About the Author
My name is Michelle, and I love football.
I’ve always been the football girl to my friends and family. In the following paragraphs I share a handful of stories from women who like me, love football.
In the following paragraphs, I share a handful of stories from women who, like me, love football. Every woman I interviewed is incredible in their ways, and it was a pleasure learning from each of them. I tried to share the impact meeting these women has had on me in the following story.
Connie
Connie Carberg was not qualified for the job the New York Jets hired her for in 1976 –a secretary. Back then, most women looking for a career chose either secretary school or college. Carberg, however, had gone to Ohio State to learn football from the legendary Woody Hayes. She says she didn’t know what to do when the Jets hired her as a secretary.
Fortunately, Carberg was soon promoted to a job for which she was qualified - a football scout, the first female to evaluate talent for an NFL team.
Lovingly nicknamed “The Girl Scout,” Carberg broke a barrier between women and the sport of football. She did this just four years after Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment.
I first met Connie in the Spring of 2019. She came to a USC communications class. That day, I happened to walk by a flyer advertising her speech. At the time, I knew I wanted to work for a football team, but I had never thought about scouting.
I sat in the front row of the auditorium she spoke in, and after hearing her speak, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.
Connie remains a mentor to me and something she often says when I am stressed about the future, "if it's meant to be, it'll happen, and if it doesn't, that just means it wasn't part of your plan.”
Although I’m not very religious, I find a lot of comfort in this idea. I don’t know where I would be today if I hadn’t heard Connie speak, but I know it was a part of my plan.
Connie has so much wisdom that I do my best to soak up. I will share a few of my favorite quotes from her about what it's like working in football.
1. Know as much as you can. But don't be afraid to say you don't know either
2. Be open with everyone and kind to everybody because you never know what the next step is or where you're going to be; it’s a very small world.
3. One week, you’re a hero, and one week you're a bum, and it happens fast.
Carberg’s employment by the Jets remained an anomaly in the football world for decades. While Carberg broke many barriers for women wanting to be involved with sports, the floodgates had not yet opened up.
Carberg’s career is undoubtedly a success. Her most notable scouting success was Mark Gastineau. Gastineau was a little-known college senior before Connie invited him to the Senior Bowl, a game for college seniors trying to get noticed before the NFL Draft. The Jets ended up drafting him.
He retired as the NFL’s all-time leader in sacks.
Carberg’s employment by the Jets remained an anomaly in the football world for decades. While Carberg broke many barriers for women wanting to be involved with sports, the flood-gates had not yet opened up.
In 2015, there were signs of change. The Arizona Cardinals hired Jen Welter as the first female coach in the league. She was hired by Bruce Arians, one of the biggest supporters of women entering the football landscape.
Today over 140 women are working in the NFL on the "football side" of things, meaning coaching, scouting, operations, video, player engagement, analytics, and much more, according to team websites.
I was fifteen when the Cardinals hired Jen Welter. Her hiring immediately impacted my life and the lives of other females who love football. I remember coming home from school, and my dad was grinning ear to ear. There was only one topic of discussion for the rest of the day: Jen Welter. He thought I could be a coach too. I now saw opportunity where before, there was none.
I went to an all-girls school, so we didn't have a football team, but I did have passion and a love for the game. Immediately after Welter was hired, I reached out to my brother's high school football coach, asking if there was any role for me on the team. I wanted to help manage, just like my brother. I knew the responsibilities as well as he did. Instead, the coach suggested I try the athletic training department.
I was hurt but not dissuaded from my love of football.
Venessa
Today, we are seeing an explosion of women working in football. Much of that is due to the “Women in Football Careers Forum” established by Sam Rapoport in 2017. Rapoport's impact on women's inclusion in the NFL cannot be overstated.
Rapoport currently has the title of Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The program she spearheaded focuses mainly on women who work at the collegiate or high school level of football and want to have an opportunity in the NFL.
As Rapoport has taken on more responsibilities within the NFL, she has handed over many of the Women in Football Forum duties over to Venessa Hutchinson. Hutchinson started as a recruiting assistant at Boston College and held a position with the Browns before taking a job with the NFL in the Football Development department.
