SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT - SCHOLASTIC DIVISION .. .. . LaLisa Anthony - Gridiron Pioneer by Sara Vallone, Vice President - American Football Networks August 5, 2014 “We are able to do whatever we want once we commit to it, we do it in an orderly fashion and we are consistent,” commented LaLisa Anthony, the National Football League's Regional Director for the Midwest where she manages and directs the High School Player Development Program (HSPD) for the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts venues. Anthony is the type of woman who takes what life throws at her and never looks back. Regret isn’t in her vocabulary. These are the words she lived by from the start of her career as an undergraduate student at Case Western with three small children at home to when she was sent to the Bahamas for three years alone to enhance the popularity of football internationally and everything she has done in between and beyond. To Anthony, twists and turns throughout her journey are not hurdles she has to overcome but rather lessons learned that will help her as she continues forward down this path of unique success. The story of Anthony’s success began when she was asked to stand in and observe a city council meeting as a mother of three former student athletes to see what the parent’s of current student athletes thought of the youth football program in her hometown and the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Canton, Ohio. Through her keen observations of the meeting, Anthony was asked to become the first female president for the Canton Youth Football League. “In sports, women have now crossed over into the media very well. There are women administrators, women running community relations departments, running NFL team foundations, there are also women owners; it’s not unusual,” Anthony said. “But a woman in sport development, the actual development of the sport and the actual player development that is unusual, because typically that is going to be your former player or your former coach that have that role.” It didn’t matter that the male race dominated in the development of the game, it’s where Anthony thrived and so she continued down the path to making the sport of football a better and safer sport for young children to play. Following her gig as the first women president for the Youth Football program, Anthony was selected as one of the original National Football Foundation’s “Play It Smart” academic coaches in August 2000, a program created to help put an emphasis on academics in the world of sport. After Anthony’s first year with “Play It Smart,” the National Football League became the organizations primary financial supporter, thus kick starting Anthony’s long and prosperous career as one of the League’s top women. Anthony’s job as a high school academic coach and sports counselor was to see things differently than the other football coaches. It was the head coaches job to deal with the X’s and O’s and physicality of the game but it was Anthony’s job to observe and address the change in an athlete’s demeanor,  helping with the mental aspect of the sport. What Anthony was doing with high school football programs then has now transformed into the Player Development position that college football programs rely so heavily on these days. Head coaches don’t always have the time to know exactly what is going on in the lives of every single player on the roster having to focus on every other aspect of the game; it’s the Player Development coaches’ job to solely focus on the well-being of their athletes. It is no surprise that this position has become extremely important in every level of Football. If you ask Anthony if this career path was something she has always dreamed of doing she will tell you “absolutely not!” Although it may have not been her dream, there is no doubt that this journey is her destiny. “I enjoy ­­the challenge of looking at a program or looking at the possibility of implementing a sport program and seeing how to make it better and because I wasn’t a player or a coach I definitely look at that through a different lens,” Anthony said. “I look at it from all the lenses, it’s kind of odd and very peculiar, but I can look at it from a player’s perspective, a coach’s perspective, a parent’s perspective, a community supporter’s perspective; it’s really peculiar. I don’t have a bias toward one particular angle.” It’s because of the way Anthony can see the big picture and understand all the facets that go into making a notable sports program that has allowed her to continue her success and helped her continue to grow. The players, the coaches, and the community are also what inspires and motivates Anthony to continue to create a better and more effective program then the last and maintain her career with the NFL. “I so often say that [my job] is what keeps me up at night, it’s what wakes me up in the middle of the night, but it is also what causes me to rest well,” explained Anthony. “It’s that thing that I’ve done for free and continue to do for free. It’s absolutely very inspirational to me to be able to positively impact and effect change in individuals and groups lives. It excites me.” Currently, Anthony is the NFL’s Regional Director for the Midwest where she manages and oversees the High School Player Development Program (HSPD) that is operated out of the NFL’s football operations offices for the Cleveland Brown, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts markets.  One of her main priorities is to not only makes sure the camps operate smoothly and according to what the Leagues guidelines are but to make sure the staff and the coaches are aware of what the NFL expects from them. Anthony also acts as a liaison within the NFL’s partnership with the National Guard for the same four states (including Kentucky) she is assigned to for the High School Development Program. If her resume hasn’t already impressed you enough, aside from having a fulfilling career with the NFL, Anthony is currently in the process of completing her PhD in Public Policy and Administration and continues to play a large role within the Bahamas American Football Federation. During her time with the Bahamas American Football Federation, Anthony was faced with the task of implementing a plan to better the Bahamian Youth Football program and encourage more children to give the sport a try. Anthony hasn’t found a way to just become one of the highest ranked female football administrators within the League and internationally, earn a PhD and be a mother first a foremost to her three children, but she also launched her very own consulting company called “Building Lives through Sport.” Anthony’s goals through her company are to exercise positive youth development through sports to affect social change that will help lead to the successful completion of secondary education, to encourage people of influence to get involved with youth sport programs by way of coaching, mentoring, or counseling, and to educate others on public health concerns and issues within the sporting world. Anthony has never faltered from her chosen path. She follows her life credence of “commitment, order and constancy” and never stopped learning nor was resistant to change. She believes in herself and has faith in the choices she has made for both her family and her career. So how exactly does LaLisa Anthony maintain her career with the NFL and still continue to grow? “I don’t know!” Anthony laughs. “It is adding up! When I talk to people now, they are like ‘wow you have been around a long time!’ It’s just the area that works for me. I guess that all of us just have our place and things that we are suppose to do and that’s just that place [for me]." ..