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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
The NFL's female coaching surge is here. Just look to the weight room
Sometimes it meant dinner at 10 p.m., but football was just the start of Kansas City Chiefs rookie Ashton Gillotte's training as a teenager. Working alongside his trainer, Gillotte competed in Spartan Races, ranked 21st in the Southeast region for CrossFit and qualified for the state championship in weightlifting. As a defensive lineman at Louisville, he earned a spot on The Athletic's 2022 'Freaks List,' a compilation of the most athletic specimens in college football. Advertisement One day, Gillotte brought a group of college teammates to train with his former coach. 'This is crazy,' they said. 'Welcome to my life,' responded Gillotte. 'My mom is kind of crazy.' Veronica Gillotte trained all three of her children — Alexandra, Ashton's sister, played soccer and tackle football, and brother Devin is a professional MMA fighter. The Chiefs drafted Ashton in the third round (at No. 66) in April. Having your mom as your strength coach might be unique, but an NFL player working with a female trainer isn't. In 2024, the NFL employed 15 full-time female coaches, a 47 percent jump from 2021 and a 1,400 percent increase from 2015. Opportunities for female coaches in the NFL are especially notable in strength, conditioning and performance departments, where six of those 15 coaches worked. As more women break into coaching and the league at large, the natural pipeline to the weight room is increasingly apparent. 'It's not surprising because the pipeline was there previously,' said Sam Rapoport, founder of the NFL Women's Forum. 'They could come from the sport that they played. Not too many women play tackle football, but there are many who do. 'It's an exciting opportunity for the league.' Most NFL performance staffs comprise four to six people. Their responsibilities touch the entire roster, from keeping healthy players ready for game day to helping injured ones rehab. The skills of strength and conditioning coaches are uniquely transferable across sports, a key factor in why female coaches have been able to break in at a quicker rate. Emily Zaler worked for the NBA's New York Knicks, NFL's Denver Broncos and WNBA's New York Liberty before joining the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant strength and conditioning coach/applied sports scientist. She has succeeded over the years by investing in each athlete's journey. Advertisement 'There are obvious differences between sports and between athletes' personalities across different sports and the culture,' Zaler said, 'but I think your skill set as a practitioner should remain pretty solid regardless of what environment you're in.' Zaler didn't get involved in professional sports until nine years after she finished undergraduate school at Arizona State. 'It's been a long journey,' she said, reflecting on the absence of women she saw working in the field when she graduated. In 1990, the New York Jets hired the NFL's first female strength coach, Lee Brandon; since then, though, representation in these roles has been staggered. In 2018, the Raiders' Kelsey Martinez was the league's only female strength and conditioning coach. It wasn't until Zaler saw more women breaking into these roles that she felt inspired to go after it herself. With six women working in NFL strength departments entering the 2025 season, aspiring coaches can picture themselves in these roles earlier in their careers. And the improving representation makes strength coaching a unique avenue. 'Positional coaches, like quarterback coaches, wide receiver coaches, (women) are much more limited in numbers,' Rapoport said. 'There are very few women each year who are qualified to have an entry-level coaching job in the NFL because we never dreamed about this before. No one was going for it. 'What we're seeing now is that younger women and girls are looking to take on this career, and they're excited about it.' College athletics offer wide opportunities to bolster resumes. Haley Roberts trained athletes in seven sports as an assistant at Sam Houston State, ranging from women's basketball — where weight training is standard — to bowling, where most athletes were international students with no strength training experience. Advertisement Each sport helped lay Roberts' coaching foundation, allowing her to bring a unique perspective to the Las Vegas Raiders' five-person strength staff. 'I'm not going to appease everyone on the team, but we have someone on staff — because we have a very diverse staff — that will,' Roberts said. 'And the opposite: There might be someone on the team that someone can't get through to, but for whatever reason responds really well to me and the way that I coach.' Dr. Shawn Arent, a board member for the National Strength and Conditioning Association, said the diversity of backgrounds is one key to a good strength staff. A strong staff should have different perspectives on how to achieve a common goal. Building trust with athletes is also pivotal, and that comes down to one of the most transferable skills of all: coaching. 