I'm Just Saying: Hampshire grad and Legends Football League's Jamie Barwick

After playing basketball and running track in high school and basketball at Aurora University, 2001 Hampshire graduate Jamie Barwick was looking for a competitive outlet when she heard about the all-female Legends Football League. Since joining the team, she has won two championships with the Chicago Bliss. Last season, as the Bliss made a run for their third straight title, cameras followed the team — on and off the field — for the docu-series “Pretty. Strong.” The show is on at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays on Oxygen. 

A friend of mine had suggested football to me, halfway being funny I think. It caught my attention, but I had never heard of it. Honestly, I had initially tried out just as a personal challenge. Once I was done with done with college basketball, when you’re an athlete, it’s kind of like, now what? I wasn’t done. Working out is one thing. But there was no competitive outlet for me. I was like, I can do this, I really just did it as a personal challenge to see if I could make it. Then I ended up loving it.

You’re going to see a little bit of the football. But the show is really based around our lives individually and what we do on a daily basis in terms of our careers. For me, I’m a mom. Then it’s football. We’re all very different. And we all face different challenges. Then when we get to the field, it’s like, how does this come together and how do you tune out the rest of your life?

It’s a challenge to balance being a mother and playing football, especially now that my son is 9. When I started, my son was at an age where he wasn’t in sports. Now he’s getting into sports and I’ve got to spread myself thinner.

The cameras were with us for pretty much everything. What they’ll show, I’m not sure. They would come to practice. They’d follow us to games. They went to Seattle. They went to Atlanta. Omaha. And they were also in our homes, so they saw a little bit of everything.

When people ask, what do you love most about football, first and foremost it’s the sisterhood. When you have that growing up, playing sports does so much for people mentally, physically and emotionally. That’s a lot of what I missed from college. I could still call some of those girls and they’d be there to help, whether it be a phone call or whatever it is. You’ll forever have those friendships. I missed a lot of that. Being a part of football, that was the best part. Then the success on top of it (winning two championships), made it even better. Then to be part of the show, it was a lot of work and it was a ton of fun. But it truly was a blessing. It’s really cool for my son. That’s something I’ll be able to show him down the road.

We have a lot of misrepresentation. There’s a lot of details about the league that people just don’t know. I think people will be surprised to see we have jobs. They just assume that because NFL players get paid that we must. It’s definitely not true. People have a lot of questions and I think those questions will be answered when they watch this.

I also hope that it encourages the younger audience. I have a niece who is 13. I’m obviously a role model to her. But to be able to reach a huge audience of young females, is exciting. It’s not even about football. It’s just about doing what makes you happy. I think that’s extremely powerful.