Sport

Phoebe Schecter: NFL broadcaster turned flag football player

Published

4 hours ago

September 21, 2024

Phoebe Schecter: NFL broadcaster turned flag football player

More than a decade after seeing that social media ad, Schecter is one of the UK’s biggest American football personalities.

But don’t let her accent fool you. Her love of American football blossomed in the UK.

“When I was in the States, I watched maybe two Super Bowls,” she says. “I hate to say it now, but I thought the sport was so boring. I didn’t understand it at all.

“So now, to think I was able to work my way up and go to the NFL, it’s kind of one of those pinch-me things, that you don’t believe is real.”

Soon after the trial in Manchester, Schecter became one of the founding members of the GB women’s tackle football team. She also started playing flag football – the non-contact version of the game, which will make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028 – and with the Staffordshire Surge, a men’s tackle team.

She took an interest in coaching and in 2016 did the first of three internships at American universities. Then in 2017, she did the first of two internships with the Buffalo Bills, becoming Britain’s first female coach in the NFL.

Having not grown up with the game, Schecter says she “came into this whole experience knowing I was behind the eight ball – I had to fast-track my learning”.

She created her own glossary to help herself with the game’s terminology. She printed pictures of the Bills’ coaching staff so she’d know who was who. She joined as many meetings as possible and continually asked questions.

“It was a baptism of fire,” she says. “It was definitely a huge learning curve. But being curious has been really helpful for me. I was doing whatever I could to build my experience and absorb as much information as possible.

“I wanted to learn and was so passionate. I had consistent, positive energy – every single day, no matter what the result was at the weekend. It may seem like nothing, but it’s actually really important.

“Once you understand the value you bring to a team, it gives you that boost of confidence of ‘I know why I’m here, I know what I can do’.”

The NFL is a male-dominated environment but Schecter tried to ignore the fact she was one of the few women clocking in at the Bills’ training facility each day.

“If you go into that experience thinking ‘oh my gosh, I’m the only woman here’, you already have the wrong mindset, your focus is going to be on the wrong thing,” she says. “I was there to be the best educator and coach I can be, regardless of my background.

“Some of the guys were saying ‘hey, what can’t I say around you?’ But I said ‘in order to get the best version of you, I need you to be your authentic self, to speak freely’. If it’s not something you’d say in front of your mother or grandmother, perhaps it’s something you shouldn’t be saying in a professional environment anyway.

“But being a woman was also a super power in some ways. Having those inter-personal skills, a lot of my athletes felt more comfortable speaking to me because they grew up in single-mother homes, so to have a female around wasn’t a bad thing.

“They just weren’t used to it in a coaching capacity.”

Schecter remembers the moment she truly felt that she belonged.

The Bills’ offensive unit had a meeting each morning and everyone would sit in the same seat. When a new player came in mid-season and sat in Schecter’s seat he was told ‘you’ve got to get up, this is her seat’.

“That meant so much,” she says. “It was only a little thing but the feeling of belonging was huge. I was really a part of that team. They really saw me as one of them.”

Schecter has enjoyed a similar feeling in her broadcasting career, which also began by chance.

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Football

Liverpool cut Milan open at will – Warnock

Published

50 seconds ago

September 21, 2024

NewsAdmin

Liverpool cut Milan open at will – Warnock

BBC Sport’s Stephen Warnock praises Liverpool’s attacking prowess in their 3-1 win against AC Milan in the Champions League.

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MMA

Joshua vs. Dubois Results: Live updates of the undercard and main event

Published

18 mins ago

September 21, 2024

NewsAdmin

Joshua vs. Dubois Results: Live updates of the undercard and main event

MMA Fighting has Joshua vs. Dubois results live for the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois fight card at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on Saturday afternoon.

When the main event begins around 5 p.m. ET, check out our Joshua vs. Dubois live round-by-round updates for our live blog of the main event.

