Lauren Silberman, First Woman to Take Part in NFL Combine, Competing as Kicker
The “F” in NFL could soon stand for “female.”
Lauren Silberman will make history by becoming the first woman ever to compete in an NFL regional combine March 2-3 in New Jersey. She’ll attend the tryouts as a kicker and join a small sorority of mostly fictional kickers.
Silberman, 28, certainly has her work cut out for her in her quest to prove women offer more on the gridiron than jokes at the expense of Manti Te'o. Obviously, she’ll be competing against a field of men, but these are men who actually played in college. Silberman can’t even write that on her résumé. She played club soccer at the University of Wisconsin, which hardly seems like good training when a botched field goal means you’re running for your life while a hoard of linebackers is chasing you down like bloodhounds circling raw meat.
The regional is comprised of college players who didn’t get an invitation to the main combine in Indianapolis. Those who do well in the regionals advance to a super-regional combine scheduled for April in Dallas.
Silberman had been blissfully unaware of her role:
"I was not aware that I was the first female registrant. I was actually hoping that the 2012 historical milestone rule, to allow women to play, would prompt more women to attend tryouts this year. But for me, what's important is to finally have a chance to fulfill my dreams by trying out to play in the world's most competitive football league."
Silberman further distances herself from other hopefuls because she has a master’s degree -- from MIT, no less. Her thesis centered on how athletes use video games to improve their play on the field. Wait – you can write a thesis on that? College is getting soft.
She also owns a consulting company giving athletes assistance in using video games for training. With a background like hers, she should probably forget a career in the NFL and focus on dominating in Madden ’13. Just a thought.