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28-year-old Lauren Silberman made history in 2013 by becoming the first woman to get a tryout at the NFL regional combine. While her performance didn't get her a spot on any NFL team, she broke a diversity barrier most people thought would never be possible.
When the NFL made it official for women to join the league in 2012, not too many people expected it to change anything. After all, football is one of the most physical sports in the world. Silberman, on the other hand, was ready to give it a shot.
Aside from playing club soccer at the University of Wisconsin during her college days, her only experience at kicking a ball happened to be at a Super Bowl fan event. Despite her lack of experience, Silberman gave it a go. She paid the $275 registration fee and even sought to kick a field goal 60 yards long. She was one of 37 kickers invited that year to the regional combine. Unfortunately, her tryout didn't last long.
Things looked doomed for Silberman from the get-go. There were reports she suffered a quad injury the week before the combine and refused to do her 30-minute warm-up. Instead, she did pushups and crunches to get her body ready. Her methods puzzled former Division I kicker Katie Hnida, the first woman to score an extra point in a Division I game. “Her technique was terrible,” Hnida told USA Today. “You never go in kicking cold. There's a reason why the kickers are the first people out there. It takes us a while to warm up.” Moreover, three of the kickers Silberman was with that day told reporters they had to teach her how to make the football stand upright before kicking.
Nonetheless, Silberman stepped up to take a kick. Her first kick traveled 19 yards and her second kick wasn't any better, traveling just 13 yards. After her second kick, she had to call on her trainer to examine her injured quad. Silberman still had six remaining kicks but that turned out to be her last kick of the day.
Some call Silberman's NFL tryouts a letdown, but overall, it was a pretty huge accomplishment. She suffered from a quad injury and never even kicked a football for most of her life.