Anthony Joshua (28-3) has reeled off four straight victories, including a devastating knockout of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou this past March.

Daniel Dubois (21-2) was recently promoted to IBF world heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt. He defeated Filip Hrgovic via eighth-round TKO this past June to win the IBF interim title.

Check out the Joshua vs. Dubois results below.

Fight Card (PPV.com at 11 a.m. ET)

Main event

Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois — IBF heavyweight title fight

Undercard

Tyler Denny vs. Hamza Sheeraz — EBU European middleweight title fight

Anthony Cacace vs. Josh Warrington — IBF and IBO super featherweight title fight

Ishmael Davis vs. Josh Kelly — 12-round middleweight fight

Joshua Buatsi vs. Willy Hutchinson — WBO interim light heavyweight title fight

Mark Chamberlain vs. Josh Padley — 10-round lightweight fight

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MMA

Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois: Live round-by-round updates

Published

39 mins ago

September 21, 2024

NewsAdmin

MMA Fighting has Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois live round-by-round updates for one of the most anticipated boxing fights of the year at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on Saturday afternoon.

The main event is expected to begin around 5 p.m. ET on DAZN and PPV.com pay-per-view. Check out our Joshua vs. Dubois results page to find out what happened on the undercard.

Anthony Joshua (28-3) has reeled off four straight victories, including a devastating knockout of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou this past March.

Get the Joshua vs. Dubois main event live blog below.

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Round 6:

Round 7:

Round 8:

Round 9:

Round 10:

Round 11:

Round 12:

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Football

Duggan's best WSL goals

Published

1 hour ago

September 21, 2024

NewsAdmin

Watch some of Toni Duggan’s best Women’s Super League goals as she announces her retirement from professional football after spells at Everton, Manchester City, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

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MMA

Elisandra Ferreira win vacant atomweight title

Published

1 hour ago

September 21, 2024

NewsAdmin

Elisandra Ferreira win vacant atomweight title

Elisandra Ferreira is the new Invicta atomweight champion.

Invicta FC 57 took place Friday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., featuring a championship bout for the vacant atomweight title. Elisandra Ferreira took Andressa Romero in a hard-fought battle over 25 minutes. After the dust settled, Ferreira was crowned the new Invicta atomweight champion by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46).

The fight was intense.

Ferreira set the tone early in the opening round by clipping Romero with punches. However, as the fight went on, things evened out. Romero quickly rebounded to win Round 2, tying up the fight on all three judges’ scorecards.

The fight became an all-out scrap between two fighters hungry to claim the vacant title. Both had moments on the feet and in the grappling department, but often, the pair just slugged it out as they stood toe-to-toe.

This is CRAZY! #InvictaFC57 pic.twitter.com/TBhHT1mcGl
— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) September 21, 2024

The judges scored the fight unanimously in Ferreira’s favor, crowning the 26-year-old Brazilian the new champion.

Injury ends Invicta FC 57 co-feature early

The co-main event ended abruptly in an unfortunate fashion.

Nayara Maia took on Kristina Williams in a flyweight bout, but the fight was over before the fighters got into their rhythm. Unfortunately for Maia (7-2-1), who was sporting knee braces on both legs, she could not continue after her right knee gave out while charging forward with punches. As a result, Williams (8-4) earned a TKO victory in just 31 seconds.

Unfortunate ending as Nayara Maia goes down to injury. #InvictaFC57 pic.twitter.com/g1RwNuT1ku
— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) September 21, 2024

Full Invicta FC 57 results

Elisandra Ferreira def. Andressa Romero via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)– for vacant atomweight title
Kristina Williams def. Nayara Maia via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 0:31
DeAnna Bennett def. Liz Tracy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Milana Dudieva def. Sandra Lavado via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jamie Edenden def. Abby Montes via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Maria Djukic def. Maria Jose Favela via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:57
Fernanda Orellana def. Meaghan Penning via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Quinn Williams def. Ana Vitoria via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)