Forum preps women for career opportunities in gridiron

ORLANDO, Florida - Phoebe Schecter struck gold at the Women's Careers in Football Forum last year as one of 22 women who found jobs or internships in American football, which is often viewed as a notoriously macho world.

Now, she returns to Florida for the second edition of the two-day event, set up by Canadian Samantha Rapoport, a former women's pro quarterback with ambitions to hold a coaching position with an NFL franchise in England.

The forum was created by Rapoport to level the playing field and open doors for qualified women to enter the workforce of the most popular pro sport in America.

Schecter, who coaches men's and women's tackle football in Britain, works with youth programs and captains the national team, emerged from last year's inaugural forum with a training camp coaching internship with the Buffalo Bills that led to a season coaching at Bryant University in Rhode Island.

Now working to grow the game for NFL UK, Connecticut native Schecter wants to continue to advance in coaching and dreams of an NFL franchise in London, with British players and a homegrown female coach working on the sidelines.

"That would be incredible. Shall we just slide in the resume now? We can all dream," Schecter said at the NFL-sponsored forum on Friday.

"There's lot going on in American football over there, especially the huge deal with Tottenham (Hotspur) having the three (NFL) games consecutively there. The sport is about to explode."

Rapoport, now NFL director of football development, has spent much of her career dedicated to getting more women involved in the game.

"We wanted to create a bridge between females who have a strong passion for football but don't have the same connections to football that men have," she said.

"Have them interact with executives that strongly believe in the power of diversity and who believe that if you can help me win, I don't care what you look like or who you are."