October 5, 2021 • 24 mins
Team Clinician Dr. Tricia Bent-Goodley, Director of Sports Nutrition Sarah Snyder, and Seamstress Manager Ebony Short talk about their unique jobs and what it's like working on the football side of the Ravens organization.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome back to the Purple Chair Podcast. I'm your host,
Cassie Calvert, and today I'm going to take you behind
the curtain of the Ravens organization. Did you know NFL
franchises have jobs focused on mental health? How about a
seamstress manager. There's so much more to NFL franchises than
meets the eye. So meet three incredible women with three
(00:28):
very different jobs. Welcome Sarah Snyder, the director of Sports Nutrition,
Dr Tricia Bent Goodley, team clinician, and Ebony Short, seamstress manager,
to the Purple Chair Podcast. All right, let's start with
how we got here. So, Ebany, what was your background
before coming to the Ravens. I'll start with you and
for fans who might not know, what is your job
entail as a seamstress manager? Boy? So background, uh, I'm like,
(00:55):
how can I keep it short and sweet? Um? Primarily
theater I did. I was in UM working on Broadway
for a few years as a costume technician and did
all like h God, almost all the shows so like
Lion King, Wicked, Hamilton's all the all the fun stuff.
(01:16):
And then UM, I would work on cruise ships for
a while. I did that. I was in fashion. That's
where my primary UM start was, and then designing and
then doing custom like Peacebo clothes for for people, and
then and then moved out of New York and then
came here and sort of applied not really not even
knowing that football teams had seems and then uh, and
(01:40):
so I said, okay, well why not? And I was
traveling for a while working with another studio and came
in and um, and they made it worth worth it
to stay. So UM, I am now the seamstress manager UM,
which we have like five seamstresses with us, and UM
we do everything from that. Primary thing is repairs alterations
(02:04):
UM on the jerseys and uniforms. We make up about
pads to sew into the pants and uh and patches
like any anything with sewing. And then and then beyond
because then there's things like I was painting cleats last night,
So anything beyond that, you know, it helps supports the
players and the coaches for getting day. For sure is
(02:25):
it's kind of what falls under our wheelhouse will repair equipment.
That's fascinating me. I don't think people really, I think
people just think, you know, like Jersey's come here and yeah,
you know, yeah, and so there's a lot of mbroidery,
a lot of name plates. I mean, um and don't
fact check me, but we might be one of two
teams and no Green Bay has a department. Um, I
(02:46):
don't know about who else, but one of two teams
that even have them, and so we definitely offer like
the customization that you really can't get anywhere else is
I think one of the biggest appeals because the guy
has come in and they want pants where certain areas,
so they has to be a certain spot or you know,
whatever the case may be, or something that's simple, like
we had someone start the other day and was able
(03:08):
to run out into practice and so like things like
if his name won its jersey, you know, which is
never doesn't usually happen, especially when you don't have a
team of ladies that can push it out. So yeah,
it's it is. It is fascinating because if you do,
you see a game thing and you're like, oh, they
just have these are ready, and then you're like, no, no,
(03:29):
I want to back up to one other thing too.
It's just fascinating to me that you came from Broadway,
you're doing costumes, and now you work for a football team.
Did you ever think when you're on Broadway working for
Hamilton's and all these crazy shows, like one day you'd
be working for a football team. No? No, I mean
you know, I was always a huge football fan that
come from a big like football sports family in general,
(03:51):
and so even there, if I would talk about football
there they were like, so that was always the funniest,
uh part of it. But never never what have the like,
oh we'll have seems just in the nfl um which
is fun. That's always a fun super neat all. Right,
Dr Trisha will move to use. You came to the
(04:13):
Ravens from a Howard University and you were kind of
in a hybrid role for a while. Now you're with
the team full time. You've had so many numerous accolades
in your career and now you're the team clinician for
the Ravens. So what does team clinician actually like mean
for your day to day role? So, so first I
have to say, I'm super excited to be sitting next
to these two women and it completely blows me away
(04:35):
because you work with people every day, but you don't
know just how great they really are. You know how
great they are, But now it's like, Golly, I can't
wait for with Sarah um UM. But the role of
the team clinician some call the role behavioral health clinician
UM is to really be a support of mental health
(04:56):
support and emotional support two players, coaches, and of families.
So you work with pretty much everyone. You know, you
support UM staff as well within the organization providing mental
health education being available and if a crisis occurs, UM
being able to refer people, whether that's here in the
Baltimore area or back home, making sure that they have
(05:20):
the resources and the supports that they need. Uh, you know,
on a seven basis basically, so you know, whenever someone
has a need, we don't necessarily get off season. UM.
