Hills, Spills, and Thrills: Mommy Was a Hawkeye for a Day

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I had a dream come true. I was able to attend the 2012 Ladies Football Academy at Kinnick Stadium with Coach Ferentz and the Hawkeye Football team.

We started the day registering in the press box. Did you know they serve alcohol up there? I want those seats. We took a short bus ride with kicker Trent Mossbrucker giving us the low down on pregame rituals.

We arrived at Kinnick just as the team does before game day. Donnatell and Derby shared with us the Hawk Walk and rituals when entering the stadium.

From there we toured the locker room and talked about all that goes into the pregame. We took a short walk down to the field and got the chance to meet Coach Ferentz and the players. We got a few autographs and pics, then up to the stands to start the day.

After a fun dance routine from the dancers, coaches, and DB BJ Lowery and LB Christian Kirksey, we were taught by the coaches about the positions and what goes into lining up a play.

From there we went back into the stadium to swarm the field hand-in-hand to "Back in Black". The only thing that made me sad about this was we had to shut our phones off at this point so I didn't get video of it. :( Here's the 2011 Swarm. I have to say, I think this year was a little more organized and energetic. We did stretches on the field and then went to different stations for drills with the players.

By far my favorites were the linebackers and defensive line drills because I got to tackle dummies at both stations. I was so pumped! It was a blast. We got to talk with the strength and conditioning coach, Doyle, catch a few passes from number 6 himself, Keenan Davis, and learned a little bit about throwing a football from quarter back John Wienke.

We took a quick tour of the pink locker room and then huddled up with Coach Ferentz before the awards ceremony. In total, the ladies raised over $337,000 for the Iowa Children's Hospital. After the honorary captain for the day, Korri Hoeger, spoke about her battle with kidney disease and the wonderful people at the Iowa Children's Hospital who helped her, I am very motivated to raise more for the hospital next year. Hope you have your check books ready! It was such a great experience, but an even better charity. Watch for us on the B1G Ten Network coming soon! For now enjoy some of my pictures and pics from the media!