Passing the Ball and Changing the Game: Why Dr. Jen Welter is the Coach Girls Need Today
She’s a 14-year veteran linebacker.
She won four titles with the Dallas Diamonds.
She’s a two-time International Federation of American Football Women’s World Champion.
And the first woman to play running back in a men’s professional football game.
Oh, and she’s the first woman ever to coach in the NFL.
Girls, lace up your cleats and meet Dr. Jen Welter.
You may remember her from the wise words she shared in Être's first book Être: Girls, Who Do You Want To Be and when our girls interviewed this icon in 2020. But when Coach Jen and I chatted recently at the 100 Women To Know Awards presented by JPMorgan Chase & Co., I was impressed all over again.
"Girls need to see us on the field and in the game NOW," she told me that evening, and I couldn't nod my head emphatically enough.
How did her career as a professional football coach start?
In July of 2015, Welter was announced as a linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals - the first female assistant coach in NFL history. Coming off a 14-year career as a professional football player (in 2014 she became the first non-kicker to play in a men's professional football game as a running back for the Texas Revolution of the Indoor Football League), Welter was used to breaking barriers...or as she likes to say, kicking glass.
After all, her career in women’s professional football included four World Championships, two gold medals as a member of Team USA in the 2010 and 2013 International Federation of American Football’s Women’s World Championship, eight all-star selections, and induction into the first class of the Women’s Football Hall of Fame in 2018. She's been the head coach of the first Australian women’s national team, an advisory board member for the NFL’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Game for Life Academy, and a defensive specialist for the Alliance of American Football.
But it isn't only her ability on the field that makes her an epic coach.
Armed with a master's degree in sports psychology and a PhD in psychology, Welter's education and empathy backs up her boundless energy. She's the speaker you want breaking plays down in the locker room, the teacher you want building teams up on the field, and - aligning with the moment we are witnessing in women's sports - exactly the coach you want in front of girls today.
That's how Jen Welter and I met. Bonding over resources and role models to place in front of sports-obsessed girls, we sat and talked at an early Ellevate Network Summit about why sidelines and sight lines for girls should be limitless.
Indeed, one only needs to ask Welter about founding her organization Grrridiron Girls to see her light up. Introducing innovative flag football camps to girls across the U.S., Grrridiron Girls, as her website explains, "not only give[s] girls the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of flag football, but they are also immersed in Jen’s wave of empowerment, self-confidence, and sisterhood."
This is more than the ballgame to me, and given the mentor moments we are seeing in sports and Être's recent research on girls' confidence and mentorship, I welcomed the opportunity to touch base with Coach Jen again yesterday.
With everything we're seeing in women's sports right now, I asked her, why is it still so important to keep girls actively in their sports and place the right mentors in front of them?
"We know that mentorship is one of the major factors keeping girls in sports," she began, "and right now we're seeing the potential of women's sports that we've always known was there. These heroes have been here," she continued with feeling, "but they're often hidden in plain sight. And the really cool thing for all of these girls is to realize that the momentum is now in their favor and that every single one of the girls who keeps playing makes the case for the next generation as we continue to open doors from the top."
What else does Welter want today's girls to know?
“It’s only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. So the longer girls stay in their sports, the more doors will be open and the more opportunities there are going to be.”
Wise words I can't wait to share with girls everywhere, because they are coming at precisely the right time. In addition to the stellar advice she shares in her book Play Big and the keynotes she gives that bring crowds to their feet, Coach Jen Welter is calling girls to huddle up as she takes a knee to look them in the eye.
Stay in your cleats.
Get ready to work hard.
Absorb good coaching and learn from your team.
Always be the girl in the game.
Important advice for any of us - from the locker room to the board room - and Welter knows it well. I can't wait to see more girls on Grrridiron Girls fields as summer 2024 unfolds, and I urge players, parents, and coaches to learn more about these opportunities here.
Athletes and leagues at every level are urging girls to play big - it's the perfect time to kick a little more glass.
Looking forward,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more ways to follow Dr. Jen Welter you won't want to miss: her epic Insta here, her A Day In The Life football experiences for women here, and her website and media coverage here.