You know we're available whenever someone needs us. Right, what
do you think is like you just mentioned your resource
kind of all encompassing. What's the most important aspect of
(05:41):
your role to you? I think I would say one,
you have to be clinically sound. You have to be
able to put pieces of puzzles together, because sometimes people
don't always know exactly how they feel or what they're feeling.
They just know it doesn't feel right. So you know,
you you really have to be clinically sound, But I
(06:02):
would say more than anything, you have to be able
to build relationships with different groups of people. UM. You
have to be able to connect with different people, understand
their story, UM, kind of put yourself where they are
and support them in that space. And I think you've
always got to have a vision or hope for what
(06:25):
is possible when people don't. So don't you mentioned her
position is kind of unique. Do all positions or all
teams excuse me, have a position like yours? Are you
aware of that? So every club as of twenty nineteen
UM the c b A, they were all required to
have a team clinician. Team clinicians are required to be
(06:46):
at clubs eight to ten hours a week. We me
being here full time is rare. There are only a
few of us that are actually full time working in
our clubs and fully integrated. So UM, I always say
that even before the cv A, I always felt pretty
well integrated. Even before I became full time, there was
always a support for this role and a respect for
(07:10):
the role itself. Team clinicians have to maintain confidentiality, but
even before that was part of the c b A.
That was something that we did and was valued here,
so I think we were pretty fortunate. Um. We have
a lot of really great support for this role, and
that does make a huge difference. Sarah. I think when
I say you're the director of sports nutrition, most people
(07:31):
understand that has to do with the nutrition for the players.
But what are all the different responsibilities of your role? UM.
I would echo a lot of what doctor Tris said,
and it's really, um, whatever the players need if they
have a goal to lean out, gain weight, even just
to maintain weight during the training camp we just had,
that was a challenge and I applaud so many of
(07:52):
our guys for maintaining while they expended so much on
the field and in that weather that we had as
hot as it was. Um. It can be a specific
requests on the road, um. Travel, certain people have special diets. UM.
So there are specific preferences from beverages to products, to
(08:13):
meals to food that I have to listen and take
into account for planning purposes. I'll plan the menus, I'll
work with operations, I'll work with strength and conditioning, I'll
work with athletic training. And I get to work with
these lovely ladies as well every day. So UM, yeah,
that's that's a lot of of what it may entail.
Do you have a favorite like nutrition success story where
(08:34):
you've really helped a player overhaul their regimen. Yeah. Um,
I would say when I arrived here, we did have
a player who needed to um lose a significant amount
of weight, and um it was it was a great
connection where we were able to figure out the equation
(08:54):
that can make that happen for him. So, um it
was just as planned. He was in it, and um
we had great success with it. It was I would say,
the connection is a big piece of it. How do
you teach players to kind of carry those habits over
when they're not here in the building and you can't
be there with them to kind of make advice guidance
(09:15):
a lot of times, I mean, even our rookies that
just came in this year, they're still learning their bodies.
So even when they went away for maybe their their
June July break, UM, seeing what they did during that
time was a learning experience for many of them. Some
of them had great success and really knows to the
grind eight great worked out amazingly and came back into
(09:39):
Jake ball. Others, Um, you know, rested took the time
to relax a lot more and and may have you know,
fallen off a little bit. But for the rookie experience,
I think I would like to point that out, like,
remember what you did to get this result? And we
have great, um, you know, tools to help us see
like here are the results that we're seeing here and um,
(10:00):
what did you do to produce these results? That's that
stuff we really have to take note of for the
rest of your career. So we're always always learning our bodies.
I mean there it is the NFL level. They we're
still learning a lot. Even when we go through a
humidity in South Carolina, we're learning our bodies in that situation.
So definitely something to take note of and use for
(10:24):
the future. Do you find that the vets are pretty
good about that at this point, like they've kind of
been through it or is it's still I'm guessing that
some you kind of have to stay on a little
more than others. I would say, Um, they they may
have been through it maybe within their career, so they
do know the equation that works for them in certain instances. Um,
But yeah, I am surprised once in a while when
(10:45):
we I have seen in my career that you know,
struggle with whether it be hydration or um. You know,
they haven't quite figured out the correct equation that works
for for how to maintain their weight throughout the year. UM.
So yeah, I am most of them. Yes, they can
also help some of the rookies and the younger guys
(11:06):
um with their practices and and you know they're great
to share that information in that firsthand experience. Right. You
guys both kind of mentioned dr ticians there. How collaborative,
this kind of holistic view of a player's health is.
