By Wynn McDonald
As soon as Cynthia Lally wakes up in the morning, she is working. From the time she sips her daily coffee—“I’m kind of addicted,” she admits—until she comes back home at night, she is caught up in a stream of duties, everything from managing budgeting and payroll to putting up volleyball nets. Her responsibilities as assistant director of campus recreation include maintaining the club, intramural and recreational sports for an entire university.
No, the guru of Bellarmine campus recreation doesn’t get many days off, but when she does, she spends them playing football.
Since the fall of 2018, Lally has been moonlighting as a defensive specialist for the Derby City Dynamite, Kentucky’s only full-contact female football team, which competes with more than 60 squads nationwide in the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA). It’s group of tough-minded, rough-and-tumble women whose competitive spirit is matched only by their passion and commitment to playing the game they love—and Lally is no exception.
“All of us have full time jobs—one or more,” says Lally, who at 29 is one of the youngest players on the team. “Most of the team has kids, and some even have grandkids, so we do have a lot on our plate.”
Her husband Nick, who is currently pursuing a degree in criminal justice at Bellarmine after a seven-year Army deployment, attested to the rigors of her schedule.
Cynthia and Nick Lally met in 2012 and have been together ever since.
“It’s kind of amazing,” he says. “She’ll be gone at work 10 hours, then go to the gym, go to practice, come home and immediately pass out, then the next day it’s like go, go, go.”
According to the Dynamite’s website, its mission statement is “changing the female stereotype, one snap at a time.” It’s a lofty goal, especially in a sport that has traditionally been blanketed with the most masculine of ideals in American society. But Cynthia Lally has never been one to back down from a challenge.
Growing up in central New Jersey, Lally played any sport she could—and in a neighborhood full of boys, it was football more often than not. She also loved soccer and basketball but had to give up the former when an on-field collapse at the age of 13 led to the discovery of a heart condition that would force her to slow things down.
“That was probably the worst moment: knowing that sometimes it’s not okay to go all out,” she says.
She had to give up football, too, when she got to high school, at the behest of her parents, who weren’t willing to challenge those societal barriers just yet. She had no choice but to dismiss it as a pipe dream.
Lally credits these moments, though bitter memories, for helping her re-focus her life plans.
“Before then, I had thought that I would go to college to be an athlete,” she says. “Realizing that [with] the rigors of being a student-athlete, that I probably wouldn’t be able to do it because of that, was a little hard. But it did make me work harder in school because I knew that I wanted to get into a good college, and if athletics wasn’t my route, then I guess academics had to be.”
This mentality carried her through college, where she stayed involved with sports at the intramural and club levels while earning a degree in public relations. During her freshman year, Lally organized a club basketball team at her school and won a championship.
“I actually took that trophy from the college,” she remembers with a laugh. “I wasn’t supposed to, but I was just so excited. I was like, this is my team, my club that I made, and we won, and so I’m gonna take this trophy!”
Ultimately, her competitive nature drew her back to the sport of football. After earning her master’s in sports leadership from Northeastern University, she moved to Louisville and began working at Bellarmine. She joined a traveling rugby team, and at one practice, a teammate suggested she try out for the women’s tackle squad, the Dynamite.
“It just boggled my mind, but I was super super excited,” says Lally. “I was finally able to live the dream that I’d had since I was a little girl.”
In the past two years, Lally has found her niche both on and off the field. At Bellarmine, she has reinvigorated the club and intramural programs, increasing participation across the board and building positive relationships with her student workers and club reps.
“There’s a different vibe with her here,” says Brad Washle, a 2019 graduate who spent several years working at the SuRF as club basketball president and now serves as Lally’s intern. “She always gives everybody the choice; she doesn’t force stuff on us. She just enjoys watching us grow and learn.”
Junior Jami Bryant, co-founder of the club softball team on campus, expressed similar appreciation.
“She never stops,” says Bryant. “She’s always working, and she’s passionate about what she does… it definitely inspires me not just as an athlete but as a person.”
Compared to her day job, the football gig doesn’t look like much: none of the players are paid, injuries are commonplace, and being on the team means paying for her own equipment as well as participating in regular team fundraisers and service events. Between three-a-week practices, training, and lugging equipment to and from the field, Lally’s free time during the season is nonexistent.
So why does she do it?
“That whistle blows, the ball gets hiked, and I just feel it. I don’t even know if I could figure out the words to describe it,” she says, pausing to collect her thoughts. “It feels powerful, it feels invigorating, it just makes everything else worth it. That one hour that we’re on the field, running around… that’s really what motivates me to do this.”
Lally (center, wearing headband) and her teammates played a league game last year at Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans.
Beyond the adrenaline rush, there’s also a strong sense of kinship that bonds the players—according to Nick, who watches his wife from the stands every time they play at nearby Holy Cross High School.
“It’s that sense of community where she doesn’t want to let down her teammates,” he says. “I’m not sure what drives her more, the competitiveness or her drive to not let down her team.”
Standing next to some of her imposing DCD teammates, Lally hardly stands out physically. But after one conversation with her, it becomes clear that she belongs on the field. She puts in the work, plain and simple.
“If I can have better football knowledge than the girl across from me—whether she’s bigger, or stronger, or better at football than me—then somehow, I’m gonna be able to beat her,” she says, determination exuding from her face. “That’s my goal.”
It’s the same passion that drives her to succeed in life, and per her husband, it also makes her a formidable opponent in Dungeons & Dragons—a favorite pastime for the couple on the rare occasion that they do find some time off.
“If I enjoy something, I’m going to do it,” says Lally, in the confident tone of someone who knows what they want. “If you’re not happy with yourself, then you can’t be happy with anything else.”