Hutchinson worked very closely with Rapoport to establish the Women in Football Forum as a sustainable pipeline for women to gain opportunities to work in the NFL.
"There just seemed to be no clear pathway to send these women if you aspire to a job in the league," Hutchinson said. "The goal was to come up with a forum where women could be educated on best practices, where they could meet industry professionals, exchange contact information, and create some way, shape or form where they would have a shot to do what they wanted."
When talking with participants of the forum about their experiences, Hutchinson found out that for many women, especially those working at smaller schools, this was their first opportunity to talk to other women in football.
“When you participate in the forum, you get introduced to 39 other women that also work in the collegiate space,” Hutchinson said. “All of a sudden, you have access to all these people who are going through the same things you're going through that you can lean on.”
The forum has created a network of women who share common interests and goals. While the number of women wanting to work in football is growing every day, it is still a heavily male-dominated field.
Its impact cannot be overstated. Only five years since its inception, 420 women have been a part of the forum. Of the six current full-time female coaches in the NFL, four of them came from the forum.
I reached out to Hutchinson on LinkedIn about a year ago, introducing myself as a female who wants to work in scouting and would love to connect.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool. Sometimes people will respond, sometimes they won’t. All it takes is one person to answer to make a million “nos” worth it.
Venessa responded. Not only did she respond, but she also immediately offered to schedule a conversation with me. We had a 40-minute phone call where I was able pick her brain about the industry and ask her questions about how to best position myself for the future.
She didn’t know me, she did not have to offer nearly an hour of her life to a stranger, but she did. And I’m sure she’s done it more times than one can count. Women helping other women. Puts a smile on my face.
Ameena
Aside from formal networking opportunities like the Women in Football Forum, there are more informal opportunities for women to meet other female football minds. Ameena Soliman, 26, started a group message to connect all females working on the 'team side' of things for an NFL franchise.
To start the group, Soliman, a Pro Scout with the Philadelphia Eagles, and Catherine Raîche, Vice President of Football Operations at the Eagles, gathered the names of all females listed on NFL team websites. They were looking for women working in athletic training, nutrition, strength training, coaches, scouts, and analytics. They invited around 140 to join the group.
Nearly 120 joined.
The group shares information on job opportunities and has virtual gatherings.
“We are trying to create a platform where people can connect with each other and figure out challenges we have and ways we can help the next group coming into this,” Soliman said.
Soliman said she always knew she wanted to work in sports, but she wasn't aware of all the opportunities. She knew she wanted to work for a football team; it was just a matter of figuring out how.
“One of the things we try to do is make more people aware of different opportunities and help them realize that there are probably more ways than they think to get into what they want to do,” Soliman said.
Soliman started her job as Pro Scout, evaluating current NFL talent and preparing the coaching staff with scouting reports, in May of 2021. She began with the Eagles as an intern and, within three years, received three promotions. One of her co-workers described her as a rockstar.
Ameena is a role model for me. Two years ago, I decided I would reach out to as many females working in football as I could to get their advice and talk with them about potential careers I could pursue.
I have a personal rule: if more than five people tell me I should do something or not do something, and no one tells me the opposite, I must do it.
More than five people told me I should reach out to Ameena and talk with her.
Ester
Women coaching football may be one of the more controversial topics when talking about women in football.
Currently, there are six female coaches in the NFL. Four of those coaches attended the Women in Football Careers Forum run by the NFL.
Certainly, it is not necessary to have played football at the highest level to coach it. But maybe there is a certain level of experience required to be a good coach.
Of all the NFL head coaches currently employed, 20 played football in college, seven made it to the NFL, and five coaches did not play football past high school. Notably, Bill Belichick, one of the most successful coaches in NFL history, never played a down of football in college.
Connie Carberg believes that female football leagues have finally opened the door for women to become impactful coaches in the league.
“A guy looking at a woman as a coach can say, 'have you been through what I've been through?' Have you ever been hit? Have you ever been tackled? Do you know what it's like to put on a uniform?"
