By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Meg Mauer, 31, of Evanston, has always been into sports. She played rugby when she was at the University of Iowa and is currently the third-ranked female bodybuilder in the U.S. She also owns her own gym.

But this year she decided to try football.

“I always wanted to do something with with pads and helmets,” she laughed.

So Mauer joined the Chicago Force, who begin their 2008 season with an away game against the Wisconsin Wolves April 12. The Force then play their arch-rivals, the Detroit Demolition, at the Holmgren Athletic Complex April 19. The regular season lasts through June.

Force quarterback Sami Girafe, 24, who is an actress and a barback at The Closet, said that the 2008 season, with many new and talented players as well as some new teams in their league, will be about getting the team’s competitive fires really going.

“We’ll be able to set a bar,” she said. “When you’re playing not-so-good teams, that’s when injuries happen.”

Girafe added, “It’s about kicking up the competitive levels …There are actually many women who want to play, because it sounds good, especially in the lesbian community. But then they get out on the field and they realize that these women hit hard.”

Girafe said Force players range in age from 18 to 46. The majority of the players had never played football before. She said the main difference between female- and male-only football is that the former games are somewhat slower. She attributes that to the fact that female players often have less time to practice. Force members “only get to (play) three days a week,” she said. “We’re juggling our jobs. The love of the job has been our pay.”

Mauer, with her athletic background, has not been intimidated by the sport’s physical aspects as she has been practicing. But she said one of the most difficult aspects of starting to play was picking up the rules and terminology while the ball is in play.

“It’s like a different language,” she said.

Girafe concurred.

“You think you know football until you get out there,” Girafe said. “It’s the most mentally intricate sport ever played.”

She said, however, that female players usually pick up the rules and terminology and acclimate to the rapid pace quickly.

“If they’re good at multi-tasking, they pick it up and absorb it and keep it fun,” Girafe said.

She added that the games are energized by the commitment from the players, all of whom are on the field because of their love of the sport. Every practice, “We’re (all) coming from a nine-hour job, eating only a banana on the way there and having to then find the energy to play,” Girafe said.

The Chicago Force plays home games at Holmgren Athletic Complex, at North Park University, at the corner of Foster and Albany. For more information on the Chicago Force, visit www.chicagoforcefootball.com.