The women’s rights advocate has followed Arians and his program closely, taking part in an Epix and NFL Films feature last season that highlighted both the Bucs head coach and the team’s two female coaches, assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar and assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust. Arians has also participated in the Women’s Careers in Football Forum hosted by the NFL as a way to further enforce his commitment to gender inclusivity within professional football.
“Our organization is so inclusive,” said Arians. “The Bucs organization themselves are frontrunners in handling inclusiveness and diversity on staffs and in our building. There were no repercussions. It was just, “If they’re the best people to help you win, let’s hire them….It’s the same thing I told my daughter a long time ago – anything is out there for you. Work hard, put your nose to the grindstone and don’t give up. Don’t ever give up; just keep fighting for it.”
The presentation of the Champion for Equality award was even complete with a message from Arians’ new quarterback, Tom Brady.
“It’s so important that we continue to fight for equality in sports so we can send the right message to our kids that it doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, where you come from, any of that,” he said. “What matters most is the work you’re willing to put in when no one is watching.”
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