Ester Alencar, 24, from Brazil, can say 'yes.'
Alencar started playing football at age 11 because of her older brother, but she didn’t always know playing with her brother in the backyard could lead to her playing on an actual team.
“I thought woman could not play,” Alencar said. “I don't know another woman that does, so I thought I could not play because I don't have a team.”
She would run through drills with her brother when he practiced at home, but she didn’t think playing was an option.
Alencar found a tackle football team to play with in 2014.
She wore many hats for her team. She was the quarterback, the head coach, and the equipment manager.
To get to practice every day Alencar’s mom would drive her 40 kilometers, about 25 miles, at night and on weekends. At the end of her time with that team, there were just three players left including Ester and her mother.
Already attached to the playing tackle football, Alencar co-founded the Curitiba Silverhawks in 2015. Her team won the state championship in 2018 and 2019 and went on to win the national championship the 2019 season.
“On this team I was the president, head coach, quarterback and everything else,” Alencar said.
In 2019, Alencar began coaching the men’s tackle football team Paraná HP. She then got a coaching internship from the University of Mexico to be a coaching analyst.
“I love football. I love teaching, so coaching sounds like the future,” Alencar said.
Ester and I connected through a group like the one started by Soliman. I am in All Things Forward, which Mickey Grace and Riley Hecklinski created. It is meant to connect women currently working in high school or college football who want to continue working as either a coach or a scout.
Ester stood out to me in the meeting when I found out she was from Brazil. Immediately, I was interested in her story.
Unlike the other subjects of this story, I have no way to relate to Ester besides my love of the game.
Alencar had to overcome so many obstacles in her life to be close to the game.
I grew up in Dallas, Texas. There are photos of me holding a football before I turned three. In the fall, Fridays are for high school football, Saturdays are for college football, and Sundays are for the Dallas Cowboys.
I have force-fed football, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Ester's story is incredible to me because of how she fought for the right to love the game—hearing her story opened my eyes to how easy it has been for me to become knowledgeable about the game.
Everything Ester knows about football, she learned intentionally. Drove hours to go practice—studied drills to run for her team. I have so much respect for how hard she has worked to love the game.
Shaina Clorefine
Shaina Clorefine, 17, is the starting placekicker for the La Canada football team in Flintridge, California. 'Automatic' is how her coaches describe her. There is no higher compliment for placekickers in football than that.
Clorefine is one of a small but growing number of females participating in high school football. It's no longer unheard of for a high school to have a female kicker. At Clorefine's school, she was the second female kicker on the team. Even though Clorefine is not the first, her participation is having an impact on her peers.
"After games, a lot of the younger girls will come up to me and say congrats," Clorefine said. "A coach's son came up to me, and he didn't believe girls could play football. He was five. It took him a really long time until he saw me in my uniform and saw that I played."
Representation matters. The young girls who grew up watching her play on the varsity team will grow up knowing that they can do that too. The young boy who learned that women could play football too will never doubt that fact again. Shaina doesn't need to be anything more than herself to impact the lives of those younger than her.
"I don't feel like I should be a role model because I don't think this should be so rare. I don't think that I did anything truly phenomenal. I feel like other people have the ability to do this; it's just about their willingness to try new things, not care about the status quo or what's expected of them from society."
I went to an all-girls school, so we didn't have a football team. My school was fantastic and I wouldn’t trade my time there for the world, but sometimes I imagine how different my life would have been if I attended a co-ed school with a football team. I can’t say for certain I would have played, but I know I would have been involved with the team.
I continually tried to work with the football team of the all-boys school down the road. I asked if there was any role for me on the team. I wanted to help as a team manager. Instead, the coach suggested I try the athletic training department.
When I tried to join fantasy football leagues with some of my friends at that school, they said the punishment was too harsh for me to join.
I was hurt but not dissuaded from my love of football.
Currently, I work at one of the most prestigious college football programs in the country as a player personnel assistant. I help with recruiting and operational events for our football team.
After I graduate, I will get an opportunity to live out my dream and scout for the Buffalo Bills. The people in this story helped me get there. I couldn't have done it without each of them.