'One of the skills that's a little less measurable,' Arent said, 'is your ability to coach and your ability to connect with the athlete. In strength and conditioning, it's such an important trait.' Coaches and team executives are also becoming more proactive in expanding their hiring pool to include the top candidates, regardless of gender. One way they meet prospective coaches is through the NFL Women's Forum, an invite-only event held around the NFL combine that connects women working in college football with head coaches and NFL leadership. Rapoport, founder of the forum, is clear that the goal was never to simply get women hired. Instead, it was to get the most qualified candidates opportunities they might not have otherwise. Over time, Rapoport said she's noticed the discourse from team executives looking for candidates shift from 'I know a guy' to 'I know a person.' 'If you are cutting off half the population of potential candidates, you are losing your opportunity and half of the amazing people that you could potentially hire,' Rapoport said. 'We often say with the Women's Forum, you could plug any underrepresented group in there, and the program works the same.' Advertisement Since the event's inception in 2017, 29 NFL clubs have hired Women's Forum participants in some capacity. Five of the NFL's six female strength coaches were participants. With transferable skills and an increasing awareness of opportunities in the NFL, female strength coaches are more common now than ever before. Arent, who is also the chair of the University of South Carolina's exercise science department, doesn't see the trend slowing down. Others don't either. 'It's also important that the head coaches … set the expectation that they're not hiring a female strength coach,' Arent said. 'They're hiring a strength coach who happens to be female.' Maral Javadifar was sitting in her dentist's chair when she got a call about her dream job. On the other end was Anthony Piroli, head strength and conditioning coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, inquiring if she would apply for a position on his staff. He wanted to try something new by hiring someone with a physical therapy background — right up Javadifar's alley. A few weeks and interviews later, that call turned into a job offer. A birthday present to Javadifar on March 17, 2019. 'The following year, we got Tom Brady for my birthday,' Javadifar laughs. Yes, the Bucs added Brady exactly one year later. Now the Bucs' director of rehabilitation and performance, Javadifar admits that once, she didn't think this was possible. It wasn't for lack of ambition. But jobs in strength and conditioning were rare enough. And she didn't see many people who looked like her in professional weight rooms. In college, she switched from accounting to molecular biology, even though people told her it would be too difficult while playing basketball at D-II Pace University. She persevered, received her doctorate in physical therapy in 2015 and stuck to PT for a few years. But as a former athlete, working in professional sports was always at the back of her mind. Advertisement When she got that call, her dream became a reality. And in her third season with the Bucs, Javadifar and assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust became the first female coaches to win a Super Bowl. 'A lot of strength coaches are, I guess, meatheads for lack of better words … trying to lift as much as we can, kind of like a cookie-cutter mode,' Bucs receiver Chris Godwin said in a 2019 NFL documentary. 'I think (Javadifar) really understands the broad spectrum of how we as professional athletes need to be developed and need to be worked on.' Genevieve Humphrey is in her second year as a strength and conditioning assistant with the Carolina Panthers after working as a trainer at Tyndall Air Force Base and Georgia Southern. Humphrey originally planned to work in the military full-time, but she 'fell in love with the sidelines' after getting her first job in football. Working in a male-dominated environment doesn't intimidate her. Once, she remembers a coach checking in to see if she felt comfortable in the weight room. She laughs now. A weight room, Humphrey said, feels more like home to her. 'Once guys get over the initial — it's not shock, but it's, 'Oh, there's a woman who's my coach.' — I think they very quickly realize you're just one of the guys,' Humphrey said. 'They're like, 'Wait a second, you belong here just like we do.'' Even for those who grow up around football, finding their place as a professional can take patience. Autumn Lockwood was always around her dad's college football teams as he coached at Notre Dame, Minnesota, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arizona and others. But it wasn't until she and her dad coached together at UNLV — David as cornerbacks coach and Autumn as a strength and conditioning intern — that she realized the football sidelines were where she wanted to build her career, too. Advertisement She just wasn't sure where to break in full time. 