New opportunity

Doyle ready for an even larger leadership role in 2014

As one of the most accomplished athletes on the Calgary Rage, Alanna Doyle is ready for a strong return to the gridiron in 2014. Despite a knee injury which prevented her from competing in the 2013 IFAF Women’s World Football Championships, her drive and desire to succeed cannot be extinguished.

A highly valued and respected member of the squad, Doyle will be entering the 2014 season as both a player and a member of the coaching staff. Serving as a linebackers coach has resulted in assuming an even larger leadership role. While this marks a new chapter in her storied career, she has the maturity to recognize that new opportunities also bring challenges to overcome.

“I think the biggest challenge ahead of me will be managing my relationships with other players. I was told when I first agreed to coach that I might be wise to maintain a degree of separation with the players. I would agree that, to some extent, it is a necessary part of a coaching role in most cases.

Yet if I intend to play as well as coach, the last thing I want is distance between me and The Girls. Besides, I have been standing alongside many of these ladies for three years, and think of them all as my sisters – even if I could separate myself that way, I do not think I would want to.”

Although a key aspect of the off-season remains the focus to rehabilitate her knee, she has the maturity to understand that there will be more demands on her time once the season nears. The ability to manage both effectively may provide Doyle with her finest season yet.

“Right now, as a player, my off-season training is largely focused on rehabilitation of my knee, so it is more of an individual effort and somewhat easier to work into the schedule. As the season nears, I will begin training more with the team as well, which will be more demanding.”

Essentially, Doyle will enter the 2014 season as the first player-coach in Rage franchise history. While it represents the next step for the growing role of women joining the ranks of football coaches, Doyle is accustomed to shattering barriers. As a student at James Fowler Junior High in Alberta, she would not only make the junior boy’s team, she would earn a spot as the defensive captain.

“Yet, I think as I learn the ropes of coaching and get to understand the game on paper better, I will get more efficient at it, and the time balance will work itself out. Instead, this was the first topic I chose to address in our first off-season defensive camp. We are all heading into unknown territory, here – in the past, players have assisted coaches in practices and games when injured, but the Rage has never had a player coaching in an official capacity before.”

While there may be an adjustment period, there is no question that Doyle has the leadership capabilities to succeed. In reflecting on the history of sport in the late 19th and early 20th century, a player-coach was highly common. Jimmy Conzelman and Johnny “Blood” McNally were well-known player-coaches during the Rag Days of American pro football. As teams were still building fan bases and balancing budgets, player-coaches were a cost efficient measure.

Although this is a much different era in sport, the player-coach role is crucial in helping women adjust to the responsibilities of eventually coaching on a full-time basis. Considering that player-coaches still exist today in European soccer and it was once romanticized in the early years of baseball, it may one day grow to be an essential component of every WWCFL roster.

Embarking on this historic journey only helps to strengthen Doyle’s football legacy. An admirable athlete, the results will speak for themselves. While patience and understanding shall be the key in the early stages, the sense of family on the Rage is strong. One of the values of the WWCFL is mutual respect and it shall help to shape the culture and core values for this proud group of remarkable women.

“There are going to be difficult times. I will have to tell players things that they don’t want to hear. We’re going to have to have the hard conversations. Yet, as I continue to reiterate to the players and to myself, my job is to do whatever is necessary to make this team successful, as a player and a coach.

The other thing I have asked players to remember as we move through the off-season and onto the field in 2014, is that I will not demand anything of them that I do not demand of myself. I have always done my best to ‘walk the walk’ – words are empty without example in my book. I think if we all keep these two things in mind, we will have no trouble making it work.”

“All quotes obtained first hand unless otherwise indicated”

Photo credit: Candice Ward Photography