Husker Women's Wednesday - London Jenkins

0:00Hey everybody welcome into a Husker women's Wednesday powered by Emeritus. I'm Jessica Cudi and so beyond excited to welcome for the first time ever on this podcast and on this network a Nebraska flag football athlete and it's a good one London Jenkins. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome to Nebraska. Thanks for being here on the podcast. No, thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here in Nebraska. I know you guys have started practice all of the all of the things but how are you liking Lincoln Lincoln? Um I love being here. The environment is crazy. I love the support of the fans. Um I've been going to volleyball games football games. I'm just super excited for our season to get started up so much to get into but let's start with just how practice has gone because you guys started recently. Yes so practice has been amazing. You know the first couple of practices are just getting used to everyone everyone building chemistry. But yeah we're we got the ball rolling and we're super excited to start the season. You guys are practicing a few different places but how has it been getting to

1:00practice inside Memorial Stadium? Um it's crazy. We were able to even have like the crowd chatter going on and being able to learn how it's going to be when we have to have to put in playcaused with a bunch of people around with the big fan base. So we're just getting used to the new support of the vibes. Okay so let's just start when um you get the call because you're junior and so you played college flag football before but when the sour sisters give you a call and say hey Nebraska's starting a flag football team and we want you to come be a part of it. What was that conversation like? Um I was just super excited to first even get the call to have the opportunity to go play division one flag football when the sport has been going on for so many years was just amazing. Um I told the coaches I would love to see the school. I would love to go on a visit and I can't wait to start the season. So then what did you think when you got here and because you're from Florida. So what did you think of of Lincoln Nebraska? Um yes I really thought that I wasn't going to like it. I really thought I was going to be just in a different environment but I I love it here. Um I love the support. I love everything and the resources the people um I haven't

2:06met anyone mean and linking it. Nebraska nice is right. Right. So then what about the conversations of when the five and five starts happening and they start saying hey we're we're going to play a season coming up. We're not going to wait till 2028. What was that like for you guys' athletes? Um we were super excited. We came here thinking most of us were going to lose a year of eligibility. We weren't going to be able to play this year. We were just going to get better and just focus on 2028. When we got the news we were all super excited. We even had the athletic director come into our meeting and just tell us about what we're going to be doing this season and we're just excited. We got it. We get to showcase the game earlier than what we planned for. So the sour sisters some of the best in the game they've won many national titles. What what have they implemented here early on? What have what have been the emphasis the keys that they've put in early on in practices here for this program? I would say confidence playing fast and just winning. Um they want us to be ourselves but they want us to be ourselves but we want to have a winning tradition. We want to be the face of

3:07the of the sport and we want to put out a good representation of flag football. When they started announcing you guys and the athletes that they were bringing in it was again some of the best in the sport. Right. So how has the competition been in practice? Um it's been great. I love competition. I love going against my teammates um but yes every every day we get better. Iron strippers iron. Let's uh just start with your backstory because you you did not always play flag football. Right. So where were your athletic beginnings? My I started off with playing basketball. I've been playing basketball since I was like 60 years old. Played all my life up until 11th grade. In high school my teammates she asked me to play flag football. I told her no at first but I ended up going to the field one day and just falling in love with the sport. So how big was flag football in Florida then? Um it was pretty big. It was bigger than I knew at the time but it wasn't on the level that it is now. Um you could play in high school you could play at some middle schools but being able to play at college was just not a thing at that time. So how'd you play before high school

4:11at all? Um not really. I remember playing in the YMCA with boys. You couldn't even play with girls. Yeah. Wow. So then you played basketball. Why did you end up saying okay I'll try it out. Um just because of a teammate um she's just somebody that I love playing it with and playing against so I was just like let me go try it out. So then what what did you like about it then that you're like okay I might stick with this thing. Um I love the celebrations the way you vibe with your teammates and just it was fun. Basketball was more of like a hard working sport. Flag football is more you're working hard but you're having fun with your teammates why you're doing it. You're catching your sowing you celebrate and it's just fun vibes. So Liz was telling me too that um you know when you get trying to grow the sport that she'll take some of the best basketball players and she could turn them into to great flag football players. Why is that why does it translate from being great at basketball to to being great at flag football? I think just because of the things that we do in basketball like breaking down to get a defender or just shooting a jump shot