'I remember being upset at the time. I'm like, 'OK, none of these opportunities are football,'' Lockwood said. 'And my dad said, 'Hey, they might not be there yet, but it doesn't mean they're not coming.'' While Lockwood earned her master's degree in sports management, she attended the Women's Forum and met members of the Philadelphia Eagles' staff. When they hired her in 2022, it was a full-circle moment, with Lockwood returning to her home state. Lockwood enters her fourth season as a sports performance assistant with the Eagles in 2025. Philadelphia has reached the Super Bowl twice during her tenure, including a win against the Chiefs last season. 'I'm not going to try to make you listen to me or make you respect me,' Lockwood said of her strategy to generate buy-in from players. 'I'm just going to show up consistently every single day. 'I think that any athlete, male or female, just appreciates that. They are the best at what they do, so they expect you to be the best too.' It's a generalization to say women bring something men don't to NFL coaching staffs. Rapoport remembers a conversation she had with a general manager after he hired a Women's Forum participant to his staff. She asked what he observed in the woman's year on the job. His answer: It made the men better. 'Prior to having women in here, it was a very artificial environment of all one gender,' Rapoport remembers the GM saying. 'But when you bring women in, which better mirrors society as a whole, this is what these guys are used to in their lives. He said it brought down the testosterone levels, in his words, and it made them operate better.' The evolution of women's sports is also linked to women's opportunities in sports. Title IX, the historic legislation that declared discrimination on the basis of sex unconstitutional and transformed opportunities for women in sports, recently passed its 50th anniversary. Advertisement 'As more and more women had athletic opportunities, they also had those opportunities to go into coaching, to experience the weight room,' Arent said. 'Now, some of them have started to gravitate towards ways that they can stay involved in sport. 'Some of what you're seeing is the long overdue but persistent process to try to make these things more available.' But there are still steps to take. Every NFL stadium must provide a separate space for female football staff with amenities equivalent to the main locker room, but Roberts, the Raiders' staffer, remembers instances in college where there wasn't a designated women's locker room. At road games, she would have to change quickly before the team arrived or go across the field to the women's bathroom, sometimes eating into valuable time she needed to help with warmups or halftime recovery. Leadership is another touchpoint. Javadifar is the NFL's only female strength and conditioning coach currently in a director role. It's an important distinction, but Javadifar is quick to deflect bragging rights to women who came before her. 'When people say you're one of the first, I don't actually believe that,' Javadifar said. 'There have been plenty of successful women who have been in the world of performance that have done a heck of a job to even start creating that path. 'I truly dislike the whole notion of being a female coach. … I don't want to be identified for what I am, but what I bring to the table.' Rapoport said she's often asked about the timeline for the NFL's first female head coach or first offensive or defensive coordinator. That's not her focus, she said. 'We like to celebrate firsts, but we quickly move on because we don't want to fixate on it and get too excited about it,' Rapoport said. 'Like any male coach, a woman coach has to prove herself. Advertisement 'Where we're focused is the numbers at the entry-level, in college and high school football, and a lot less at the top.' But the ultimate goal, as each coach mentioned, is getting to a point where female coaches are not an outlier but the norm. When having a woman in the weight room or on the sidelines becomes a non-story. And when aspiring professionals set their eyes on role models and opportunities in the league, earlier. In many ways, the progress is already clear. 'In my mind, it wasn't ever impossible to work in the NFL,' Roberts said. 'No one ever told me like, 'Oh, that's never gonna happen.'' (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; photos courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers)
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
With the World Cup about a year away, contingency plans for wildfire smoke risks remain unclear
