Jocelyn Forrest was walking through Logan International Airport in Boston when she saw a mural about the Boston Renegades women’s football team.
Until then, the 26-year-old from Prince George didn’t know it existed, and that got her thinking. Despite having no previous football experience, Forest attended the Renegades’ training camp in January and made the team.
“I reached out to the general manager and said I’ll give it a shot and see and I was pretty nervous, I definitely didn’t think I’d be good enough but it turns out I am,” said Forrest, who made her mark on the Prince George sports scene as a hockey forward with the Northern Cougars U-18 triple-A team.
“I always thought it would be so fun to play football. In hockey I was aggressive and I did get a lot of penalties. It died down, but I just had this urge to be aggressive and hitting’s not allowed in women’s hockey.”
Growing up in Prince George, Forrest excelled in soccer, volleyball and hockey and became one of the top players on the Northern Cougars, helping them win the B.C. provincial championship in 2015, her last year before she went to Vermont to play college hockey at Castleton University.
Now she has that opportunity to throw her body weight around to make tackles in football as part of the as a defensive back for the Renegades, the four-time defending champions of the Women’s Football Alliance.
“What drew me to defence is we are the hitters, we aren’t the victims, but with playing defence, even if the ball doesn’t come to your side you are so integral to every play because if you’re doing your job (covering a receiver or making a block) you’re taking something away,” said Forrest, who also provides special teams coverage.
“A lot of the girls played some college sport and I’m quick and athletic and that definitely helps.”
The five-foot-five, 140-pound Forrest is the only Canadian on the American-dominated team, which also includes one player from Mexico, one from England and two from Finland. Although she’s never played football until this year, Forrest has experience as a pro athlete, having played in a women’s pro hockey league in Dusseldorf, Germany in 2019, the year she graduated with a psychology degree. She moved to Massachusetts with her boyfriend and completed masters studies in applied behaviour analysis and now works as with autistic children and adults.
Since she made the team, Forrest has had a chance to take part in community activities at which young girls have told them it’s their dream to follow their path and become pro football players. She’s hoping the league will continue to evolve and the opportunities will be there for them once they become adults.
“That was so cool to see, for them to actually have someone to look up to and be like, ‘I can do this when I’m older,’” said Forrest. “I don’t think any of us on the team, if we went back to that age, none of us ever thought we’re going to play women’s football."
Based in Revere, Mass., just north of Boston, the Renegades open their six-game season Saturday, April 29 in Boston against the D.C. Divas.
