There are some women making history at the Super Bowl today in Tampa Bay. Sarah Thomas is set to be the first woman to officiate the Super Bowl in the down judge position. This is huge for women and girls in sports, allowing them to realize that no dream is too big.
Before getting her role in the Super Bowl Sarah broke way into college bowl games, in 2009 she was one of five female referees in the major college football and at the end of a full 11 game season, she was the only female referee in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
In 2011 she became the first woman to officiate a Big Ten game. It wasn’t until 2015 that she finally got a permanent spot in the NFL officiating her first regular season game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans. Four years later she became the first female to officiate a playoff game, continuing to pave the way for women in sports. She was part of the crew who officiated the AFC playoff game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019.
Sarah made headlines again when she was named as part of the officiating crew in the 2021 Super Bowl. She isn’t the only woman taking a role on the big stage today, the Bucs have two female coaches on their staff. Lori Locust is the assistant defensive line coach and Maral Javadifar is an assistant strength and conditioning coach. Both these women are entering their second season with the Buccaneers.
These three women are making history in an already historic Super Bowl. This Super Bowl is the first time that a team to play the big game in their home stadium. While this is Tom Brady’s record 10th Super Bowl appearance with the opportunity to be the oldest QB to win the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes has the opportunity to be the youngest QB to win multiple Super Bowls. So no matter who wins, there will be history made.
Locust and Javadifar are not the first female coaches to coach in a Super Bowl, in 2020 Katie Sowers was an assistant offensive coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Despite their loss, Sowers made history on the sidelines. In 2017 she also made history as the first openly LGBTQ in the NFL, this was also after she was rejected a coaching position at the college level in 2009 because of her sexual orientation. Sowers announced that she was parting ways from the 49ers after four seasons, who knows what her next move is going to be, but I’m sure she will continue to have support wherever she goes next.
As much as I love these women making headlines in the sports world, I hope that one day gender will not matter in sports. If a person holds the right skillset to coach or officiate a game, it shouldn’t matter if they’re male or female, but for now I hope women in sports keep paving the way to allow women and girls of all ages to dream big and reach for their goals on the field and on the courts. Good luck out there, ladies!
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