance and have more arc to get there.

Being left-handed and playing on the right means that a left-handed hitter can catch the other team’s middle blocker out of position, creating a hitting lane so big she could drive a truck through it.

But, all of that strategy assumes that the right-side hitter can jump, and fortunately for Northern University High, left-handed Gabrielle Marie could jump very well. Combine left-hand dominance, a quick set, and an excellent jump, and you have the perfect right-side player.

To the volleyball coach, Gabrielle Marie was manna from heaven. The coach made sure she was put to good use. She made varsity her freshman year and took her team to the state playoffs by the time she was a senior. That was also the year she made All-Conference. Not bad for a school with only sixty seven graduating seniors.

Volleyball wasn’t the only sport she did. She earned her letter on the track team all four years of high school, was a three-time state champion in the long jump, won the long jump at the Drakes twice, and became a state champ in the 4×100s her senior year. That’s right; she was All-Conference in one sport, and a state champion in another.

That earned her a full scholarship to the University of Tulsa, where she played on the school’s volleyball team. But that wasn’t enough for the rough-and-tumble tomboy who had now grown into an athletic young woman. She walked onto the track team her freshman year to do the long jump and set a new record during her first season. In her final year, as a senior, her volleyball team won out its regular season for the first time in the school’s history.

Yes, Gabrielle Marie could jump. And her jumping set school records in two different sports.

After graduating with her Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design (with minors in Art History and Marketing), she moved to Dallas, where she settled into the typical post-college job market. But, after having grown up around sports, and having gone to state championships, and having set records in two sports, she found that she missed the rush of athletic competition. She missed the training, the anticipation, and the thrill of playing sports against the best of the best.

She signed up for some rec leagues in volleyball, just to feel connected again. It was ok, but when you’re a former state champion in one sport, All-Conference in another, and broke two of your college’s records, recreational leagues are just a teaser, because you know that there can be so much more.

That’s when she heard about the LFL.

“I have always loved watching football since I was a young girl. I was playing at a very young age with the boys in my neighborhood in any vacant field we could find. I played intramural flag football while in college as well. (The) LFL gave me that opportunity to play professionally. How could I not tryout for that?!”

So she did.

The former rough-and-tumble tomboy had indeed grown into a beautiful young woman, and her athletic prowess impressed the coaches. She could run, throw, catch, and jump, and she looked good doing it. After try-outs, she got the call. She was a member of the Dallas Desire.

And like the other teams she has played on, she’s on her way to becoming a champion.

How does she do it?

“My biggest challenge was my mind. You only beat yourself. You have to be mentally strong to become the best athlete you can be. There will be many times during a workout that you will want to quit, but if you are mentally strong, you will be able to tell that little voice to shut up and void the pain. ‘Pain is just weakness leaving the body.’”

Any advice for girls thinking about sports?

“(I) would tell them that hard work pays off. If they want to become the leading scorer on their basketball team, jump higher than anyone in the high jump, hit a little harder than the next girl in softball, that they can. Putting in extra effort, extra practice, to perfect their sport, that one day it can happen. If you really set your heart to something, no matter how many times someone tells you it can’t be done, that in the end they will prove many people wrong.”

What about being an LFL player. Are you a celebrity yet?

“I have been recognized a few times while out. (People) would stop dead in their tracks, squint their eyes and point at me and say ‘you play football?’ Haha! I just reply with a smile and say ‘yes’. I think it’s funny because I’m just a girl from Iowa who is low key, loves to play video games, and chill with fam. And for people to recognize me and ask for autographs is surreal.”

Sport is about having the right tools for the right job. Sometimes it’s about being the left-handed hitter on the right side of the court. Sometimes it’s about being the girl that can jump farther and higher than anyone else. Sometimes it’s about hating to wear dresses because they slow you down. But mostly, it’s about finding the ability within you to push yourself to achieve. You don’t get to that point sitting on a couch playing video games.

Or do you?

It appears Gabrielle Marie has a guilty pleasure.

If, after you’re done reading this, you feel like firing up a good game of “HALO”, or “Call of Duty”, or “Modern Warfare 2”, keep in mind that right now, in Dallas, a former two-time long jump champion and All-Conference volleyball player is polishing her video game skills, and if you meet her in a gaming tournament, she will probably beat you. She knows what it takes to be a champion. You may want to re-read this article so that you will know, too.

Welcome to the All-Whigham team, Gabrielle.

Long live sport.

At practice

Game day with Kristin Reed and Candis Mosely

Goofing with her cut-out