Portsmouth’s Brittany Bushman a women's football MVP at 36: 'It's what brings me joy'

PORTSMOUTH — Brittany Bushman is getting better with age.

Now 36, the Portsmouth native recently led the Texas Elite Spartans to their third straight undefeated IX Cup Championship in the Women’s National Football Conference. Bushman, a quarterback, was a unanimous choice as the league’s Most Valuable Player award winner.

Bushman is at Walsh University in Ohio, attending a U.S. national team training camp preparing for the eight-country International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Women’s Tackle World Championships in Vantaa, Finland, from July 28 to Aug. 8.

There are 45 players on the United States squad, and she is one of three quarterbacks. The U.S. plays its first game July 30 against Germany.

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It has been an unusual journey for Bushman, who is at the pinnacle of her game.

“I thought the U.S. team might be my last hurrah,” said Bushman, who was picked for the 2013 and 2017 teams, but did not play. She has seen where the WNFC has gone in its four short years and she likes the direction it is taking. She’s not ready to leave the game just yet.

“A lot of my Texas teammates are coming back,” she said. “My body feels great. I don’t think I would be satisfied with just giving it up right now. I’m not going to have this experience forever. I feel like I’m just hitting my stride. With almost everyone coming back, let’s see how many we can win.”

This past year, the Elite Spartans went 9-0 overall. In the playoffs, they beat the Kansas City Glory in the conference semifinals, 34-14, and Atlanta Phoenix in the conference finals, also by a 34-14 score.

In the IX Cup championship June 29 at Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas, the Elite Spartans steamrolled the Utah Falconz, 48-12.

Bushman was by far the league’s top quarterback. She completed 68 of 120 passes for 1,081 yards, 17 TDs and just three interceptions in six league games. Her QB rating was 116.0 compared to 75.5 for the second-rated QB.

“It’s a testament to that o-line that I have,” she said. “I play with the best receivers in the country. They are very unselfish. When the ball is thrown to them, they make it happen.”

Bushman has been playing women’s tackle football on and off since 2005 – 11 full seasons and parts of two others. She played in the Women’s Football Alliance from 2005 to 2008 with the Mass Mutiny and Boston Militia. In 2009, 2012 and 2013 she was with the Dallas Diamonds, and 2010-11 she played for the Lone Star Mustangs.

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She essentially took five years off from the game after suffering an ACL injury in 2013. She tried out of the U.S. national team in 2017, making it as an alternate. She came back for three games with the Dallas team when they needed a quarterback in 2018. She returned full time with the Elite Spartans in 2019, which was the inaugural year of the WNFC.

Bushman started as girl playing with boys

Bushman grew up in Portsmouth. She started playing youth football in fourth grade in the local Pop Warner league. Initially the boys were uncomfortable playing with a girl, she said, but that soon melted away. “Once they saw that I brought value to the team and I wasn’t just a distraction,” she said.

Bushman played every sport around the neighborhood with the boys. When it came time to sign up for organized football, she wanted to do it right away. Her mom was behind her 100%. “She was my advocate through the entire thing,” Bushman recalled.

Once she got to high school, Bushman said, the powers that be tried to steer her toward field hockey. She wanted to play football. Her mom stood behind her. “If she wants to play football, she’s playing football” was her mom’s mantra.

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Bushman never experienced any direct pushback, but she knew there were conversations happening around her. “Some of the coaches weren’t my biggest fans,” she said. “They made little comments here and there about me not being able to keep up.”

That made Bushman extra sensitive. “I always felt like I could never show any type of emotion,” she said. “Even if I did get hurt or had a little ding here or there. I had to put that aside because I didn’t want them to think, ‘Oh, she’s just a girl.’"

Conversely her male teammates were supportive, she said. “The boys were really great,” Bushman said. “They were like my brothers. They had my back.”

Even today, her high school football teammates remain supportive. They comment on social media and make it clear that they are proud of what she has accomplished in women’s football.

Bushman lettered as a junior and senior on the Portsmouth HS football team. She played quarterback and safety, mostly with the JV team.

She also played four years of varsity girls basketball, later playing that sport when she attended Emmanuel College in Boston. Bushman also played one year of softball and spent three years with the track and field team as a top javelin thrower.

Bushman recalled playing her last football game for Portsmouth. “I was devastated,” she said. “Just because I thought I would never be able to put the pads back on again. It was a really sad time. It was a way to release whatever was going on in my life. I was really disappointed.”

That was the fall of 2003. She graduated in 2004.

Women's tackle football becomes reality

Bushman moved on, attending Emmanuel. Her mother moved to Texas. In 2005, she recalled attending her younger brother’s football game in Texas and throwing the ball around at halftime. A female player from the Dallas Rage was there. The woman filled Bushman in about women’s football and suggested she join the league.

“I was floored,” Bushman said. “I was excited to find out when the season was, when there were tryouts.”

When she returned to Boston, she found a team there — the Mass Mutiny. She played for them for three years as a running back, and her fourth year in 2008 the team combined with the Bay State Warriors to make up the Boston Militia.

After the season and after graduating from Emmanuel, Bushman returned to Texas, playing quarterback for four years on two teams. She was named league MVP in 2012.

