Adrienne Smith, Leeann Brzozowski, and Melodie Abrook, three players from the New York Sharks, women’s professional football team, entered the world of celebrity money handouts and were granted the $65,000 that they asked for.

It was the new Ryan Seacrest produced E! reality show, Bank of Hollywood, that pinned them up against “ bankers” Sean Patterson, Vanessa Rousso, Melody Thornton and Candy Spelling. The Sharks requested funding for their training and competing in the first ever International Women’s tackle Football Tournament to be held in Stockholm, Sweden in June, 2010.

How did this all come about? “I received an email in September regarding something referred to as ‘your dream’”, said Adrienne. “My job entails Marketing and got in touch with a few of the players to get their opinion on whether this would be something that would work for the team. With a positive reply, I filled out the application, which I was to bring with me to a casting call in New York City. Both Leanne and Melodie were behind me and available. We showed up dressed in full gear.

I got a callback for round two, in which they videotaped us asking for the money. The producer must have been impressed as I kept receiving calls and paperwork. They requested our appearance in Hollywood.”

Andra Douglas, owner of the New York Sharks, flew out with them, where two of the producers met with her after deciding on what day the shoot would occur.

“After we arrived,” Adrienne continued, “they took us to the studio for a rehearsal. That’s when we learned who the judges were, although we never made contact with them until that actual day of the shoot.”

The contestants are kept separated and the producers provide many rehearsals as Adrienne, the main spokesperson, represented the three. “We waited in the ‘green room’ hearing the live audience ‘cheering’ or ‘booing’. I can’t begin to tell you how nervous we were.”

At first, the audience and judges see three what appear to be male football players. We had our hair totally tucked into our helmets. When we removed them, there were cheers as the audience reacted to our being females.”

While we were making our appeal, there was footage of our team playing in the background. It took three of the four judges to say, ‘yes’!”

What does it mean for the New York Sharks? The competition involves both the Independent Women’s Football League, (www.iwflsports.com) and USA Football (www.usafootball.com) for which the $65,000 will help fund the New York Sharks’ participation in the tournament.

“It doesn’t guarantee that the three of us will play”, said Adrienne, “as there are coaches from both the IWFL and USA Football selecting the qualified players.” Team USA players will be selected from the Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL), which consists of more than 1,800 female athletes on 51 teams across North America. According to the IWFL website, the player roster will be announced by Feb. 1, 2010.

Although the show first aired on January 11th, the show can still be seen on Friday the 15th and Saturday www.eonline.com

01/14/10