On August 15, 1970, Patricia Palinkas was known as the first female to play in professional football. People didn't believe in her. Wally Florence, a 235 pound linebacker tried to knock her out in their team's locker room. She stated, “The locker room will never be the same.” He said with his own words, “ She's out there prancing around making folly with a man's game.” Palinkas made a mistake during the game. The ball was thrown to her from the center. She bobbled the ball, which caused Wally to smash into her. “I got up and stretched a little bit, then I felt better. Every conversation after that was successful.” After those words were said, they won the game! 26-7.
It's not common for females to play in professional football.As kids we love getting into these sports.As we get older we begin to get into other things we enjoy. Even with female NFL players, the most common age for them to start and stop playing at is 20-23. That's only 3 years. Although for male players, their average age to stop playing is after 8 years of their career. There are many reasons why girls don't usually play in the NFL. The main reason is because the game is thought to be too physical.
Professional football isn't too harsh for Patricia Palinkas, but it was for Luaren Silberman. Silberman started off as a soccer player. She played as a midfielder and moved forward to the women's national soccer team from 2007-2015. When she retired from soccer, she tried out for football. She was trying out for the New York Jets. She insisted on training, even over training. During her tryouts she kicked two pathetic kickoffs. People interviewed her a lot. She refused to tell anyone how far she could kick a football. She even refused to tell people if she has ever kicked one! Lauren Silberman said “The NFL has opened an amazing door for me!” None of that was true. She never actually said that. After her training, she swore she would be better than how she played during the tryouts. Even though she said that, she refused to show evidence. To this day she thinks of that as an “inspiration to women.” The question is, how did she inspire people if she never played in a professional game?
These female NFL people did achieve what they were looking for. Even though they didn't want Patricia Palinkas in the NFL, she still went on and won that game! We should all pursue our childhood dreams but more women need to. Although it is challenging for women to enter into sports like football, basketball, and even soccer, they inspire others to try. Luaren Silberman did try to inspire, although she struggled, she tried.