TORONTO — The 2026 World Cup being hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States is less than a year away and FIFA's protocols for matches affected by wildfire smoke remain unclear. The 48-team World Cup will run from June 11 to July 19, 2026. Canada is hosting 13 matches — seven in Vancouver and six in Toronto.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Inside the Raptors' defensive blueprint: What fuels them and who they look up to
LAS VEGAS — If the Toronto Raptors are going to make a move up the Eastern Conference standings next year, their defence will give them the biggest nudge. While there are plenty of questions about the Raptors' offence, as the team is short on 3-point shooters, there are reasons to be optimistic about the defence. From Jan. 1 through the end of the season, the Raptors finished as the seventh-best defence. If you only consider their 27 games after the All-Star break, they ranked second, behind only the Detroit Pistons. Advertisement Now, the Raptors played a notably weaker schedule late in the season, and several key players were missing in the final month-plus. However, Scottie Barnes seemed to be playing at an All-Defense level, while several younger players helped make the Raptors difficult to play against. That was on display again to start the Las Vegas Summer League, as the Raptors turned their opponents over regularly. With that in mind, The Athletic caught up with four Raptors who also have played in summer league: sophomores Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead and Ja'Kobe Walter, as well as rookie Collin Murray-Boyles. If defence is going to be the Raptors' foundation, it seems reasonable to wonder what the players think matters most on that end, what types of plays they love to make, which opponents they admire and how good they think they can be when the real games start. Mogbo: His instincts, his reactions. I feel like if you can see the ball, see the hips, read the defender well and if you have good hands, not just out there just reaching and not out there playing (randomly), your instinct is really important. Murray-Boyles: The willingness to do it. Wanting to defend is the first step in being a defender and wanting to make an impact on that side of the ball. … I think just trying to find where I could stand out (allowed him to strive to be a good defender). That was the biggest thing for me. I was never the one to have highlight tapes. I was never one to wow people with my offensive game. I'm just gonna do the right thing, try to make the right plays. I was just trying to stick out as much as possible. And I put a lot of that on my defence. Shead: I'd say his ability to stay in front of the ball. A good defender on ball is just not needing any help. A good defender off ball is just keeping his eyes on a swivel and seeing where there's help needed and being in the right position. So I think there's two really big parts to that, on and off the ball. Advertisement Walter: I'd say active hands. Active hands, always mirroring the ball, always trying to make the offensive player worry about you. Length lets you dictate when he's doing that, not letting him dictate you, just getting to him, making him move the ball around, just pressure him. Mogbo: Probably a passing lane steal, and now it's just fast break, showtime. You see your teammates jump on the bench and be like, 'Yeah, he's about to tear the rim off.' That's the best. Murray-Boyles: Probably just getting a stop. I feel like that's the biggest thing that is attributed to play defence, getting a stop and being able to make a play on offence. Steal, block, (forcing a) bad shot, (forcing a) shot-clock violation. All of the above is good for me. Shead: If I get a tipped pass or something on the floor and I get the loose ball and it leads to a bucket for us, that turns me up. I think that's that Houston Cougar in me. That turns me up. Walter: When the opposing player, they turn their head, and I get to come behind and steal the ball. I love that. Just always seeing when they don't really realize that you're still locked in and guarding them, too, even though you're off the ball. Mogbo: I think I had two of them: against Philly at home and Brooklyn, where I blocked the shot and I ended up either getting the ball off the blocked shot and throw a dunk or my teammate got it and passed to me. I think one was Kelly Oubre and the other was (Maxwell) Lewis. Murray-Boyles: I think my freshman year I had probably the best block of my career against Vandy. That was probably the best chase-down (block) I've had in my life. Shead: We were at Xavier (in college). I was having a terrible game. I subbed back in. It wasn't really a defensive play. It was off an offensive rebound. Ball was on the floor. I dive, get it, we get the ball and dunk and I'm slamming my hands on the floor. I literally hurt both of my hands. Hardwood is hard. Walter: I had a couple during the end of the year where I got an open-court steal. There was one against Dennis Schröder on the