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Donna and Okiima on Sports Week talk Team USA

A Gold Medal Journey

When 45 of the top football players from all around the United States were selected to play on the first ever USA Football Women’s National Team, none could have anticipated the magic of what was about to unfold. The creation of a special place in history and a leaving mark that will stand from this point forward brings us a story of love, passion and ultimate team success.

One by one we gathered in Round Rock Texas for the beginning of training camp on a hot summer day in June. All-Stars and various names you have heard of or played against gathering to participate in the event of a lifetime. A few teammates and a few foes… who knows where this all will lead.

We’ve all worked hard and done what was necessary for us to arrive at this point together. Some of us have played for 10 years, others just a few, but we were all selected for the role we would play and the kind of impact our attitude would have on the team. Indeed, we all love the game of football and raised thousands of dollars to be here. We’ve earned it and are going to accept everything the opportunity will allow.

Training camp was tough and put the team and mission into focus quickly. The perfectly structured days from breakfast to bed included: early breakfast, meetings, morning practice, lunch, afternoon practice, dinner, film and study periods and a team favorite “success” period in which the “onion” was unveiled. The heat during practice was intense and forced us into frequent water and fruit breaks. The pace and energy of the coaching staff kept things moving as with a force of nature. It was clear by the personnel packages that the coaches spent prudent time creating a threatening, multi-attack offense and fast swarming defense. All we needed to do was buy into the system, accept our role then learn and execute our responsibilities. Simple enough, yet are 45 women going to put their ego aside and become One Team and buy into One Mission?

Might seem like a difficult task to get 45 women to agree to anything, but the coaches employed a technique that drew us together and formed the heart of our One TEAM – it was the Onion. Different positions filled the center of the onion each night and the entire team found a different role in the onion to play as the center changed. Coach Mac took us through a visualization series that prepared us for the entire world championship experience. We journeyed to Sweden, heard the sound of the cleats… click, clack, click, clack on the concrete as we entered the stadium to play our first game, smelled, tasted and felt many moments as we journeyed through our Gold Medal, history making trip. We felt the emotions, prepared our victory speech and stood tall on the victory stand with our medal around our neck and the National Anthem playing in the background. All this we did before we ever set foot in Sweden. It was our destiny to fulfill and we did our part to create the experience along the way.

On the fifth day, we packed up our gear and headed to Stockholm. The intense days and emotional impact of the journey we embarked on together gave us the sense that if this was all we had of our experience, it would be worth it! It was true, but little did we know that this feeling would pale in comparison to the emotions we were still to feel and the experience of bonding yet to come.

Sweden was a beautiful change of pace. Temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s reminded me of a nice spring day compared to the heat of Texas, and created perfect conditions for Women’s World Championship Tournament.

A couple of hours after our touchdown in Sweden we got our first practice in and some of the jet lag out. Our accommodations at the Zinkensdam Hotel are cozy, to say the least and our time allotted for sight seeing is limited. We are here for one mission… to bring home the Gold!

We prepared with film sessions and practice each day. The word on some of our opponents came in - Sweden,Finland and Austria are young teams with several players under the age of 18. Germany is a large/heavy team with a quarterback that has been playing football in their league for over 20 years. Canada is fast and consists of IWFL players and members of the Canadian flag football national team. The US team, well we are the fastest, strongest and most aggressive players in the world and we are here to prove it!

Our first match against Austria could not come fast enough. We had prepared ourselves for this moment and we were not to be denied. Wide receiver Adrienne Smith scored the first historic points in IFAF Women's World Championship history with a 52-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Sami Grisafe, and the rest is history as we cruised to a 63-0 victory.

Finland was a tougher opponent on Film and we spent time preparing for a very fundamentally sound team. One of my Divas teammates plays for the Finish team which adds a level of anticipation and excitement to our matchup. Team USA coaches did an amazing job of breaking down our opponents and preparing us for anything that would come our way. Our pre-snap recognition was good, and with one game under our belt we were feeling really comfortable with both our defense and offensive execution. Finland moved the ball on Team USA, but their only touchdown was called back for offensive pass interference and they were not able to score again and keep up with the high powered offensive attack of the United States. The final margin of victory for the United States was 72-0. Two down… one to go!

Canada, our final opponent, made it the Gold Medal round by defeating Sweden and Germany. They boasted that they had heart and the US team was just a bunch of all-stars. Nothing like a little fire under the pot to get us going… we thought we had bonded before, but this just added a new level of needing and wanting to connect, just to prove them wrong! We didn’t need any more fuel, but we took it and ran all the way to Gold with a 66-0 shut out over Canada.

