The NFL named Maia Chaka as its first official black woman in the game, NBC’s “TODAY” program, reported exclusively on Friday.
“It is an honor to join the National Football League,” said Chaka.
When she got the call about the position on Monday, she thought she was being punished.
“Just because I’ve been at it for so long and I never thought that day would come,” Chaka told Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones.
The moment “hasn’t really hit me yet,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t stop and smell our own roses.”
Chaka has been training in the NFL since 2014. She has also worked in XFL and college side games.
She said that a good referee has to be patient, be able to listen “and you need to have confidence in the field to make the decision”.
“You are going to make mistakes and not necessarily how many mistakes you make, but it is how you recover,” said Chaka.
Chaka, a physical education and health teacher for at-risk youth in Virginia Beach, said she hoped her new role would show students that “if you have a passion for something or a desire to do something, don’t let yourself be overwhelmed. comes back just because you think something might give you some kind of limitation. “
“Work hard and always, always, always follow your dreams,” she said.
Chaka is the second female NFL referee. Sarah Thomas was hired as the first full-time female officer in the NFL in 2015. In February, she became the first woman to officiate at a Super Bowl.
