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Tiffany Matthews: The "Fittest" of Athletes By Jordyn White Renowned scientist Charles Darwin developed a profound theory on how life evolves and certain traits stand the test of time. According to him, the environment naturally selects the characters and characteristics that will make it most viable. Darwin wrote that to describe our earth, but it can essentially be applied to any evolving environment—including women’s football. The female football athlete is a new species that Darwin in his time would have never suspected to evolve. And since women’s football’s “Big Bang” in 2000, this sports “genus” has continued to grow exponentially.
Tiffany started her Divas career as a cornerback in 2004. She had the speed to stay “manned up” on the fastest receivers and the aggression to make and finish key plays in open field. The coaches realized after her rookie year that Tiffany’s athletic prowess was too valuable of an asset to keep in the defensive secondary. She spent her second Diva year at linebacker, closer to the action at the line of scrimmage. Over the years the game continued to evolve. Playbooks grew, the ball “learned to fly” as the passing game became more popular, and teams sprouted up across the country. Suddenly the level of competition had intensified tenfold. Tiffany had excelled at cornerback; she had proven herself at running back; but in 2006 the Divas head coach realized that to stay at the top of their game, the Divas needed someone with Tiffany’s speed, size, and assertiveness on the offensive side of the ball. Without hesitation, Tiffany made the transition, learned the plays, and got right to business. They say they best fighters are those who fully know their enemies tendencies and tactics. Tiffany used everything she learned on defense to hone her skills on offense. She became one of the most feared and most intense running backs in the league.
#34’s football career has come full circle. Older Divas resigned, newer Divas cropped up and began to excel in different positions, and while Tiffany had been and could continue to be a dominating presence on offense, the defense was in need of a leader at linebacker. The coaching staff handed that charge to Tiffany before the 2011 season began, and as per her norm, she took it and ran with it. Tiffany leads the league in sacks with 11 this season, and is second in the league in tackles for loss. Tiffany Matthews is indeed a rare breed. She has adapted and thrived in the constantly changing and increasingly competitive environment of women’s football, and has redefined the meaning of natural selection in the football world.
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Every
sport has an upper echelon of athletes—ones whose performance fills
competitors with trepidation and fills spectators with awe. Now and then,
however, an athlete comes along and performs so well that it actually
makes you stop and wonder if he or she was born to fulfill this very purpose
on the court, the track, or the field—the “fittest”
of athletes, as Darwin would say. DC Divas linebacker #34 Tiffany Matthews
is one of those athletes. In 2004, Tiffany was approached after a flag
football game and invited to attend the Divas’ tackle football tryouts.
The Divas hold three tryouts before every season, to give prospective
rookies an opportunity to improve upon their first set of times and scores
and increase their overall rating. Tiffany went to the first, and when
she returned for the second, a coach actually asked her why she had come
back; she’d placed at the top of every category.
The
number of women’s football players who have been in the league 8
or more years represents only a small fraction of current participants.
As the game changes, the combination of time, injury, age, and circumstance
acts as a sieve and filters out players who then find different niches
to satiate their sports passions. Ultimately, however, the individuals
who are more "fit" have better potential for survival—just
as in nature. "Survival of the fittest" dictates a player’s
longevity and overall success.