SAN DIEGO, CA (KGTV) — There are only a handful of females on NFL coaching staff's, and that number accounts for a little over one percent of NFL coaches.
Despite the low number, Marena Schiess, a sophomore at Mater Dei Catholic High School, hopes to one day be an NFL coach. A huge Chicago Bears fan, Marana's passion for football comes from her dad.
"He never made me feel dumb for liking football because I was a girl," Schiess said. "He always encouraged my passion for football, as did the rest of my family."
The Mater Dei Catholic sophomore has taken her passion to the flag football field this Spring, as she is coaching on Friday nights and, fittingly, is coaching the Bears.
"It's a lot of fun because I'm coaching my brother and some of his friends. The people here were not expecting me to be the head coach, and they were even more shocked when they found out I was in high school," Schiess said. "Being the head coach is all about owning up to the fact that I'm different. I guess it probably shouldn't have worked that a 16-year-old girl is teaching a bunch of 15, 14, and 13 year old's, but it did."
While Schiess' loves all aspects of football, her passion is coaching the offense. As the Bears' head coach, she has drawn up the plays and calls all the plays. She compares calling offensive plays to mathematics and problem-solving.
"It's like solving a puzzle. All the routes of one yard can make a difference," she said. "It's all about manipulation of where the players are and how we use their athletic ability to the fullest."
Marena also serves as a student intern coach for the Mater Dei Catholic football team. That experience she hopes will guide her on a path to one day working in the NFL.
"Currently, the dream is to be a coach, but I don't know if that is at the college level or the NFL," she said. "Another thing that greatly interests me is possibly becoming a general manager."