5:15learning how to dribble the ball you already have the formations. So when you go in a football field it's not too much different. Okay so then you started playing in high school and then you get an opportunity to play in college. How did that come about and what was that process like for you? Yes so um after my 11th grade year in high school my coach my high school coach decided to call a friend of his that was a college coach but he was it was for Juco so I decided um I had basketball offers at the time it was like I had to choose one of the other and I decided to go with flag football and it was just like the the best decision I ever made. Why why did you decide flag football? I just loved it so much like once I started playing flag football basketball was put to the back burner and you also you play a little bit of everywhere but you're you're a pretty good wide receiver. What do you like about that? Um I love being wide receiver I love being able to break down my defender catch the ball and then run to the end zone of score. I also love being they call me L3 so I love being able to jude people and just have fun. Okay so then what was the

6:19process like then when you get to college and the opportunity start to grow? What's that perspective been like just seeing how big the sport is starting to grow? Okay so yes my freshman year when I got to college I didn't think anything of it I thought maybe I'll play here for two years and then transfer maybe to an AIA school but as we continue to grow we will see more clubs um UCLA different schools picking it up the sport then that's when we seen Nebraska pick it up and say this is officially a sport and that's when I was like okay it's my time. What does that mean to you guys I mean you didn't even know until you were in high school but now that young girls can say hey I can play football in college um it means everything to me um since I started it was never an easy journey it was always figuring things out so now that the youth has the ability to just know that they have a path in this game I just love being able to see it and that's just my biggest thing right now is just building making the path wider for the younger generation so I love seeing it. Okay so then you also have had the opportunities to play for Team USA and potentially maybe you'd be on that

7:22Olympic team for the first time ever which is super exciting. How is that process been and how motivating is that to maybe wear the red, white and blue? Yes the process has been amazing um I grew so much being on the team um being able to support your country and being only 12 players out of the whole entire country to be on the team is just super amazing and it's super motivating um it's not a lot of people who get to say they play for Team USA so I love having the opportunity and even with the Olympics coming in 2028 it makes me grow harder every day. What does fuel you into being one of the best in the country? I would say my support um I have a lot of young girls who text me every day I look up to you you're my inspiration um so I think that brings me a lot of fuel and then also just the losses that I take the losing the losing games that you look like all of the stuff that goes into the game it makes me a better person. When um you find out like do you remember when you hear the announcement that Flagfoot football was going to be added or had you

8:26already been playing had you been playing the sport and you just knew that that was going to be uh an Olympic sport? Um no so when I was playing for Team USA that's when they told us like okay this is now an Olympic sport and we had got the news while being there so that was just super amazing to hear I was with my teammates and yeah we were super excited we were like our hard work is finally paying off and then for it to be in Los Angeles right in our hometown is just crazy so uh what's the process like for that I think people might be interested in that being that again it's a new sport what what goes into making that team? Yes so you can make the team in many different ways um I think is like trials you can go to trials and try out but you have to get invited so you can invite it combines going to like talent IDs that they have anything like that and once you get invited I think they bring 60 people and then they cut down every tryout so you go from 60 to 12 people and you've already been a part of Team USA as I mentioned so what have you learned throughout

9:29that process just again playing at the world level? How what's that competition been like? Oh yes I've learned so much just about the game um just about myself um you have to be mentally strong you're going against the best in the world every single time you have to be the best of the best um you're also being watched by everyone so it's just representing your country the best way you possibly can so I just learned how to be myself and to be mentally strong and to show the world every time what you have I think too one thing you were telling me before we started recording is that um for the team USA team you have to probably play both ways right what goes into that for you to you don't specialize you've got to be able to be good uh playing both offense and defense right so yeah a lot goes into that um versatility is a big thing when it comes to flag football just because how fast the game goes and you never know what could happen so yeah um I I love to be able to play a wide receiver and then go play DB or rusher or anything they want me to play so yeah I

