EP woman pursues football dream

Growing up, Lynn Sosnowski loved playing football with her older brother and his buddies.

“My brother would often go home, and I’d still be out there playing with his friends,” Sosnowski recalls. Her school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, didn’t allow girls to play on the football team, but Sosnowski played on the boys’ soccer and baseball teams. She also ran cross-country and did track and field throughout high school and college. 

Fast-forward to 2024 and Sosnowski is now playing for the Minnesota Vixen, a women’s tackle football team based out of the Twin Cities. 

This opportunity arose last summer when Sosnowksi and a friend came across the Vixen booth at the Minnesota State Fair. As she passed the booth, she remarked to her friend how she had wanted to play football as a kid. A couple of the Vixen players overheard her and approached her about trying out. 

Sosnowski, an Eden Prairie resident who has run over 20 marathons and several ultra races, competed in four Ironman triathlons, and been a track and cross-country coach at Edina High School for 28 years, has continued to stay physically active. But, at 55 years old, she figured that she was too old to play on a football team with women decades younger than herself. 

The Vixen players encouraged her to at least get some information and come for the first tryout. She didn’t seriously consider trying out until the runners she coaches urged her to do so.

“I’m always telling my runners that they can do whatever they set their mind to, and I want to be a model for them of that growth mindset,” remarked Sosnowski.

One of her favorite quotes, which she repeats to her runners, is from the book “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein: “That which you manifest is before you.” So, with a mix of trepidation and excitement, Sosnowski signed up for tryouts. 

The Vixen scheduled three tryout sessions during the fall, all run like a college combine, with various drills and physical exercises. The team explained that most players who would be invited to the team would not be contacted until after the third tryout. Sosnowski said that she felt exhausted and battered after the first tryout. 

When she received an email before the second tryout inviting her to join the team, she was surprised. “I was dumbfounded and a little panicked. I thought, ‘Oh no, what have I done?!’” But with a sense of “you only live once,” she decided to do it.

“Lynn has always been an inspiration to me,” said Sophia Braun, one of Sosnowki’s runners at Edina High School. “I look up to her so much in her drive and grit. … I am so excited that she chose to try out and (it) was so awesome that she even got on. I cannot wait to come watch her play.”

Learning strategies, coaching techniques from the semiprofessional team

According to the Minnesota Vixen website, the team was established in 1999 and is the longest continuously operating women’s tackle football team in the nation. The team practices three times a week at the Savage Dome during the winter and then at North High School in St. Paul in the spring and summer.

Sosnowski says that she has learned a lot during practices, not only about various strategies and plays, but also coaching techniques. “I’m learning things I’ll incorporate into my coaching at Edina,” she said.

Although the Vixen is a semiprofessional team, players and coaches are not paid. In fact, it can cost players thousands of dollars to cover the team/facility fees, equipment, and travel expenses for when they play out of town. Players offset these expenses through donations from family and friends, along with sponsorships they have to pursue on their own. Sosnowski is being sponsored this season by Hammer Defense, Health Source Chanhassen, Twin Cities Orthopedics, and Scheels in Eden Prairie.

“Lynn can do anything she sets her mind on doing, and with style,” said longtime friend and coworker Beth Kryzer. “She has self-discipline and dedication and is willing to encourage others to be the best that they can be.” 

Sosnowski’s decision to play for the Vixen offers a reminder that sometimes it’s not too late to pursue your dreams.

The Vixen will play their first home game on Saturday, May 4, at 6 p.m., against the St. Louis Slam, at Edina Kuhlman Stadium. More information is available at mnvixen.com.

Editor’s Note: Author Renee Rushdy is an individual supporter of Sosnowski’s Vixen expenses through the Adopt-a-Vixen program.