FOOT FAULT: Lauren Silberman, trying to become the first woman to make the NFL, misses badly on a kickoff attempt yesterday, then trudges away icing a quad injury. (
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The goal was to make history, but the result was just plain embarrassing.
A New Yorker’s bid to become the first woman to complete an NFL tryout proved to be a wince-inducing bust yesterday, ending in tears and pain after two woefully short kickoff attempts at a league-sponsored regional combine held at the Jets’ indoor practice facility in Florham Park.
Lauren Silberman, a 28-year-old MIT graduate who said she is a former club soccer player at Wisconsin, managed to send her two kicks just 14 and 16 yards — both laughable distances — before exiting in tears with what she said was an aggravated quadriceps injury.
Silberman was examined by one of the NFL’s athletic trainers on hand and tried to persuade combine officials to let her complete the tryout by attempting field goals, but they couldn’t be talked into it.
It came off like a publicity stunt gone terribly bad, but NFL officials insisted that Silberman signed up entirely on her own and paid the $275 fee to participate in what essentially is an open tryout.
“It’s pretty hard to know that you’d be in pain, and I certainly tried to work through it, but I just couldn’t do it today,” Silberman said. “I know I can do a lot more. It’s too bad that this happened, but I had to do what’s right for my body so I can come out and keep kicking in the future.”
That future almost certainly won’t involve trying out for the NFL this year. The last regional combine is in Seattle in just two weeks, and it’s extremely doubtful any team would try to get Silberman invited to the super regional combine in Arlington, Texas, next month.
Silberman, a New York City resident with a consulting firm devoted to helping athletes improve performance through video games (also the subject of her MIT thesis), drew snickers when her first attempt didn’t even cross the midfield stripe.
Silberman also was so nervous that she had noticeable trouble even teeing up the football for the second attempt, but she tried to hold out hope the assembled scouts would cut her slack because of the injury.
Her quadriceps was in such pain, Silberman said, she didn’t even attempt any warmup kicks alongside the 36 other placekicking hopefuls.
“[The kickoff attempts yesterday] certainly didn’t go as far as they were in practices, but I tried to work through the pain,” said Silberman, who said she first injured the quadriceps last week in workouts. “The distance wasn’t there, but hopefully the scouts will notice my technique. It’s not always length.”
The director of the NFL’s regional combines, Stephen Austin, said the aborted tryout was all Silberman’s doing and the only thing the league provided was an opportunity.
“Our job is to evaluate talent and leave no stone unturned,” Austin said. “Until they get here, we don’t have any idea of how any of them are going to perform.”
Silberman is free to sign up for one or more of the regional combines again next year, but she sounded unclear if that will be in the cards.
“I would be very, very excited to have the opportunity again,” Silberman said. “I’m just really happy I had this amazing experience. I might be the first woman trying out for the NFL, but I certainly hope that I’m not the last.”