10:29have versatility is definitely a big part of the game how do you keep yourself versatile where you are good at a lot of different things um I would say the time that you spend not on the team so that would be offseason it's a lot of games that you can go to tournaments that you go to and that's when you can play free you don't have a true coach you are able to just play with your friends you could go play a position you're maybe not used to but it gives you extra reps if people follow you on social media or tune in to your social media after watching you have a big social media following how has that grown for you how have you seen that grown for you since playing this for um my social media has definitely went crazy after playing the game I think people gravitate towards my energy and just my vibe and they love how creative I am and even how good I get on the field what what responsibility then do you you you mentioned like young girls reaching out to you because it is new and it's growing to be a role model and to kind of provide that platform I mean what would you put on yourself for that oh yes I put a lot of it on myself um I just want to be the one that

11:35people look up to the young girls look up to um I feel like I was put in this position for a reason a lot of people don't get to say that they were the first to play at a school the first to have a sport so I just love to be able to say that and then also to have the young girls following my lead so I just put a lot on myself to make sure that I'm doing the right things and following the right steps because I know a lot of people are watching you also have a clothing line tell us about that yes so I have L3 I've let it says where I do my compressions and all of my football gear for all the young girls and even boys um I do football gloves I do belts for the flags I do different things that most people wouldn't make because flag football is not a big thing did you find like that because of that when you got into it hey there's a need for this um yes I did actually I will go to tournaments and there weren't many girl clothing compressions or even the flag football gear and also I'm a very creative person so I did like the peeking green like to try to show that you could be rare that's cool okay so then um people want to follow you

12:38I'm sure a lot of people watching this already do but if people do not where do they follow you um you could follow me on all socials at pretty face London okay when you got here what did you know about Nebraska before you got here um I knew about the culture I knew the fans were crazy I knew the environment was gonna be crazy and I just loved everything about it so then what did you learn besides the nicest of people what did you learn once you got here um what have I learned like what what does it mean to you as a woman in a growing sport the support that you've seen from this fan base for women sports um it means everything to me flag football has never been on the stage that is at right now so being able to have the people behind you and the resources behind you it just feels amazing and then people have been playing this sport for years now so I know the women who hasn't got this opportunity are just super excited and I'm just excited to be able to say that I'm doing it and I'm able to help the the world when people are starting to follow the

13:38sport what do they need to know about flag football um I will say you need to know the rules uh-huh it's not the same as the tackle game and we don't play like boys yeah you did go to the the game the season opener right yes I did what do you think of memorial stadium no I loved it I love the energy I love the different chance that you guys have the go big red all of the different things I love everything about it even the red burgers the food was crazy the fans are crazy I loved everything what what about just the facilities and um the training table all the things that are provided for the athletes here how important has that been no that's super important I don't think I ever was this intimate with my body even doing hydration tests go onto the training table and having the best food drinking water and having someone be on top of you or the training um not the training table the um where you go and do sports physical training or different things like that like we have so many resources for the athletes it's just super important okay so then uh

14:39what what what goes into what is the the schedule look like for this team before you kick off the season in in the spring what do you guys need to continue to do to be where you need to be to um again be the kind of team you want to be when you kick off the season right I think right now what's important for us is just building chemistry um that's the biggest thing right now what goes into that um just football team just time um the press the practices that we put in the time that we put in just working with your quarterback the offseason time just building that that relationship so when we go in a field we we can't break Liz is saying too that you guys are planning on doing a bunch of stuff in the community how important is that to just again to make sure that people know what you guys are about and then also maybe bring people into this for yes that's super important because it's not only about the field it's also what you do off the field so yeah it's super important to go back into the community and give back or whatever we decide to do but yeah that's super important just because the Nebraska people support us so we would like to support the community as well hopefully bring some little girls to play some five football right that's the main thing and that support will will be mean a lot to you guys come

15:45when you take the field right right yep super important all right well thank you so much for being here just a joy and I know this will be the first of hopefully many conversations right but uh welcome to Lincoln and looking forward to many big things from you guys thank you again London J. Genseth the Vrasca flag football here with us on a Husker women's Wednesday powered by emeritus emeritus is proud to power this podcast in all Husker women's sports