Malia; Faces

There's still a big game left in the Women's Football Alliance, and it features our friends the Dallas Diamonds.  Dallas defeated the Outlaws twice this season.  They also defeated everyone else they played.  On August 3 they'll play the Chicago Force for the league championship. 

The Outlaws haven't played in several weeks.  Is anyone still visiting this blog?  Anyone interested in football now that our season is over and the NFL hasn't started yet?  Well, the blog has had 165 visits since June 19.  That's an average of 23 per day.  And I've been letting you down, with zero new posts in that time.  Today I browsed my photos looking for a theme.  And found two.

The first theme is Malia Capers-Cristobal, #50.

I've admired Malia for a long time because of her grit, her constant striving to do better than the day before.  One day I'll post her profile (promises promises).  For now, just some shots of her in action.

When you play the line, every play is a physical battle.

You're assigned a defender to block.  You're goal is to be sure your
assignment doesn't get free and make the tackle.

Often the block is not straight on.  The would-be
tackler is trying to get loose.  Your job is to
contain, to keep her away from the runner.

In each of the photos I've posted, Maila's block was effective;
her assigned defender did not make the tackle.

Almost a fist fight.  Malia is only 5'4" tall, not as tall as many of her opponents.  But she's still big enough,
strong enough, and determined enough, that she is an effective blocker.
I like the expression on the face of #74.  Can you see the frustration?  She is not going to
get to the runner on this play.

The second theme I found browsing my photos today, is inspired by the last Malia photo.  I love when the camera catches the facial expressions of the players in action. I'm always fascinated when my little Nikon camera captures facial expressions.  I'm standing on the sidelines, maybe forty or fifty yards away.  But my camera is seeing the intensity, in some cases frustration (as in the photo above) of the competitors.

Houston's number 14 is the star in my facial photos.  She didn't make the tackle in these plays but
she must be a really good player because she's always near the football.

This and the following shot show my star being frustrated.  Above, she looks like she has a
bead on the runner, Deidra Holland.  But...

...Outlaws' #7, Laurie Cadena, stops her.  Often a block isn't pretty.  Doesn't have to be.
Just has to knock the tackler off balance enough for a speedy running back to zip on by.