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Play Big: Conquer Your Fears and Make Your Dreams a Reality - Lessons from the First Woman to Coach in the NFL
An inspiring, gutsy handbook for success from the first woman to ever coach in the NFL
When Jen Welter became a linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015, she was the first woman to ever break the glass sideline of the NFL. In Play Big , Welter reveals the grit that it took to be a trailblazer in the ultimate boys' club.
Pre-NFL, Welter was an undersized, underestimated athlete who made sacrifice after sacrifice to achieve her football dreams -- rising to the top of women's football leagues and eventually daring to play against men twice her size. Play Big lays out how she succeeded despite the odds, through force of will and determination, revealing the wisdom Welter gained over countless setbacks and challenges. With vivid wit and candor, Play Big will coach you to do the same -- whatever your obstacles might be -- while translating Welter's hard-earned advice for cultivating true perseverance and toughness.
When Jen Welter became a linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015, she was the first woman to ever break the glass sideline of the NFL. In Play Big , Welter reveals the grit that it took to be a trailblazer in the ultimate boys' club.
Pre-NFL, Welter was an undersized, underestimated athlete who made sacrifice after sacrifice to achieve her football dreams -- rising to the top of women's football leagues and eventually daring to play against men twice her size. Play Big lays out how she succeeded despite the odds, through force of will and determination, revealing the wisdom Welter gained over countless setbacks and challenges. With vivid wit and candor, Play Big will coach you to do the same -- whatever your obstacles might be -- while translating Welter's hard-earned advice for cultivating true perseverance and toughness.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published October 3, 2017
11 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 19, 2017
Football has been an important part of Jen Walters’ life since she was a child. She played tackle football in school, had a long and successful career in women’s professional football as a linebacker, became the first woman to play in a men’s professional league (as a running back), and then became the first woman to coach in the NFL when she was the linebacker coach for the Arizona Cardinals during the 2016 training camp and preseason. Being so good at breaking glass ceilings, she decided to help other women accomplish the same thing in their fields with this fast-paced book that is a quick and enjoyable read.
While women are the targeted audience of this book, it is very useful for everyone. Advice on such traits maintaining a positive attitude, keeping lines of communication open and facing adversity is given out liberally between stories and accounts of her football career and some information on her personal life and education as well. An example of this type of advice that she learned during her football career came when she was studying the Cardinals’ playbook and she came across the term “salt and pepper.” She was trying to figure out what it meant in football – as it turned out, it was a minor detail in the team’s own language. It was a lesson to not get too lost in minor details and she uses that to provide advice to readers.
Even though Dr. Welter was a coach, don’t expect to read about playbooks, how a linebacker will fill the gap before a running back gains yardage or the drills she made her players run. Instead, the coaching she did in both the men’s indoor football league (the same league in which she was a player) and for the Cardinals was about attitude and confidence. Her notes left for each of her players became the talk of not only the Cardinals’ training camp, but of the entire league. While her time with the Cardinals may have been short (she was considered an intern and no interns were kept by the team after the preseason ended), her legacy for women in a game that has been an exclusive male club will last for a long time.
I wish to thank Da Capo Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
While women are the targeted audience of this book, it is very useful for everyone. Advice on such traits maintaining a positive attitude, keeping lines of communication open and facing adversity is given out liberally between stories and accounts of her football career and some information on her personal life and education as well. An example of this type of advice that she learned during her football career came when she was studying the Cardinals’ playbook and she came across the term “salt and pepper.” She was trying to figure out what it meant in football – as it turned out, it was a minor detail in the team’s own language. It was a lesson to not get too lost in minor details and she uses that to provide advice to readers.
Even though Dr. Welter was a coach, don’t expect to read about playbooks, how a linebacker will fill the gap before a running back gains yardage or the drills she made her players run. Instead, the coaching she did in both the men’s indoor football league (the same league in which she was a player) and for the Cardinals was about attitude and confidence. Her notes left for each of her players became the talk of not only the Cardinals’ training camp, but of the entire league. While her time with the Cardinals may have been short (she was considered an intern and no interns were kept by the team after the preseason ended), her legacy for women in a game that has been an exclusive male club will last for a long time.
