Phoebe Schecter interned with the Buffalo Bills from 2018 to 2019 and is the captain of the UK women’s team, flag football ambassador and broadcaster; “I really felt that I could not make a single mistake … sending the elevator back down. [for other women] was massive”
Phoebe Schecter is a former NFL coach – the UK’s first female coach in the sport – she is the captain of the UK Women’s Team, flag football ambassador and now a Sky Sports and talkSPORT TV presenter.
“I’m trying to figure out who I am still,” Schecter told Sky Sports on the show’s latest episode. Her hangout (available as podcast below). “Every day I feel like I’m taking another step.”
In particular, her first foray into American football came surprisingly late and under the strangest of circumstances, when 11 years ago, at the age of 22, Scheckter first moved to the UK to pursue her first great passion, horses.
“It still doesn’t make sense to me,” Schecter said. “I got a job working for a gentleman on the Dutch Olympic three-day triathlon team.
“He was based here in Cheshire, and about two months after moving in, I saw an advertisement for American football in Manchester on social media.
“When you are outside your comfort zone, you are much more willing to take risks. I had never played contact sports before, didn’t know anything about American football, but I was looking for a way to make friends and a bit of American culture.
“I had to move many miles to another country to fall in love with this sport.”
This rather unexpected introduction to the game quickly took over Scheckter and eventually led her to a two-year stint as a trainee coach with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
“A lot of it was dedication,” Schecter explained her rapid rise to elite athletic coach.