How important is incorporating all these different areas into the
players success, team success. You know, I don't know how
(11:27):
any one person could do this. It really is a mind,
body spirit collaboration. So really um, recognizing how all of
those different areas come together, because we are complex people,
all of us, and so um, someone's mental health, for example,
could impact their physical health, which means that it might
(11:50):
mean that Sarah and I have to collaborate in terms
of thinking about you know, how physical health could be
impacting mental health. Right, we might find something happening there
that allows us to understand that there's some other issue
that could be going on and then we can address
it um and and it helps the person from a
(12:12):
holistic standpoint, so um and then spiritually right, you know,
we're luckily we have a team chaplain here too, so
we can lean in on him and and and get
support from him. So I think to be able to
I sort of like what Ebony said. You know, when
you see that player out there, they are a full
person who needs a range of supports, and we are
(12:36):
able to give them that mind, body spirit sort of
connection so they can begem to understand, you know, how
is my mental health affecting my body or how is
my body impacting how I feel about myself? So yeah,
I think that you know, there's no way to do
this in isolation. We've talked a little bit about kind
of the misconceptions of working here and like players and
(12:59):
all of that. But Ebony, I'll start with you. What
surprised you the most kind of about working here. I
don't know if this was a surprise, but I mean
maybe it's just more of a reiteration, but how all
of these different departments. It's like you've got this, you
see the screen you got you watch TV and you're like, okay, football,
and then behind it, You've got like eight thousand other
(13:22):
other departments and teams and you know, things that are
going on to help make that even happen. And so
I think what, um, I don't know if it was
as much of a surprise, but more of like a
reality check and even being able to tell people like
there's so much more that goes into a game day,
you know, than than just like popping on the TV
(13:44):
and being able to watch and even an experience, you know,
and so at every point it's an experience and and
um and how people are able to perform and so
like for us, I think it's a lot about helping
the guys to be able to perform um out on
the feet open. And at the same time, it's you know,
then it's how our fans inside of the stadium, how
(14:05):
are you know who's watching where? Like all of these
little pieces that come together which makes it incredible. But
you know, I think no one ever really thinks about
all of these little parts to make up to just
make a one o'clock, you know, to wont re gain work.
And we've got what thirty two teams in the league,
and so to think of that, how it makes it
(14:28):
much big like a whole universe. It's fun. What about
for you too, I will share something that most people
in the building don't know. Um. So, so I'm not
from here, and so where I grew up, Um, we
didn't watch a lot. Well, I didn't watch a lot
of football. I watched a lot of basketball and baseball
(14:50):
and things like that, and then moved here, and Um,
I was drawn to this team. I loved it, and
I thought, Wow, they seem to be really blue collar,
you know, never give up, um, push your way through
type of team. Like I see this sort of family
piece and like they look amazing. I think I like
(15:13):
the Ravens, right. And then after that, you know, I
was like, that's gonna be my team. So what I
thought I saw is what was real. I think that's
what surprised me coming in the building. Um, just that
idea of putting in hard work, UM, caring about the
person next to you, um for me, you know, just
(15:36):
supporting the man the woman that's beside you. Right. I
think that for me was something that I had a
chance to see, Like all those things I thought I
saw is actually real. So I think that was the
thing that maybe surprise, not surprised me but made me go, yeah,
I'm glad I picked the Ravens. Um. I would say
(16:01):
two things. UM. One is I I feel the if
the walls could talk kind of vibe. Um, the leadership
and the history that's in these walls. I can feel that.
I don't know it because I wasn't here, but um,
it comes in in different themes and tones throughout the
building and stories and things that are are brought up
(16:23):
from the past of of maybe Ed read and and
Ray Lewis being here. So UM, I love that that
vibe that I can feel like if these walls could talk,
I know there's a lot that would be said. Um.
And so that that I haven't really felt before in
a building, the history and the fabric UM. And then
(16:44):
I I was surprised and and thrilled how much the
owner provides support. I mean, BASHADDI provides tremendous support for us.
And it starts at the top and it goes down
and I haven't really seen that before. Yeah, that is
really special. Um. Obviously, I'll say the obviously, there were
(17:06):
four women sitting around this table talking in NFL like
that can be pretty rare. I think something that was
interesting to me the last year. You know, during the
COVID season, there are even fewer people here, and so
you three were among some of the few women that
were here in the building every day during that time,
just because of everyone working from home and all of that.
