February 26, 2021
Seven women were on the field helping with this year’s Super Bowl, and one of them was an Iranian-American, Maral Javadifar.
She was one of two women on the coaching staff of the winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where she serves as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
“I do look forward to the day when it’s no longer newsworthy to be a woman working in the pros or making the Super Bowl, for that matter,” Javadifar told reporters on an NFL Zoom call.
“I hope we get to a point where all people are afforded equal opportunities to work in professional sports, because there are a lot of great, qualified coaches out there. I’ve said it before, it doesn’t matter your gender, or your race or your ethnicity.”
She said she was “so proud” to work for a team like the Buccaneers, “where all the characteristics of gender, race, all that stuff doesn’t matter and they’re looking to hire a qualified person.”
Maral Javadifar, known as MJ, was born to Iranian parents who fled Iran in 1984. She grew up in the New York City borough of Queens, watching her parents work hard as immigrants so that she and her brother could pursue their passions. While growing up, their mother shared stories about the opportunities that had been denied to women in Iran, including the ability to attend sporting events.
“She was escaping a revolution and she didn’t have any of these opportunities to be a woman in society,” Javadifar told the Tampa Bay Times. “So, when she came here, it was kind of like, ‘We’re going to break down barriers’.”
Maral became interested in physical therapy after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear during her high school years. After a successful physical therapy rehabilitation and strength and conditioning program, she received a college basketball scholarship from Pace University, where she went on to compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament three times during her collegiate career.
Maral earned a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from Pace, and a doctorate in physical therapy from New York Medical College. After completing her Sports Physical Therapy Residency at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019, she was brought in as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Buccaneers.
Together with Lori Locust, the Assistant Defensive Line Coach, they became the first full-time female coaches in franchise history, making Tampa Bay the first NFL team with two female coaches on staff. (It was Bruce Arians, the Buccaneers’ head coach, who made the decision to add women to his staff when he took over.)
In a recent interview with ESPN, Cameron Brate, the Buccaneers tight end, noted that given Javadifar’s wealth of experience and knowledge of the human body, the players found out quickly that she was someone to go to. “Every morning before meetings and after every practice, there’s a line of five or six guys waiting to have her work on them,” he said.