I wrote an honest review of the first Tampa game which has been widely circulated around the LFL blogs. If you haven’t seen it, you can find it here:
http://www.playerpress.com/articles/flipping-the-switch
and here:
http://lflus.com/blog/?p=824

Brandyce Lee, who was mentioned several times in that article, was kind enough to respond to my inquiry for a follow-up interview.

***

Brandyce Lee was standing in a very vulnerable spot. She was caught in the open, alone at the end of the line, staring into the teeth of the most powerful runner in women’s pro football. She was used to it though. As a softball player, she’d been staring into the teeth of lead-off batters bigger and stronger than her since she was eight years old.

Unlike other basemen, who can stay two steps away from the bag, the second baseman is caught in a wide open space very far from her home; filling the gap between first and second base. To play second base you not only have to be very quick, you have to have good hand-eye coordination and sharp reflexes. With the batter being so close to the fielder there’s not a lot of time to react to a ball that’s skipping and bouncing and screaming right at you. You also have to be fast; capable of running to cover your base while at the same time capable of chasing down a runner caught between the bases.

At eight years old, Brandyce proved to be a quick little girl with good hand-eye coordination that was also very fast.

She was good at the position; so good that she quit playing Little League after a season because it wasn’t competitive enough. She moved up to ASA Gold softball, which is the highest level of competition offered in the sport. At the tender age of nine she was playing on a 12-under travel team, competing against girls older, bigger, and stronger than her. When she was 13, she was the starting second baseman against high school seniors who were playing varsity-level ball. Those girls could hit line drives that consistently skipped, bounced, and screamed.

She soon made second base her second home, playing there as she progressed up the ASA Gold ranks and onto the varsity team at Chamberlain High. She played second base for the Chiefs for three years where she made All-State First Team twice, made All-Conference First Team three years in a row, was the Western Conference MVP, received four Golden Gloves awards for never dropping her fielding percentage below .950, and consecutively led the county in batting averages – she was the top hitter on her team every year of high school. After getting her high school diploma she played second base for the University of Tampa for four years; graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.

From the age of eight to twenty three, season after season, her home address was mid-way between first and second base.

Like most college grads who find themselves wondering what to do with their lives, she had bills to pay, and all of those years of athletics had rewarded her with a figure that, honestly, looked good in front of camera. In fact, it looked very good. She went into modeling, and in Florida that means swimsuits.

Swimsuits, by their nature, are intended to be sleek, and women’s swimsuits in particular tend to be skimpy. She looked good in a bikini and attracted the attention of professional photographers. One job would lead to the next, and soon the former second baseman was building a successful career as a model, posing for Maxim, Stuff Magazine, American Curves, and Stare Magazine. She also posed for several calendars. Her home address became a spot in front of a camera.

But she found herself missing the challenges that competitive softball had given her. She missed the training, the teamwork, the camaraderie, the anticipation of the next game and everything that comes with playing a competitive team sport. For fifteen years she’d had a second home at second base. And then it was gone.

“When softball was done I needed something to fill that void. It was hard to end something I had done my whole life. I started doing some swimsuit modeling and then competing in pageants. I was successful with the swimsuit thing and just so happened to (have) come across the Tampa Breeze tryout info and I thought ‘Well, what a fun chance to incorporate my modeling with my athleticism.’”

She tried out. She did the drills. She could throw and she could catch. She was a very quick girl and she could run fast. Unlike some of the girls, she didn’t walk off the field when a cold drizzle started to fall during practice. She wasn’t afraid of contact. She was a player. She also looked good in her exercise gear. The coaches were impressed with the former second baseman’s athleticism, toughness, and appearance, the three most critical components for playing in the LFL.

Now she had a different home. She was the starting strong-side corner for the Tampa Breeze. And as a cornerback, she was alone in a wide-open space, covering the gap between the sideline and the defensive end; about half the distance between first and second base. Piece of cake for a quick, fast girl. She was so quick and fast that she was put on the offense as a wide receiver, too, playing in that same gap.

Brandyce at the corner

But it’s not all champagne and roses. It’s always the truck you don’t see that hits you, and on her team’s opening night she didn’t see the truck that hit her.

At five foot-two inches, Brandyce Lee is diminutive in stature. That might look good in a bikini, but it is a disadvantage on the football field. “I am smaller than nearly every player in the league, so I know I have to work harder to compete.”

On December 4, 2009, our quick girl with good reflexes was the ball-carrier on a weak-side run in the gap between the end and the wide receiver. As she crossed the line, a Chicago defender jumped into her running lane so she broke back towards the middle. That’s when she was rudely introduced to the grill of a runaway truck dressed as a Chicago linebacker coming from the opposite side.

“There’s really no way to get prepared for your first football game until you get hit that first time. It was like nothing I expected, but after that first hit I said ‘ok, this is what it is.’ I knew I had to hit’em harder than they were going to hit me.”

And she does. She plays full tilt every down. Her aggressive play is one reason why Tampa outscored Chicago – one of the most successful offenses in the LFL Eastern Conference – for the first half of Tampa’s first game, and limited Philadelphia to only two scores when Tampa faced them in their second game.

“(When I was playing softball) I was always the smallest and forced to work harder and be meaner than the other girls in order for me to have any type of chance at playing up to the level I was at. I have always been the smallest player on any team I have been on, and I think it might have been an advantage for me because I learned that I had to be tougher, thus turning me into the type of ball player I am now!”

But, playing football in a skimpy two-piece uniform, what about the catcalls, the ones that called the former two-time All-State second baseman a tramp, the ones that questioned the four-time Golden Glove winner’s self-esteem, particularly at the first game?

“Did someone really call me a tramp at the game? Hahaha! I had no idea! How funny. I honestly did not hear any of the catcalls. I’m sure they were going on but I was so focused on the game that I heard nothing coming from the bleachers. The catcalls are expected. We are wearing very small uniforms and the girls are all gorgeous, so that’s a given. (Even if I heard them) the catcalls wouldn’t bother me at all. I just hope to direct attention away from my body with my level of play because I have found that the fans say they care about the lingerie for about 10 minutes; but after seeing we can really play football the fact that we are in lingerie isn’t even a thought any longer.”

Got that right.

So does she have any fans?

“I have had a lot of men and women recognize me as a member of the Breeze. A lot of times it has been at local clubs or restaurants and I usually just get some (complimentary) drinks and food. That’s always nice.”

If a fast, quick girl who can throw and catch wanted to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give her?

“Hard work and dedication will be the deciding factor as to if they will be the victor when they step on that field to compete. I would advise them that teamwork is key and if they aren’t willing to give their all for themselves and their teammates then they might as well hang up their cleats right now. It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about how hard you try and how hard you work.”

Spoken like a true athlete.

Welcome to the All-Whigham team, Brandyce.

Long live sport.

At practice.

At wide receiver.