Women’s History Month: Philadelphia Passion’s Angela Perfetto, A Diamond in the Rough

Added by Joe Clewell on March 19, 2013.

Everyday this month, Double G Sports will be featuring interviews from prominent women in the sports industry as our way of celebrating Women’s History Month. This project is in its 2^nd year.  Today we feature Angela Perfetto of the Philadelphia Passion of the Lingerie Football League.

If you watch her on the playing field you would see a fierce competitor, someone who leaves it all out on the field for her team and a tackling machine. She is the Middle Linebacker of the Philadelphia Passion of the Lingerie Football League, but Angela Perfetto is more than just a football player.

The Royersford, PA native, described herself as the typical tomboy growing up. Thanks to her dad she was the only girl playing in an all boys baseball league. Angela said all the boys would point in disbelief that there was a girl playing, never mind the fact that she was better than some of them. In High School, Angela’s love of sports continued as she ran track and was also a cheerleader. Both of Angela’s parents were athletic and they taught her to always stay in shape, and about what real dedication is, by working two jobs but always being supportive of Angela and her brother, which is why as Angela told me her parents had the most influence on her life.

Angela is now a hair stylist by day and a football player by night. Her nights consist of mostly practice and training, getting ready for the upcoming season which starts on June 8^th. When I asked Angela about her social life, she explained that dating is tough because of the busy schedule and that guys like girls that play football, but they don’t like it when it’s their girlfriend. A lot of guys like to keep to themselves, and that is not easy for the LFL player who practices and trains three nights a week and works as a hair stylist every day.

Perfetto eyeing up a ball carrier.

Don’t be fooled by the title of Lingerie Football player. When asked about the difficulty of being taken seriously, Angela said it is difficult to be taken seriously because people see attractive women playing in spandex bikini’s. But, every one of these women loves to play football. They wear shoulder pads and helmets, and they tackle, it’s not rough touch or flag football it is full contact real football. It became very clear that they play real football when in the ECF this past season, teammate Marirose Roach, the team’s running back and as Angela called her the team’s motivator and the backbone of the team, sustained a serious injury fracturing her C-1 vertebrae. The entire team spent that night at a Las Vegas hospital being there for their teammate, showing the bond and closeness this team shares. The team would play in their second straight LFL bowl, losing for the 2^nd straight year, a factor that gives this team even more motivation this season.

The Passion have lost a few key players this season, and as Angela put it, the team is not getting the credit they deserve. This team does not go out and do a lot of talking, they are a very modest team, but they will show what they are made of on the field. It’s not a good feeling for the team to be overlooked when they have played in back-to-back LFL championship games, but that is the fuel the team is using to stay motivated and to keep pushing themselves to be better, a quality that Angela not only finds inside of herself but throughout the entire Passion lineup.

On the outside you might see an attractive woman, who styles hair and loves to watch sports and loves her family, but when she puts on those pads and that helmet she is one of the toughest players on the field, with a will to be the best at what she does and a great determination to win. Don’t tell Angela that football is just for the boys.

Angela pointing out a play on defense.