Screencap via YouTube.
On Monday, the NFL took a major step toward (hopefully) improving employment opportunities for women in the fields of coaching and scouting when they announced the hiring of former women's football pro tackle player Sam Rapoport as director of football development.Football has been a part of Rapoport's life ever since she was a child, growing up playing flag and touch football in her native Canada. She was a member of the Canadian national flag football team and eventually caught on with the women's tackle team, the Montreal Blitz. She has worked behind the scenes as an intern for the NFL and later for USA football, where she helped develop a national flag football program for girls.Rapoport's hiring was praised by executive VP of football operations (and fellow former pro football player) Troy Vincent: "In such a strategic hire as this, we needed to have an individual that is passionate and knowledgeable in this space. Sam is an excellent fit."Her responsibility is to find quality female candidates and help them gain access to the insular world of coaches and scouts, particularly at the team level:"That's how any job—not just football, but any job that's a prestigious job—is acquired," Rapoport said. "That's our biggest barrier. We didn't grow up in the male tackle football world, so we don't have a friend who is a coach, or, 'I played for him, so he'll recommend me for a job.'"It has been a long, difficult road, but women are finally starting to make some high-profile headway into the male-dominated league. Sarah Thomas became the first woman hired as a full-time referee in 2015 and Kathryn Smith is a full-time quality-control coach for the Bills. If Sam Rapoport is successful in her new career, we may be seeing quite a few more women joining Smith in the coaching ranks.[ESPN]
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