WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) – The 4th Annual Mike London Women’s Football Clinic is this weekend at the Laycock Center and Zable Stadium.
The camp is for women 18 and up. Registration starts at noon on July, 21. The clinic is from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 100 Gooch Drive in Williamsburg.
Mike London, the William & Mary Football head coach is a Virginia native, attending Tabb High School for three years then graduating from Bethel High School before attending the University of Richmond.
“This is home. It’s a part of who I am,” said London. “I’m from a family that was involved with athletics, my whole life. My dad was in the military. He passed away last March. We lived all over Germany, Africa, Hawaii, California and on the air bases. He was my coach, my sister was a cheerleader and my mom was a teen mom.”
Over the years, London has hosted several women’s football clinics.
“I’ve been in college athletics now for over 30 years. Four times as a head coach, here [at W&M], University of Richmond, University of Virginia, and Howard University.”
Two of his four daughters have followed in his footsteps and are heavily involved in the athletics. Ticynn London, is the head athletic trainer at Heritage High School in Newport News.
Kristen London, most recently played with the Houston Mambas Women’s National Football team.
“I have a picture when Kristen was playing little league football with pads on that were bigger than her face and her neck,” said London. “I have a picture of Ticynn on the sidelines, when I was at Howard. It’s fond memories!”
London proudly proclaims “I’m a girl dad!”
He lights up talking about his Kristen’s successful professional career as with the Women’s National Football Conference.
“My daughter Kristen was playing basketball at UVA back in the day when Debbie Ryan was the head basketball coach. She went overseas, played a couple of years there,” said London. “The call or the yearning to play professional women’s tackle football was what she wanted to do and as a dad … I’m going to support that! She played with a team in Atlanta, played for a team in Denver last year and just finished up with the Houston Mambas this year!”
Kristen earned a world champion title alongside her teammate, Quineshia ‘Hollywood’ Leonard.
“My daughter wanted to come back, along with Hollywood to say, ‘let’s start something that we can be proud of in this area,'” said London .
National Women’s football champion to host girls football camp at NSU
“We started talking about continuing the women’s clinics that I’ve had every place that I’ve been as a head coach,” explained London. “It’s been popular. It is well attended. The intention is that … there are women in athletics that want to play the game, that want to coach the game, that want to be owners, that could do brand and marketing.”
London is grateful to be able to extend his platform of coaching and teaching football to women or any person that wants to learn.
“We’re going to try to expose them to skills, schemes, techniques, why they call particular penalties and things like that,” said London. “We’ll talk about training in terms of how do you take care of your body, mental health, wellness, and the sports nutrition part of it.”
The camp will not allow tackle but will go over the fundamentals of the sport.
“It’s teaching, it’s watching film, it’s going out on the field and mimicking the things that are going to help them be successful at whatever level that they play. The fundamentals of catching a ball, holding a ball, things like that, they’re all the same,” said London. “You’re going to try on gear. We’re going to run out on the field and we’re going to do actual drills and techniques that are taught not only in the college level, but at the NFL level as well, because women’s athletics obviously is growing!”
Several speakers will share insight on athletic leadership:
- William & Mary President Katherine Rowe
- William & Mary Executive Associate Athletics Director for internal operations and Senior Woman Administrator Karai Lockley
- Reinhardt University Head Women’s Flag Football Coach and Owner of Flag Football Training Academy Toni Fuller
- USA Women’s Tackle Football Gold Medalist, Quineshia ‘Hollywood’ Leonard
- USA Women’s Tackle Football Gold Medalist, Kristen London
“I want to give respect to those who can then share with other women about their journeys, about the processes and then use the facilities here to have fun doing it,” said London.
As women’s tackle football expands, London is also excited to see what is in store for the 2028 Olympics. Officials announced flag football is LA28 games.
“What’s happening now is that the sport, as it grows,” said London. “Another sport that’s growing is women’s flag football. High school girls are playing it in colleges, they’re playing it. It’s opportunities for women to get involved.”
Sign up or learn more about Mike London Football Camps here.