Lingerie Football League opens play Friday in Kent

Katie Ryckman’s dad had a quick reaction when his daughter told him last spring she planned to play lingerie football.

“He didn’t want me to play in lingerie,” the Newcastle resident said in a phone interview Friday.

But Ryckman’s father, mother and nearly 75 other friends and relatives plan to watch the running back in her debut as the Seattle Mist debut against the San Diego Seduction in a woman’s Lingerie Football League game at 9 p.m. Friday at the ShoWare Center in Kent.

“My father had a hard time,” said Ryckman, a marketing specialist at Microsoft when she’s not caring for her 4-year-old son or running a football for the Mist. “My parents are fairly strict, so it was a bit of a surprise. But now they are very supportive.”

The Lingerie League makes no pretenses as to what it is about. It’s male-organized sport of women in lingerie playing seven-on-seven tackle football on a 50-yard field. Each offense as a quarterback, center, two running backs and three receivers. The size of the football is a bit smaller than a regular-size football to help the women throw and catch the ball easier.

In spite of the hype, Ryckman says it’s the athleticism that has drawn her, and which has made the sport less of a shock to her father.

“He knows I love sports,” Ryckman, 25, said of her father. “He’s gotten to know the girls are athletic and understands it’s not just about lingerie.”

Lingerie Football League officials, of course, are all in favor of good-looking women.

“We look for confidence, athleticism and beauty,” said Mitchell Mortaza, the founder and chairman of the league, during an interview last spring when he traveled to a Mist minicamp in Tukwila from his home office in West Hollywood, Calif. “But we will not have any 225-pound bruisers out there.”

At 5 feet, 6 inches and 125 pounds, Ryckman fits right in with the size of most of the women on the Mist roster. She also has talent.

“She’s extremely fast and has great vision to see the hole,” Seattle Mist coach Rob Long said. “She’s one of the most athletic females I’ve seen.”

Ryckman, a former competitive diver at Auburn High School, watched a television news report last fall about a Mist tryout and decided to show up when the team had a mini camp in April at Tukwila.

“I thought it was a bit of a joke with a bunch of girls playing football in lingerie,” Ryckman said of watching news clips. “The clips were not showing them in the best light. They didn’t show any girls with athletic talent.”

When Ryckman, who played club rugby at Colby College in Maine before returning to the Seattle area, found out the women would play for pay, she attended the next tryout.

“A good handful of ladies had athletic talent,” she said. “I was surprised and decided to stick with it.”

Long said the team has come a long way since the initial tryouts last fall.

“It’s huge,” Long said. “We had mainly models with zero talent. Half of the original team was released. We’ve picked up a lot more talent. Some are still models, but they can run and catch and do what we need.”

Now after a few months of a couple of practices per week, Ryckman said she can’t wait for the opener.

“I am very much looking forward to walking off the field with a big smile and a nice paycheck,” Ryckman said. “But I can’t get too cocky. We haven’t played a game yet.”

Players will see more pay if their team wins the game.

“That’s incentive to go out and win,” Ryckman said. “It’s for more than personal glory. It’s for a paycheck as well.”

League officials won’t say how much each player potentially can make.

Seattle plays two road games later this season and returns home for its final game Jan. 1 at the ShoWare Center.

Ryckman already has received the nickname of “Slash” from teammates.

“The other running back (Kerry Warren) is Dash and I am Slash,” Ryckman said. “She runs straight into girls. If I can, I avoid them and am more likely to cut up field. But I’m not afraid of contact.”

The Mist players are uncertain how hard the tackles might be against San Diego on Friday.

“I’m wondering that myself,” Ryckman said. “But we need to be the hammer and not the nail. We have girls that understand that. There will definitely be hard hits.”

Long said he has emphasized to his players to tackle hard.

“They’ll be in lingerie, but we want to smack people in the mouth and let them know we can play,” Long said.

For more information, go to www.myseattlemist.com.

Tailgate party

The plaza in front of the ShoWare Center opens at 5 p.m. Friday for a Mist tailgate party that includes face painting, video games, football skills games, a beer garden, and appearances by the players. Arena doors open at 7:30 p.m. so fans can watch player warm-ups. Kickoff is at 9 p.m.

If you go

What: Lingerie Football League game

Who: San Diego Seduction vs. Seattle Mist

When: 9 p.m. Friday, doors open 7:30 p.m.; pre-game party 5 p.m.

Where: ShoWare Center, 625 W. James St.

Cost: $107, $67, $37, $24, $18 or $14

Tickets: www.showarecenter.com, 253-856-6999 or arena box office