I wish to thank Da Capo Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
September 12, 2017
I wanted to like this more than I ultimately did. I think it's because I went in expecting a different kind of book than it was. For those also looking for that kind of book, Amy Trask's You Negotiate Like a Girl: Reflections on a Career in the National Football League hits the spot.
I thought it would be more about her NFL stint, which was my own poor research. I did enjoy the book though. I liked the message that just because someone says you can't, doesn't always mean you can't. Maybe she could have been a tennis pro too. It's also a lesson that coaches need to stop saying can't.
I think all of her teammates as well as the players she coached were lucky to have her. I also liked the layer she added to the stories that went beyond what has been covered in her interviews. And of course there's the silliness in and over analysis of the handshake between she and Sarah Thomas.
A good read ahead of the NFL season.
I thought it would be more about her NFL stint, which was my own poor research. I did enjoy the book though. I liked the message that just because someone says you can't, doesn't always mean you can't. Maybe she could have been a tennis pro too. It's also a lesson that coaches need to stop saying can't.
I think all of her teammates as well as the players she coached were lucky to have her. I also liked the layer she added to the stories that went beyond what has been covered in her interviews. And of course there's the silliness in and over analysis of the handshake between she and Sarah Thomas.
A good read ahead of the NFL season.
March 24, 2021
Now, THIS is what real feminism is. You go and do things better than anyone else instead of prattling about how you're destined for equality.
TBC
TBC
February 25, 2019
Recommended to me by a student. Somehow, I wasn't aware of this - Dr. Jen Welter was the first woman to coach in the NFL. She has an amazing story - and is forthright about the difficulties women's sports face in obtaining sponsorship as well as her own struggles in relationships and trying to figure out what to do in her life. Each chapter has sidebars or text boxes that summarize great women in sports or highlight her messages of how to Play Big. Put on all 4 SR lists?
September 9, 2018
Lessons in being limitless from the first coach in the NFL.
Also, the first female to play in professional football outside of the kicker position at a whopping 5’0. Play Big is her story of how she made it in a predominantly male sport. Her recount of her time playing women’s professional football is a testament to determination and grit. There is almost no respect for women’s professional football and it would have been easy to give up and continue with her successful business career. It is especially tough to keep going when there isn’t any real possibility of continuing to make it to the next level. There was no guarantee that Welter would have made it to the NFL as a coach because she was the first one to break that barrier.
She has a degree in sports psychology and a Ph.D. in psychology which is one of the reasons why I chose to read this book. I wanted insight into an active application of sports psychology, which shows with her thoughts on greatness: Greatness is not an accident. Greatness is a choice you make over and over and over. And when you choose personal greatness, it becomes a part of who you are.
Pursue Greatness: www.outworkinc.com
r/Onward
Also, the first female to play in professional football outside of the kicker position at a whopping 5’0. Play Big is her story of how she made it in a predominantly male sport. Her recount of her time playing women’s professional football is a testament to determination and grit. There is almost no respect for women’s professional football and it would have been easy to give up and continue with her successful business career. It is especially tough to keep going when there isn’t any real possibility of continuing to make it to the next level. There was no guarantee that Welter would have made it to the NFL as a coach because she was the first one to break that barrier.
She has a degree in sports psychology and a Ph.D. in psychology which is one of the reasons why I chose to read this book. I wanted insight into an active application of sports psychology, which shows with her thoughts on greatness: Greatness is not an accident. Greatness is a choice you make over and over and over. And when you choose personal greatness, it becomes a part of who you are.
Pursue Greatness: www.outworkinc.com
r/Onward
February 12, 2018
Great story about Jen Welter, the first female to coach the NFL. The story is great though the advice given is fairly generic.
November 13, 2025
I have no clue why anyone rated this less than 5. She broke barriers and walked us through how she did it. This woman is harmonious balance of elegance, strength, and courage.
August 28, 2017
This is a very inspirational book!
January 14, 2020
Tidbits of knowledge but often repetitive. However, repetition can drive progress?
December 31, 2021
Well written. Dr. Welter has lived an amazing life and offers solid ways for women to aim high in life based on her personal experience.
December 24, 2020
I honestly don't know where to begin with this book. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride but a really good set of lessons overall.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews