On a typical summer day, Okiima Pickett of Glen Burnie goes to work for IBM, comes home, helps her 11-year-old son, Zavion, with homework, cooks dinner and then does her own homework for the master's degree she's seeking. Finally, she can head to football practice.
This week, Pickett has taken a break from that routine to play for USA Football's women's national team in the inaugural International Federation of American Football Women's World Championship in Stockholm.
"We're bringing home nothing but gold," Pickett said.
The women are off to a good start. They defeated Austria in dominating fashion, 63-0, in the first round Sunday and topped that with a 72-0 win over Finland on Thursday. On Saturday, they face Canada for the gold medal.
Tarsha Fain of Baltimore was also selected for the national team. Fain is an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Nighthawks of the Independent Women's Football League, whose season runs from early April to late July.
Pickett and Fain, who are opponents during their IWFL games, spent time training in Austin, Texas, with other members of the team for the world title.
"We met each other [recently] for the first time, and it's like we have been a team for years," Fain said. "Playing against [Pickett] and playing with her is completely different. Now, we are the same team, which is pretty awesome."
Pickett and Fain were two of 45 players selected to the national team.
When Pickett is not representing her country in Sweden, she plays running back for the D.C. Divas in the IWFL. The league, now in its 10th season, is a full-tackle summer football league with an eight-game season and daily practice. The IWFL consists of more than 1,800 female athletes across 51 teams.
The IWFL does not pay and is purely for the "love of the game," Fain said. So, when these women aren't practicing, they are working full-time jobs. Fain works from 3:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the Department of Homeland Security so that she can attend daily football practices at 7 p.m.
Pickett is a networks security engineer for IBM and is working toward a master's degree from the University of Maryland, University College. She is also a single mother, but Pickett has dreamed of playing football since she was a child, so she manages to find time for it.
"I wanted to play [football] in high school, but the coach said no, I would get hurt," Pickett said. "I told the coach I wanted to play. I didn't know anything about it; I just knew someone ran the ball. I said that could be me! I'm fast; no one would catch me, anyway."
The football coach at Charlottesville High School in Virginia never let her play.
"That's what really motivates me," Pickett said. "All my life, I have been told I can't do it. That's my pet peeve; I don't like being told, 'I can't.' I was told I can't play football in high school, but now I'm playing for my country."
The national team, which joined Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany and Sweden to compete in the championship, was assembled and managed in partnership with IWFL. Pickett and Fain have high expectations.
"We're out here training and getting ready to go over and compete and bring this thing home," Fain said.
Although Pickett is now playing football on a national level, she hasn't been playing for long, having started with the Divas in 2007.
"Growing up, I was always in the neighborhood playing sports. But it was my first time playing organized football," she said.
Pickett played soccer for Old Dominion in her junior and senior years. She had planned to play soccer in her freshman and sophomore years, too, but couldn't because she was pregnant. Once she was able to play, she managed to balance her schedule as a single mother, a full-time student and a college athlete. Although Pickett loved soccer, she said the football field is where she belongs.
"I felt right at home because I have always been the most aggressive person on the soccer field," Pickett said. "It was a good feeling knowing it was actually legal to run and hit people. In soccer, I was getting yellow cards for being too aggressive."
When football is over, Pickett coaches her son's soccer team and focuses on work and family. But for now, she said, she is living out a childhood dream.
"Oh, my gosh, it's amazing," Pickett said. "As a child, I have always had this dream of walking through the airport with my team. And the other day, the coaches were talking about walking through the airport when we get to Sweden and I was like ... it's a dream come true."
kaitlyn.carr@baltsun.com
2010 IFAF Women's World Championship schedule
Sunday, June 27, 2010
1 p.m. USA 63, Austria 0
6 p.m. Canada 12, Sweden 6
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
1 p.m. Austria 50, Finland 16
6 p.m. Germany 14, Sweden 0
Thursday, July 1, 2010
1 p.m.Canada 20, Germany 12
6 p.m. USA 72, Finland 0
Saturday, July 3, 2010
11 a.m. Fifth Place game
3 p.m. Bronze Medal game
7 p.m. Gold Medal game