Yes other teams had fast running backs, yes they completed some nice looking plays and ran the ball hard, but we were superior in every aspect of the game and in the end it was the unrelenting spirit of Team USA, not to be denied, that set the tone and finished off each team in absolute dominating fashion. It was 45 individuals becoming One Team, having One Mission and accomplishing it! We found love, or more accurately embraced and accepted love… love of our country and for the world, love for those we play against that allow our dream of playing football to be possible and most of all a deep love for each other for experiencing all of it together, as no one else ever will. For this experience we are forever grateful and to those who served beside us, the bond will forever be a special link to our moment in history, our moment of release, recognition and embracing our greatness, our moment together where We became ONE!

How fitting that the greatest experience of my sports career, and maybe even in my entire life, is that of experiencing Oneness. It was our motto: One Team, One Mission! We DID It. We FELT It! Loving each other as our self and working as one. It is a small but savory taste of the higher spiritual principle that we are all connected through One Source and are here to remember and experience that Oneness.

We are each a unique way the Creator expresses and experiences life within and through us. Life provides ample opportunity for us to observe, practice and experience this truth until we remember who we are and where we came from. Team USA was just one such experience. We will draw unto us and experience our Oneness in many ways until we fully embrace and accept this as the Truth of our Being, and choose to experience it as our preferred and dominant state. I’ve had a glimpse and seek more opportunity for continued expression of this thought.

I can offer my greatest understanding and experience to you, but you can only experience life for yourself. This is my wish… that you experience Oneness, that you love another as yourself and you see yourself as an extension of an unconditional love that never ends and includes everyone and everything in its extension, and you set a common goal that through unity, cooperation and joint effort you experience the best in each other and that life has to offer. I wish everyone a GOLD MEDAL experience of LIFE!

View full photo gallery at Gary's Action Photography!

Donna Wilkinson Team USA Travel Fund

I am excited and proud to announce that I have been selected as one of 45 players named to represent our country in the first International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Women’s World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, this summer as a member of USA Football Women's National Team.

This is a great honor and challenge... Women’s tackle football has developed from grass roots efforts by the players like myself who still 'pay to play' the game. The USA Football Women’s National Team is launching the largest fundraising effort in women’s football to cover the related costs.

All IWFL members that have accepted a position on Team USA are expected to pay the team fees and obtain the required funds exclusively from fundraising events and private donations.

The Donna Wilkinson Team USA Travel fund has been set up to support the efforts of #33 in playing for Team USA. Contributions will cover the fees required to play and the additional training and travel costs of participating on the US National Team. I appreciate all the suppport of those who have contributed to the travel fund to this point. Join my Team USA sponsorship team today! With a donation of $100 or more your name will appear on the US National Team banner!

It is an honor and a privilege to represent the United States and YOU! All Donations are welcome and greatly appreciated. Thank you for your participation in the world championship of women's tackle football. Team USA is working very hard to provide the United States with the Gold.

DonnaWilkinsonTeamUSATravelFund

~ Thank You~

Representing Nikken Wellness on Team USA!

I am grateful to share this exciting time in women's football history with my Nikken family around the World. I was introduced to Nikken ten years ago just before my tackle football career was launched with the DC Divas in 2001. I had the perfect opportunity to see first hand what the concept of Nikken Wellness Technology and energy-based products could do for someone who loved to hit and wanted the contact and thrill of football more than anything else! I have played for the past ten years because I LOVE IT! The joy from living my passion goes beyond words. The opportunity to do what I love and do it better because of the work I do with Nikken, makes it all that much sweeter.

I have recovered from chronic back problems using the Nikken products, and during my career playing football I have been able to recover from fractures, dislocations, sprains, bruises, ACL surgery and a broken back in record time with amazing results. Without these products and the advances in energy medicine, ARP Wave technology and mental discipline, I would be very challenged to play the game at all right now. Instead I have come back completely healthy- faster, stronger and making a lasting impact on the game.

Each injury has provided me the opportunity to grow physically, mentally and emotionally. Because I grew through my injury to a new place of being my awareness has grown. My unique perspective, my love for being well and what these products do gives me an opportunity to share and impact the lives of people around the world. I’m grateful to be on the Nikken journey!

This summer I have the opportunity to make history as a member of the USA Football Women’s National Team that will be competing in the Inaugural IFAF Women’s World Championship games in Stockholm.

We will be playing 3 games in one week and I will need the Nikken sleep system, pimag water, magnetics and nutrition to stay recovered and on top of my game. This is a challenge by any football standards and I am looking forward to it.

