Being one of “Maine’s 10 Most Intriguing People” isn’t enough for USM graduate Shay Bellas. She is a loving wife, a caring mother, a strong advocate of women’s rights, staunch feminist, and, oh yes, the owner and general manager of a full-contact women’s football franchise.
The National Women’s Football Association (NWFA) was formed in August 2000 by well-known sports and entertainment entrepreneur Catherine Masters. The original league started with two teams, The Nashville Dream and The Alabama Renegades. By March 2001 the NWFA had a total of 10 teams, and the championship game between The Philadelphia Liberty Belles and The Pensacola Power drew more than 5,000 fans.
Ruth Murphy first formed the Maine Freeze of the NWFA in April 2001. Bellas first heard about the Freeze through one of the original players that played softball with her husband, Matthew. After attending a few practices and a team meeting, Bellas soon found herself with a contract as the general manager of the Freeze in August 2001.
“I was general manager for about nine months and I said ‘I need to own this,'” said Bellas. It was then that Bellas turned her attention towards ownership. “It wasn’t working being just general manager; I wasn’t going to do all this hard work for [Murphy’s] money.”
After calling the NWFA to obtain information about owning the Freeze, in March 2002 Bellas and team investor Pete Belonged bought the team for $15,000, and three months later she owned 100 percent of the Maine Freeze.
From the first days of her tenure as owner and general manager, things haven’t been easy for Bellas and her team. “We have built it rather quickly, going from Old Orchard Beach and practicing in a graveyard because we didn’t have field space, as opposed to playing at Fitzpatrick Stadium and practice at USM,” said Bellas.
Although things seem to be prospering for the Freeze, having Portland as a permanent home and the building of a new practice facility on the horizon, Bellas says there is still some growing pains she is going through as an owner. “The hardest part for us is trying to find a talent pool of women interested in playing that aren’t so involved in the collegiate sports that they aren’t able to participate.”
Bellas, along with head coach Jason McLeod, another USM grad, has built a team of women where all but one are native Mainers and three (Mary Lee Taylor, Karen Mercier, and Dawn Herring) are current USM students .
One way the Freeze and the NWFA are reaching out to develop interest and players of the future is through their partnership program, “Girls of the Gridiron.” This program was created to support female football players at the junior and high school level.
Bellas says there are plans underway for the Freeze’s and division-rival Connecticut Crush’s youth programs to play a demonstration game together in Portland at the Freeze’s new winter home, the soon-to-be built Portland Sports Complex. The complex is planned to be built near Joker’s on Warren Avenue and is expected to be completed by this winter. The facility will also house the Freeze’s team offices and an indoor practice field all in a bubble-style facility.
Bellas is part of a time in sports history when women are becoming active participants in sports traditionally dominated by men.
In 2001 the NWFA had 10 original teams in two divisions. Today the league has 30 teams in five divisions. Next year the league will introduce six more teams and begin a five-year television deal with The Football Network.
Bellas isn’t satisfied with the success that she has obtained so far. She has higher goals for the Freeze.
“Playoffs are my goal, and that’s where I want to see us,” said Bellas. “Even if there is no ‘W’ in the column at the end of the night, there are so many other wins for us on the field.”