In 2013, Bushman made the U.S. national team. Unfortunately during the first game of the WFA season, she partially tore her ACL. She tried unsuccessfully to come back. She wanted to play in the world championships in Finland. She traveled with the team, but the injury prevented her from playing.

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At that point, Bushman stopped playing football. She eventually had surgery in 2014 to repair the ACL, but she had no plans to return to football.

“Women’s football really hadn’t progressed,” she said. “It was still a burden to play. You're paying thousands of dollars for fees. You have to pay for travel and hotel rooms. It was too much. I wasn’t ready to go back.”

At that point, Bushman focused on her teaching and coaching career. Before that, she worked as a substitute teacher and select team basketball coach. “I was pretty content doing that because I was really only focused on playing football,” she said. “There was a whole side of my life I hadn’t really focused on.”

She finished her teaching certification, using that to get a full-time job in education teaching science and coaching girls basketball at Trinity High School in 2014 until 2020, when she returned to New England with her wife, Daniela Ottaiano.

There was a period of adjustment. She was depressed without football in her life, but eventually teaching and coaching helped to bring her life into focus. “It was probably the best thing for me because I don’t think I would have buckled down and focused on that area,” she said.

Football was in her rearview mirror. But in 2018, Jenkins reached out to her to see if she would help the Dallas Rage out when their quarterback was injured. She agreed to help out, playing three games — all wins. “I wasn’t totally invested, but I had a little taste,” she said.

Finding a home with Texas Elite Spartans

But by the end of 2018, Bushman was convinced she wanted to go back to football. There were doubters, but she persevered and when the startling lineup was announced in March for the Elite Spartans, Bushman was the quarterback — and has been ever since.

In 2019, the Elite Spartans won the inaugural IX Cup Championship over the Utah Falconz, 19-14.

There was no season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021 and 2022, the Elite Spartans, with Bushman at QB, won the IX Cup again. She has not lost a game since her return to football in 2018.

The new league drew in Bushman with what she saw as a positive long-term mission to promote women’s tackle football. Her coach and the league’s CEO, Odessa Jenkins, was fed up with the quality of play and the treatment of the women from other leagues.

“She truly believes she can put together a professional product for investors,” Bushman said. “That’s been the mission of the WNFC since its inception in 2019.”

Major sponsors include Adidas, Riddell and Dick’s Sporting Goods. All games are streamed live. That’s a first for women’s football. “Our entire league every Saturday has live games with commentary,” Bushman said.

The downside, of course, is the players are not paid. There are small incentives: free cleats, apparel and cash for player of the week winners.

“We’re trying to move towards that,” she said. “That’s the ultimate goal of the WNFC is to take our league to that level where we are getting paid to play the game.”

Bushman has been living in Boston since 2020, teaching in the Boston Public Schools system. This fall, she will teach science at Brighton High School and is hoping to coach girls basketball.

Teaching in New England and playing football for a Texas team makes for a challenge in the spring for Bushman. Fortunately the team pays for her travel for games and practices.

A normal week for her during the WNFC's spring season is teaching Monday to Friday. She has a bag packed on Friday so that when she is finished with school, she goes home, grabs her bag, goes to the airport and flies into Dallas that night. If there’s a game, she’ll play the game Saturday, celebrate with her teammates that night and then get up at 6 or 7 a.m. to fly home.

If it’s a practice weekend, she’ll stay for Saturday and Sunday practice. She’ll take a quick shower after Sunday’s workout and then fly home.

“Those are long flights, but I look forward to it,” Bushman said. “It’s what brings me joy. I get to see my teammates and put on the pads and make it happen on the field. It makes those long flights and tired Monday mornings all worth it.”

Bushman was nominated for player of the year in 2021, but did not win. “After the 2021 season, I needed to reduce the amount of turnovers,” she said. I had a lot (of turnovers) in the playoffs. That was really frustrating for myself.  I went into the offseason working on my footwork and more on my reads. I’m really making sure that I trust my line.”

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One weakness she had was forcing the ball, particularly on long plays down the field.

“Basically take what the defense gives you, and not be greedy because I do like to throw the long ball,” Bushman said. “All of my interceptions were that. If it’s not there, throw it away or throw it to a spot where no one else can get it.”

In the 2022 playoffs, she threw for seven touchdowns and no interceptions.

Bushman compares her game to the NFL’s Russell Wilson, the long-time Seattle QB who is now with Denver. “I can run and scramble and get out of the pocket if I need to,” she said. “I can also get back in the pocket and deliver.

She’s also matured from her early days. “I’m not as hot-headed as I used to be,” she said. “I used to make a mistake and get really upset. It messed up my game for the rest of the time. I’m able to put things into perspective. I’m able to let mistakes go. I play calm, which is essential to running an offense effectively — especially when we face adversity during games.”

Bushman is looking forward to the world championships. She was genuinely touched by the Portsmouth community, which made donations of $1,200 to help pay for her team fees. “So many Portsmouth people reached out and donated,” she said.

While 36 might be an age to wind one’s career down, Bushman is just getting going. “I feel like taking off those five years gave me an additional five years,” she said. “I didn’t have those five years of contact and wear and tear to my body.”

She pauses for a second, adding: “I said to my teammates the other day, this is kind of like a rebirth. I have a different mindset. I’m taking care of my body more. I have a better outlook. I’m grateful to play the game.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth’s Brittany Bushman: Football champion, U.S. team QB at 36