I have been fund raising since March 14th and am grateful for my Nikken team support! Thank you in advance for sharing this story as part of our Nikken journey. I am honored and blessed to represent the United States and the people I love and work with!

Teams to face off in Sweden

USA Football's Women's National Team will represent the United States in Stockholm, Sweden. USA Football's team will be assembled and managed in partnership with the Independent Women's Football League (IWFL), which consists of more than 1,800 female athletes across 51 teams. This roster will represent the United States' first women's national team in America's favorite sport. According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, more than 120,000 American females played tackle football at least 26 times in 2008.

Selection for the Canada National Team is down to 90 players that will participate in one of two regional camps during March in Saskatoon, SK, and Oromocto, NB.The selected players will then attend the final camp in Saint John, New Brunswick, before heading to Sweden at the end of June. Head Coach Larry Harlow, who was one of the founders of the New Brunswick Women's Football League, the New Brunswick Jr. Girls Football League and the Maritime Women's Football League, will lead the Canadian team. He is currently the Head Coach of the Saint John Storm, a team he has transformed from last place into undefeated Maritime Champions.

Germany has selected a provisional squad that includes nine players from the two German Ladies Bowl finalists Berlin Kobras and Nuremberg Hurricanes. The Munich Cowboys and Duesseldorf Blades have also contributed nine players, while the Hamburg Amazons provide eight and the Mainz Lady Warriors six. More than 110 players attended tryouts in Cologne. The women's league began in 1990 and the first official German Championship game - the Ladies Bowl - was played in 1992. Since 2008 the German women's league has featured two divisions and for the 2010 season has 20 teams and approximately 750 players.

Women's American Football has been played in Austria since 1997 and the Austrian Football Division Ladies features four teams from two countries: the Black Widows from Graz, Budapest Wolves Ladies from Hungary, Raiffeisen Vikings Ladies from Vienna and Rangers Roughnecks from Südstadt. The Austrian Ladies Bowl was first played in 2000 when the Black Widows won the first of three consecutive titles and since then the Vikings Ladies have won the past seven championship games. Cameron Frickey, a native of the United States and former wide receiver for the Vienna Vikings, will coach Austria.

Women's football has a long tradition in Finland. Women started to play 9-on-9 flag football in the late 1980s, but rules evolved towards allowing contact, which eventually led to a move to tackle football. Finland head coach Teemu Kuusisto has a long history of coaching Finland's national teams and top club teams. The GS Demons and Roosters, both from Helsinki, provide most of the starters for the national team and have dominated Ladies football in recent history, contesting the last seven national finals. Finland has six teams competing in their own domestic league.

Women's football in Sweden is in its infancy with three club teams - Stockholm Mean Machines, Arlanda Jets and Limhamn Griffins - operating since the formation of a national team in 2008. The national team has twice faced neighbor Finland in friendly competition, improving in 2009 with a 36-6 loss following a 64-point shutout defeat a year earlier. Sweden's female players have played flag football and also integrated with country's men's teams for the past decade.

~ Read more ~
Inaugural IFAF Women’s World Championship Announces Groups, Seeding and Schedule
By Michael Preston - March 24, 2010

Vision and Motivation

Whatever you can Vividly Imagine

Ardently Desire and Enthusiastically Act on

Will Surely Come to Pass!

This statement so beautifully describes the creative power of our life experience. I am motivated by the experience of the physical expression of the game of football and the opportunity for growth that provides. I love the mental components of being in the zone, completely one with the moment and in-tune with my body, a team and a goal. Playing for the Women's National Team is the natural progression of a lifetime following my passion and playing the game I have always loved and wanted to play. The opportunity to promote freedom and equality for all genders, races, relilgions, sexual preferences and life as we know it is part of my journey and I'm grateful to be living my dream and sharing this perspective with the world.

Football is one of my outlets and the stage it provides is the opportunity to be the example and live the life, life & football has caused me to become. The game asks you to always move toward excellence, yet requires you to "forget" immediately when you drop a pass or miss a tackle and become present again - you must release the past from your memory and be ready to go again, now! Life is like football and works better when you forgive the past and focus attention and energy into present desires and act with faith and confidence toward what you want.

Its really not a secret that the only thing that can grow is a thing that you give attention to. When you move your attention off the things you don't like and don't want and start focusing on your dream and vision, the whole world moves and shifts and brings the right people, places and circumstances into your life. Believe in it... for you can not create outside of your personal belief system. I believe anything is possible... and I'm living it!

Live your passion and your motivation will always be high!!!