Name: Crystal White
Nickname: Chris, Smurf, Scooby
Position: Running Back/ Strong Safety
Contact for Media Inquiry
Height: 5’ 1”
Weight: 133.7lbs
Age: 30
Birthday: 12/26/1987
Birthplace: Louisville, KY
College: Kentucky State University & Spalding University
Experience: 7 years
High School: Moore Traditional High School c/o 2006
Occupation: Athletic Training/ 6 years
Favorite Sports Teams: Not big on professional sports but the Seattle Seahawks (only b/c of Richard Sherman) and University of Kentucky basketball and football
Hobbies: Cooking, drawing, playing basketball
Passions: Football and Athletic Training (that’s pretty much all I know), coaching
College Sports: Basketball, football, soccer, volleyball
Other Sports played: flag football, basketball
How/why you got into football: I began playing football after I graduated from undergrad and moved back to Louisville. I started off playing flag football for a local women’s league and one day Thelma Banks and Tierra Payne showed up to our championship game recruiting for tackle football and I decided to give it a try. Why? I have always been a “tom-boy” growing up and was was closer in age 
and grade to my younger brother than I was my older sister. So everything he did, I did: climb trees, play football, basketball, baseball with the neighborhood kids, hike through the woods, etc. I also always grew up with the mindset that whatever a male could do, a female could do also if they just put their mind to it. My very first tryout with Derby City, I was so nervous that I was actually about to leave until my cousin showed up and because I didn’t want to let him down, I got back out of the car and went through with tryouts. Turns out it was probably one of the best decisions I could have made. So shout out to my cousin Byron for unknowingly pushing me to pursue football (lol).
Family: Mother, younger brother, older sister, 3 nephews, 3 nieces Pets: 1 dog (Dolla)
TWO TRUTHS & A LIE:
— I have a Master of Science Degree in Athletic Training
— I like being 5 foot 1
— Winter is my least favorite season.
In Her Own Words:
Where to begin? My entire life has revolved around a sport of some sorts. When I was younger, I can remember going to summer camps and all I wanted to do was be outside in the grass (even though I was allergic) or in the pool. I cannot think of a time where a sport didn’t play a major role in my life. I started off with karate and I fell in love with the physicality of it — the jumps, the kicks, the punches — and I enjoyed every bit of it, especially winning two 1st place trophies in my first ever karate match.
But basketball was where my heart was. I would watch the WNBA in hopes of one day making it to the professional level, I played basketball throughout elementary all the way up until my senior year in high school.
My mother was a single mother, raising 3 kids on her own. We all played sports and participated in after school activities and she had to work, multiple jobs at times, to make sure we had that luxury. Many games she had to sacrifice not being in the stands to cheer us [my brother, sister, and I] on but we understood the “whys.”
Fast forward to college, I tried out for the basketball team and was told by the head coach, that because she did not see any “leadership qualities” in me, I was not the perfect fit for the team that year and that I should try out the following year. Being only 19 years old and knowing nothing but basketball, to be told that “you aren’t good enough” really took a toll on my athletic spirit and I began to think that I would never play organized basketball again. After graduation, I worked warehouse jobs and that’s it!
I could feel myself gaining weight and becoming unhealthy and that’s when I found Ladies of the Gridiron (LOTG ) flag football league. Before that, I had never played flag football in my life. I didn’t even think about touching a football because in my mind that was “a man’s sport.” Needless to say, I fell in love all over again and recovered my athletic spirit.
Playing tackle football, I can honestly say, has revealed a strong competitive side of me that I didn’t know I had. I was the shy athlete, I was the athlete that was always picked last because I was girl playing with boys and I wasn’t strong enough or fast enough, I couldn’t jump higher than them (boys). I was the kid that never felt good enough because there was always someone better than me on the team and instead of having a coach or a parent to push me to DO better and BE better – so I would just fade to the background.
I am a better athlete and a better student of the game because of football, I am a better individual because of football. I have nephews who look up to me because I play football and, so for them, I am a better aunt. I believe in myself, I believe in my abilities as an athlete and that is what I want, better yet, I need other young girls to know and feel and see the same things in themselves. There is NOTHING that a young, gifted, determined, and mentally strong young girl cannot achieve, on OR off the field and if they do not have that parent, teammate, or coach to push them…then they should look to the WFA where women from all walks of life who ARE dominating a “man’s sport!”
