Young girls should grow up in a world where playing football is as normal for them as it is for their brothers. The women of today are bearing the weight of being the first women in the room, so that the women of tomorrow don’t have to be.
Nike is committing $5M (100K product grant per state) to making flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states.
Nike in launching our new innovation, a women’s flag uniform that has been 2 years in the making.
Nike is creating an 11-online experience made specifically for her, featuring the top women’s coaches in the game.
Meet the female coaches in the latest ad!
Emily Zaler – Denver Broncos Assistant S&C Coach
Emily was hired as full time coach in 2020 after a successful summer internship with the Broncos, becoming their first ever female coach. Not only that – Emily is the first female coach to work in both the NFL and the NBA!
Zaler transferred over to the NFL in July, where she took on a temp role in the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship, giving her an opportunity to take a role with the Broncos.
If you were to check out Zaler’s LinkedIn profile, you would see an impressive resume. Zaler has 10+ years of experience in the coaching experience in strength, conditioning and more. She has served as a Performance Specialist, Director of Training, and Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach. She served in the latter role at both the University of California-San Diego and the New York Knicks, where she served in a seasonal role.
She has a Master of Science degree, specializing in strength and conditioning.
Lori Locust – Tampa Bay Buccaneers Assistant D-Line Coach
In only her second season in the NFL, Coach Lo becomes the second female coach in history to reach the Super Bowl! Along with colleague Maral Javadifer, both coaches are part of the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Lori only started playing American Football in her 40s, and after a brutal knee injury, decided to take up coaching to stay close to her sport. After 13 years of coaching, Lo took a coaching role with Birmingham Iron as a defensive line coach in the newly formed Alliance of American Football (a professional spring league) and followed with her first experience in the NFL was an internship at the Baltimore Ravens in 2018. Lori was then recruited alongside Maral Javadifar by new Head Coach Bruce Arians to be part of his new team at the Bucs in 2019.
To read our previous interviews with Lori over the years and to learn more about her pathway to the NFL, click the following: Interview from 2019 and Interview from 2016
Katie Sowers – NFL Assistant Coach & Cynthia Frelund – Analytics Expert
Until recently, Katie Sowers was the assistant Offensive Coach with the 49ers, becoming the first female coach to reach a Super Bowl in February 2020.
After injury forced her to quit playing in 2016, Katie joined the National Football League as a wide receiver’s intern with the Atlanta Falcons. Thanks to the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship Program, she went on to join the San Fransisco 49ers first as an intern and then Offensive Assistant Coach in 2019.
Katie became the second ever women to coach full time in the NFL (after Kathryn Smith of the Buffalo Bills) and the second in the league alongside D-Line assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Lori Locust.
As offensive assistant, Katie works with the skill position players on all facets of game preparation. Quarterback Nick Mullens said Sowers “does a great job,” and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders called her “one of the coolest coaches I’ve ever been around.”
Cynthia Frelund is a sports journalist that ESPN and NFL viewers will know and admire. She was appointed by the NFL Network in 2016 and breaks down complicated plays, patterns and data for the audience to understand.
Coleen Wolfe – NFL Media host
Colleen Wolfe hosts a variety of NFL Network shows such as NFL GameDay Kickoff, Good Morning Football: Weekend, NFL Total Access and more, as well as the network’s on-location coverage of events such as the Super Bowl and NFL Draft. Wolfe hails from Philadelphia where she worked for FOX 29, Comcast SportsNet, Sports Radio 94 WIP prior to joining NFL Media in 2014. Colleen went to Drexel University.
Cristi Bartlett – Tennessee Titans Assistant S&C Coach
Cristi Bartlett is an assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Tennessee Titans. Cristi joins a growing number of female S&C coaches in the league including Chelsea Romero, Emily Zaler and Maral Javadifar.
Having coached in the XFL and a number of universities including University of Pennsylvania, James Madison University and Morehead State University amongst others, Cristi began at the Titans Seasonal Coach in May 2020.
Chelsea Romero – LA Rams S&C Coach
Chelsea Romero is an assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the L.A. Rams. After a number of years as intern for the team, Chelsea was recruited as seasonal S&C coach for 2020, becoming the only female coach at the organisation.
In June of 2019, Chelsea had her first baby and within 4 weeks was coaching back at the LA Rams pre-season training camp. She was also juggling coaching her role as Softball S&C coach at Antelope Valley College and her work at UC Irvine.
To find out more about Chelsea, read our Interview from 2019
Maral Javadifer – Tampa Bay Buccaneers S&C Coach
Maral Javadifar is the assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Tampa Bay Buccaneers who make their first playoffs in 13 years. Along with the hiring of Lori Locust, Maral became part of the first NFL team to hire two female coaches back in 2019.
Maral’s career has been in the fields of performance coaching and physical therapy, having worked as a physical therapist at Avant Physical Therapy in Seattle and completing her sports physical therapy residency at Virginia Commonwealth.
Jennifer King – Washington Football Team Assistant Coach
After an incredibly successful full season internship role with the team, Jennifer has recently been appointed a full time coaching role, becoming the first black female coach in NFL history.
Throughout 2020, Jennifer worked with the offensive staff throughout the course of the offseason, training camp and regular season and assisted Randy Jordan with the running backs.
Jennifer joined Head Coach Ron Rivera after coaching alongside him as an intern when he was Head Coach at the Carolina Panthers.
To read our previous interviews with Jennifer over the years and to learn more about her pathway to the NFL, click the following: Interview from 2019 and Interview from 2015
Darcie Glazier Kassewitz – Tampa Bay Buccaneers Co-Owner
Darcie Glazer Kassewitz has been the driving force behind many of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ innovative, forward-thinking fan engagement and community outreach initiatives, retail activation, and facility design. She is focused on ensuring that the Buccaneers and the Glazer Vision Foundation create a lasting positive impact on the Tampa Bay community.
