Her day starts at 5:45 a.m., and she works until about 6 p.m. After that, it’s off to Bedford — two, three and sometimes four times a week — for her newfound second job.

And it’s not like her regular job is stress-free, working in the cardiac noninvasive lab at MethodistCharltonHospital.

So, Tracie Williams, when do you get some time for yourself?

“Lately we’ve been off Sundays,” said the DeSoto resident. “But earlier in the season, we had to practice sometimes.”

Football practice, that is. Williams is a member of the Dallas Diamonds, a women’s professional football team that has racked up quite a winning tradition in its short existence.

“The whole thing is new to me,” said the 38-year-old DeSoto resident and strong safety, who had never played organized football before.

She had played in the yard with family and friends, that’s the extent of her experience.

“When I was growing up, there was no place for women to play football,” she said. “I knew about the game from watching TV, but I didn’t know about a lot of the rules or the aspects of the game.”

Williams, who lifts weights and has always kept herself in good shape, learned about the Diamonds from her friend Jermaine Jones, a player for the Dallas Desperados of the Arena Football League who also played briefly for the Cowboys and the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.

“When I was talking to Jermaine about it, the season hadn’t started yet, and I kept looking at the Web site for information about when tryouts were,” Williams said. “Then they sprung them on us early because of the new league.”

The Diamonds have just moved into the Independent Women’s League, a higher level of competition generally, although you’d never know it by looking at the Diamonds’ 2-0 record that includes final scores of 58-0 and 91-0.

“We were kind of surprised by that,” Williams said. “We were like, ‘These are basketball scores.’”

At tryouts, coaches evaluated some players and told them where to line up based on a few drills, or if players already knew what positions suited them best, they were told to line up there.

Williams wound up a part of the defensive backfield, where she comes off the bench. She also plays on kickoffs and punt returns.

“We’ve been doing that a lot,” she said. “That’s a lot of running.”

Williams has one interception so far, grabbed in the 91-0 blasting of the New Mexico Menace on the road.

“Just making the team at my age was a very exciting thing,” said the former basketball, volleyball and track standout for PaloDuroHigh School in Amarillo. She received her degree from San DiegoStateUniversity.

At MethodistCharltonHospital, Williams is part of a team that test patients’ heart strength through stress tests, EKGs and other cardio tests.

She normally works out in the morning before work. Most days, after her shift at Methodist in Dallas is over, she drives to Bedford’s Pennington Field, where the Diamonds practice and play their home games.

When she got a call from Diamonds Coach Todd Hughes, her Methodist co-workers surrounded her while she was on the phone, eager to find out if she had made the cut.

Her 15-year-old son, Desmond Colbert, a sophomore at DeSotoHigh School, and her boyfriend, Kevin King, were equally encouraging.

“They’ve been encouraging from the very beginning,” Williams said.

Williams has been surprised by the game’s intensity but says tackling has come naturally to her.

“I’ve always been in shape and taken care of myself,” she said.

One of the greatest benefits to her newfound interest is meeting women from varied backgrounds and interests, she said.

“We’ve got teachers and detectives and women who come from all sorts of backgrounds,” she said. “It’s very relaxing and very interesting.”