Even though baseball season is right around the corner, you can always find action on the gridiron in Pittsburgh.

Beginning in April, the Pittsburgh Passion return for another season of full-contact, professional women's football and Woodland area native Michelle Wilkerson will be holding down the defensive secondary for the third season.

"Football is not our job, it's our passion," said Wilkerson, which sums up her feelings about the experience so far.

Many of the Passion players join the team with little to no organized football experience. Wilkerson is no different.

"I was never allowed to play football at a young age, so I had to become a cheerleader to get on the field," she said.

"I grew up in a football family. We ate and drank the Steelers. Both of my older brothers played for the Swissvale Flashes in high school."

Not having football experience didn't stop this 1988 Woodland Hills graduate. Wilkerson hit the field during her first season at free safety and cornerback and led the team with 70 tackles.

She has also played strong safety and said it's definitely her favorite.

"I feel that at this position, you need to have the athleticism and speed to cover large areas of the field as well as the power and agility to cover the run game."

Defense wasn't first on Wilkerson's mind though. She tried out as a wide receiver and actually earned the nickname "Plex" during that time.

"Being tall, African American, and trying out for receiver, my fellow Passion veteran Felicia Rankin called me Plaxico Burress and that was all she wrote," said Wilkerson.

While she wasn't looking to be part of a football team, Wilkerson stumbled upon the Passion while playing softball.

She was at a tournament and one of the teams she always looked forward to playing didn't show. She was then told it was because several of their key players were playing women's football.

"That night, I went to the Passion website and went to tryouts a week later," she said. "I made it through the first tryout and was invited back to the remaining practices and was eventually told I was an official member of the Pittsburgh Passion."

Since the team's inception in 2002, more than 200 women have attended tryouts for the Passion. The Passion carries an active roster of 55 women with a practice squad.

Wilkerson is certainly no stranger to athletics. In high school, she was involved with softball, basketball, cheerleading and track and field.

She was also a principle ballerina with the Pittsburgh Renaissance Youth Ballet.

The Passion play their home games at Cupples Stadium on the South Side. Wilkerson said she has seen fan support increase over the last few years.

"We are now getting a mixed fan base. More and more people in the Pittsburgh area are finally learning more about the Pittsburgh Passion," she said.

The Passion compete in the National Women's Football Assoc- iation (NWFA), which has 36 teams. While they are a professional sport, Passion players also have day jobs and have to work their football schedule around their professional and personal lives.

"Passion players are many things," said Wilkerson. "We are lawyers, nurses, teachers, accountants, maintenance workers, auto mechanics and so on."

In Wilkerson's case, she is a surgical technologist with the Ear and Eye Institute. The job is stressful she said, but then pile three nights of practices on top of that, plus Saturday games and motherhood, and things can get pretty hectic.

"I have a wonderful support group within my family as well as at my job. My kids are my biggest fans," she said.

"They sacrifice a lot of time with me but are always there to cheer me on to victory as well as get mom some ice for her bruises."

Wilkerson has definitely passed along her athleticism to her three children.

Ceree, a senior at Woodland Hills, is a cheerleader and a member of student council, while 16-year-old Micah plays basketball and rugby at Woodland Hills.

Iman is involved with track and basketball at West Junior High.

The Passion are more than football players, though, and Wilkerson feels the entire team can be a role model for young women in Pitts- burgh and women in general.

"I think we show that we as women are not limited by any means and you really can be anything you want to be," she said. "We don't play football for a fat paycheck. Instead we play because we love to and we can."