Twenty-eight-year-old Karissa Berg of Antioch was recently talking with one of her friends who had returned from serving in Afghanistan.

Despite the fact that the friend had just come back from a combat area, Berg had one specific story that quickly topped all of his tales.
 
"What have you been up to?" her friend asked.
 
"I've been playing women's professional football," Berg replied.
 
She added that her friend stood there in absolute disbelief.

Maybe now all Berg's friends will believe, since she and Gurnee resident Jennifer Moore just returned home from Austin, Texas – with an Independent Women's Football League championship trophy, of all things.
 
"I smiled all the way home from Texas and haven't stopped since," Moore said. "I'm feeling pretty blessed right now. I have perma-glow."
 
When you consider that Moore is 41, and has gone through four knee surgeries, the feat becomes even more remarkable.
 
She and Berg are part of the 19-woman Wisconsin Warriors pro football squad, which in just its second season, captured the league's Tier II championship. Because the team only had 19 players, some of the women had to play both offense and defense – commonly known as "iron-man football."

This group was also the only IWFL Tier II team to win two games against Tier 1 opponents.
 
After the  win in Texas, screams of joy could be heard in the background as players called relatives and friends on their cellphones from hundreds of miles away. Wisconsin's 42-14 route of Montreal gave the Warriors their first ever title.

"My voice is still hoarse from the celebration," Moore said.

A remarkable journey
These women, who play simply because they love football, truly believe someday women's football can – and will – become as popular as men's football, or even the NFL, Warriors players said.
 
"In February, we didn't even know if [Wisconsin would] have a team," Berg said.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Berg's story is that before 2009, she had never played a single down of football in her life. Then, she heard two local teams – Wisconsin and the Chicago Force – were holding tryouts. Berg chose to tryout for Wisconsin instead of Chicago, knowing it would be closer for her to drive to practices and games.
 
"I played on the first women's rugby team in the nation at Eastern Illinois University," Berg said. "Then I was told by friends, 'You're built like a linebacker, you should try out for one of those teams.'"

Exposure, the tryout process
Getting the word out about the IWFL will go a long way toward bringing exposure and fans to women's pro football, league officials said.

Berg said that during the tryout process, there was little talk of football – something that surprised her. Just numerous physical tests of endurance, pushups, situps, and assorted agility drills. Most importantly, she wants people to know they shouldn't feel intimidated by the whole process.

"They want athletes," Berg said. "Even if you have no football experience, you can still play in this league. That's a message I'd have for anyone wanting to play women's pro football."
 
Moore, meanwhile, thinks the entire tryout and championship experience marked something special and almost beyond description in her life. Hearing her describe the details with such passion will almost certainly help the IWFL's recruiting process.
 
"I find that this all happened, at my age, kind of crazy, myself," Moore said.
 
Her return to football next season, nearing age 42, is still up in the air.
 
"Those kinds of things, as I have gotten older, I have to evaluate on a season-by-season basis," Moore said laughing. "I think back and can't believe how far we've come, when we almost couldn't field a team – it's remarkable."
 
The IWFL consists of teams in many major cities throughout North America, including Chicago, New York, Boston, Pittsurgh, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles and Canada.
 
The women also hope their rapid success lands them a spot in the league's Tier 1 Division someday, a realistic possibility.
 
"I still can't believe all this happened [to me] in less than a year," Moore said.
 
For more information about the IWFL, including standings and how to try out, log onto the league's Web site at www.iwflsports.com.