By Cynthia Zordich
NFL Engagement Insider
You picked a great time to be a girl in the NFL.
It is seven weeks into the 2013 season and you're probably all settled into your routine. You know who to call for parking passes, extra tickets; you've reconnected your cable and met most of the new girls.
If this is a new team, you've plowed through the usual list of relocation duties (moving company, temporary housing, real estate agent, utilities, home security, car dealership, school district, baby sitter, doctor, dentist, pharmacy, landscaper) and are now taking your first breath.
One day, you're going to look back on all of this and ask, "How did I do it?" It is a universal question that many women ask, but as a unique group of league women, I am more concerned with a second question that many of us ask, "Why didn't I do it differently?"
As the wife of a former NFL veteran and coach and the mother of a 2013 rookie, I offer a unique perspective. I have seen the way it was, I see the way it is, and I can clearly see a future where league women can make an impact.
You've come a long way, Baby!
This past off -season, NFL Player Engagement launched the Women's Resource Initiative. Spear-headed by Troy Vincent, Vice President of Player Engagement, the mission of the WRI is to arm league women with resources, information and engagement opportunities. This past summer, I was commissioned to create a sixty-page resource guide designed exclusively for the women of the NFL. In it, we dive into such topics as: emotional and financial security, health issues, career and education, networking, branding, relocation, security, transition, benefits, retirement and second career goals.
The making of an NFLPC.
The resource guide will remove you from the shadows of the game and put you in a position to shine. It has the potential to equip and inspire a new crop of NFL couples: the NFL POWER COUPLE.
In my years of digging into the mindset of the player, in my years of researching player transitionand communicating my findings through text and imagery, I believe that women are the differentiators.
With player focus on the game, we are the ones who steer the ship. When they leave the game, we are the life raft. This part of the game has not changed. What has changed is the league's perception of NFL women as a viable source of influence in a player's life. By arming you with information early on, the league is equipping you with the tools to build a strong emotional and financial foundation, a foundation that will positively impact your life and the future of your family.
Your NFL Women's Resource Guide will assist you as you navigate through your NFL experience, from the day you arrive in your team city (relocation, education, career placement) to early career (establishing a brand, financial security) to player transition (post career goals, NFL boot camps, starting a business). The WRI Guide will lead you to league resources that will influence your NFL journey, enhance your personal brand and impact your future.
This may well be the most empowering time of your life. As a member of the NFL family, there is endless opportunity for personal and professional growth through numerous league outreach programs, as well as fantastic networking opportunities at a national level. This is the time to define who you are, to hone your own talents, to create your own identity. Take advantage of the resources available to you. This is no time to be passive. The NFL window opens wide, but closes quickly.
Where the player is concerned, the goal is to establish what I call 'parallel lines' early on in his career. You want to provoke him into considering post career goals while he is active. The obstacle here is that many players feel that if a guy is thinking about Plan B, Plan A isn't going to work. Until you can change that mindset, you'll have to do the work for him. You're going to do the research, line up the facts and make positive decisions based on solid advice. When he's ready, roll out Step 2 of Plan A.
In the end, you will have established yourselves as an NFLPC and become future ambassadors of the league. As a woman, you will stand tall on your own and carry the dignity of knowing that you were not lost in a number, not hidden in the shadows, but an integral part of a partnership and celebrated for your own contributions to its success.
"Stand together yet not too near, for the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow." Kahlil Gibran
The NFL Women's Resource Guide is coming soon to The Engagement Zone at www.nflengagementzone.com. This is a members-only forum and requires log in.