Author Topic: Former soccer player set to make history as first woman in the NFL  (Read 1740 times)

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Offline Cincinnatus

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Headline is overstated as she is only being given a tryout. Nonetheless...

A 28-year-old woman from New York is set to become the first female to be given a try out for the NFL.
 
Lauren Silberman had never kicked anything more than a soccer ball in an organised game before she started practicing long-range field goals.
 
Now she has been given a chance at an NFL regional scouting combine on Sunday at the New York Jets' training facility in Florham Park, New Jersey...

Silberman will compete against more accomplished or polished college kickers, all hoping to prove they have the leg strength and accuracy worthy of earning an invite to an NFL training camp.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2286432/Lauren-Silberman-Former-soccer-player-set-make-history-woman-NFL.html
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Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: Former soccer player set to make history as first woman in the NFL
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2013, 11:28:07 am »
She and the league are wasting their time.

Better, more experienced kickers have made it in the college and indoor ranks, only to not turn out to be adequate or consistent enough to handle it at that level. In the high stakes, high standard NFL, those issues will be magnified greatly. The talent pool among female kickers is too thin to produce the elite talent necessary to be a reliable NFL  kicker.

The idea that the league would allow someone with no experience in the sport to get a tryout would otherwise be considered on its face to be patently absurd.
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Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: Former soccer player set to make history as first woman in the NFL
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2013, 04:59:14 pm »
Female kicker's historic bid ends with injury

Lauren Silberman's bid to make the NFL consisted of two kickoffs totaling 30 yards, an aggravation of a quadriceps injury she said she initially suffered in training last week and a whole lot of wondering whether the entire thing was a promotional sham.

Silberman, 28, a former MIT student who promoted her business in interviews with USA TODAY Sports and the NFL Network last week, didn't exactly stand up to the 37 male kickers during her brief tryout at the New York/New Jersey regional scouting combine Sunday.

Silberman did not take practice kicks. She merely jogged toward a tee and made a faint kicking motion

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/03/03/lauren-silberman-female-kicker-nfl-tryout-ends-with-injury/1960553/
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Offline Lando Lincoln

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Re: Former soccer player set to make history as first woman in the NFL
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2013, 05:13:15 pm »
There are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.
John Steinbeck

famousdayandyear

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Re: Former soccer player set to make history as first woman in the NFL
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2013, 03:55:04 am »
Kabuki theater.

(Has the NFL factored in the aftermath of a "roughing the kicker" flag  on said female?)

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: Former soccer player set to make history as first woman in the NFL
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2013, 05:04:07 am »
The kicker is a specialty player, and should go unharmed most of the time. But on a fumbled hike, he/she may go after the ball, and they are not different than any other player.

A 125 lb. gal getting crushed under two 350 lb. defensive tackles could be extreme, and is not necessary.

I enjoy women's sports, like volleyball, basketball, softball, etc. And skiing, surfing, swimming, where they compete against each other, on the same fields.

The two sexes bodies' are both designed and sized differently, for reasons.
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Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: Former soccer player set to make history as first woman in the NFL
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2013, 10:46:10 pm »
Kabuki theater.

(Has the NFL factored in the aftermath of a "roughing the kicker" flag  on said female?)
Well, that's why they only have ever played two positions: kicker and holder. Over the course of a field goal attempt, you aren't allowed to hit them. At all. No other positions offer that kind of protection from getting hit (long snapper has temporary protection, but you can still get hit after the snap is executed).

Now, that doesn't mean it can't happen. Patricia Palinkas, the first female pro player, got roughed in her first play by a rather chauvinistic linebacker who didn't like the fact she was playing a man's game. However, the NFL has a suspension process for such intentional and flagrant violations of the rules.
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