Pistons, just 'cause we were on a comeback and it was flowing with the game. We were all turned up, and that just kept it going. Mogbo: There are a lot. Davion (Mitchell) was pretty crazy in practice. We didn't match up often. But when I had the chance to, I was trying to get off the ball a little bit. He's a good defender, and his energy is contagious. Murray-Boyles: Oh, he played in Alabama last year. Transferred to Kentucky. He was just an overall good defender, probably one of the best defenders in the SEC. I don't even think he was on the (All-Defense team). Mo — Mo Dioubate. He was the guy that shut me down. He was really good, very physical, almost a similar style to me. Physical, knows how to use his hands. He did a really good job. Advertisement Shead: Marcus Sasser. Playing three years (in practices in college) against Marcus, he learned every move. I learned every one of his moves. We were just freaking destroying each other in practice until we got on the same team. I think my freshman year and sophomore year, the beginning of my sophomore year before we were both starters, man, we used to just terrorize each other. And it led to a lot of fights in practice. Marcus doesn't talk (trash). And then he just kind of will give you a 'Get out my way' or 'You suck.' A little something here and there. He doesn't really talk much, but when he does, it's annoying. Walter: Jamal Shead. Jamal is strong and he has a low centre of gravity. He slides very well. He meets you with physicality. And then, he has active hands. People don't even know that he's fouling, it's that simple, because you can't call everything. Mogbo: I'd probably say Herb Jones before he got hurt. His length, his ability to get (in) passing lanes, on-ball steals. Also, a little Dyson Daniels. I like the way he reads his opponent well. He gets a lot of pluck steals. I remember he got one in Memphis in clutch time and then he got a game-winning layup, too. Just seeing his eyes and just seeing how he reads his opponent very well, I kind of want to add it to my game. Murray-Boyles: I watch a lot of basketball, so I like a lot of different players. I like Draymond (Green), how he hustles, how hard he plays. I feel that's something I want to get to, that level of intensity all the time, the intensity he plays at. That's something I want to get at. Toumani Camara, his hands. His IQ is through the roof. … Lu Dort. If I watch anybody (the most), it's Lu Dort. He's the best, I feel like, perimeter defender in the league. He can guard any position. He's probably the main guy I try to take cues from. Shead: I wouldn't say just defensively, but defensively too: T.J. McConnell. That was my first (NBA) game where I was lost. He stopped everything. He is in the right place at every point in time. And on offence, even though he doesn't shoot 3s, he's still super hard to guard. I think everybody in the (NBA) Finals got a little bit of a taste of what I felt the entire time that I was guarding him. Walter: I like Tony Allen. Avery Bradley. I studied them, watching their highlights, like I was saying, how they have active hands all the time, getting deflections (on the) help side, on ball, it didn't really matter. Those two players. Kawhi (Leonard) locks up. Y'all know that, Toronto. Kawhi locks up — especially when he was on the Spurs. That's when I really saw it. Those three are mainly my favourite to watch. Mogbo: We've got a high ceiling. I feel like everyone can be very versatile, switch one through five, one through four. I feel like our talk and our (wingspans) definitely help a lot. It kind of crowds the paint a little bit. The offensive guys, they can't really see too much. They can't see over our defence because we got a lot of length and athleticism. Just bringing that to the table every game with our high motor and our talk, it is going to be a killer for us. Advertisement Murray-Boyles: Top-three defensive team in the league, easily. What we did (against the Bulls in Summer League, causing 33 turnovers in a 40-minute game) is a really good taste of what we could be. With the guys that we already have, our vets, it's going to be very good to see. Very excited — especially for this franchise, really getting back to winning and getting back to the postseason. Shead: Best defensive team in the league. I think you combine me, Scottie, Ja'Kobe, RJ (Barrett) can guard, Jak (Poeltl) is super smart. And if you get guys like (Immanuel Quickley), you get guys like Gradey (Dick), you get guys like (Brandon Ingram) to buy in — because everybody that's at this level can guard. It's just about if you want to. If we just follow Scottie's lead, because he's going to be super intense all the time, I think we got a good shot. Walter: Number one in the NBA. You saw after the All-Star break last year, we were No. 1 in the NBA. I say now that we all know that mentality and how we all play together, the chemistry of what we are trying to do, I'm not (going to be) surprised if we're No. 1.