Did you feel that kind of male female disparity more
(17:28):
last year at all? I don't know. Well, I guess
it's hard. I don't know if there was a more
of a disparity last year. I get well, from me
and Sarah, we're like the only two women on that
side of the building. So I think it's always been
that way anyway. So we're like same old, same old,
you know, sort of a thing. Um. I think it
(17:51):
made it more clear the women that were like in
the business and and in other parts and other departments
that not seeing them in the cafeteria or not seeing them,
you know, in the hallway. It was like, oh, so
it's just two of us, and at that time the scenes,
you know, other scenes just couldn't be in as well,
and so it was like just literally too and so
(18:13):
and then sometimes I would see that the trich, but
like it was, you know, I guess maybe it made it,
it made it more clear that it was like, oh,
there's very few of us that are in you know,
in here, So I guess for me, so I'm on
a different side of the building. Um I kind of,
um how sort of in the player engagement side of
(18:35):
the building. And UM, I probably I didn't feel a
difference in that sense. I did, I hear what you're saying,
have any The most notable thing was like, you know,
if you go to the ladies room, you know there's
in there, you know. Um, But UM, I think I
(18:56):
didn't really notice it. And I think in part because
I pretty much don't notice it day to day. Um
it could be because I you know, I have two sons,
I'm in a house with males pretty much all the time.
But um, I've never felt I've never felt like, I've
never felt it was it was something for me to
(19:18):
be to have to even think about, to be really honest,
that's their Sarah is something you and I have talked
about before. It's kind of logistical things that have changed
as women have become more common in the NFL, and
you know, we have started to progress that board and
things as simple as having a locker room on like
away games. You know, now there's every time we travel,
there's a female locker room for female staff on the
(19:39):
football side that are traveling with the team. So it
sounds like a small thing, but like that didn't even
exist before. And if you talked to Dr Cruel or
orthopedic surgeon, she's she was changing in the stalls. I mean,
she didn't have a bathroom for so many years and
then it was what five years ago where they implemented
that women would have a locker room, and um, that's
been tremendous. I mean, but I do I look at
(20:01):
Dr Curl and I'm like, she's she's been here for
a long time without this. And I know, even working
in college settings, we we were changing in the bathrooms,
um before games and after games because there was really
a space. But even with clothing that's become relatively newer
where there's now women's sizes of clothing and that's pretty exciting.
(20:23):
And even coming here to the Ravens, I mean, the
women's locker room is phenomenal. It's it's absolutely phenomenal. I
mean I when I walked in there, I was like, Wow,
this is this is different. This is really cool. And
even from equipment, like when I when I travel on
the road. I've never seen my name in my locker before.
That was probably like just touched my heart. When I
(20:44):
got here, I was like, Wow, they do that. They
do that for us the women. I've never seen that before.
So um, it's an interesting perspective, like when you when
you've never seen it before and all of a sudden
you you show up to the Ravens and you have
a place. Yeah, it makes you feel like you belong there,
like you do have a place. So we've talked a
lot about football in your roles obviously, what do you
(21:06):
guys like to do away from work, away from football,
like when that free time does exist, when it happens,
I've been I I, um, I paint and draw pretty
often and then um, and so I've been picking that
back up. I've put it on the back burning for
(21:26):
a while and now I've started bringing it back. Whenever
I have some time to the Davil, even if it's
during lunch, I'll do a drawing or something or paint.
Is there like a sick thing you like to draw?
I do like people a lot, so if I can
kind of creep on them, I will tryn't. He's got
paintings in her office. If I can creep when a
(21:52):
few people then it's like, it's great. But I'll do
anything for the most part. Don't creep on me any
fortress I know. UM. I love writing. I continue to write. UM,
I'm grateful that I can still keep doing that. It's
(22:15):
important to me. I love to read, and I probably
binge watch Friends way too much on UM. I I
like to move if I'm not at my desk, whether
it's walking, taking a walk around the harbor, or hiking.
I'm from Boulder, Colorado, where hiking is like a treat there. UM, traveling,
(22:42):
any walking on the beach, just just moving. Working out
makes me feel great. And we have such a great
workout environment here for employees and staff to where we
can get some of that in if we don't have
time to get outside and do it. UM seeing family
and such too. And then Ebany and I talked about
home improvement kind of thing. And I actually like to
(23:03):
sew on my off time juice. So if you ever
need any help, Sarah's got They are very creative, very creative,
that's neat all. Right. Before we finish, we have this
little game we do at the end of each episode.
It's called the purple hot seats, not the intense. I
promise it's a little this or that game rapid fire.
(23:23):
So I'll have each of you answer each of you.
So the first one is bye week trip or relax
at home, Relax at home, relax at home family, Okay,
color rush or the black jerseys jerseys black jersey USh.
Sarah's gonna pix it up all right. The facilities, lunch
or dinner mm hmm. Can Sarah plan the menues? I
(23:51):
would do lunch, all right, and then we'll do morning
practice or afternoon morning, morning, because I get them back earlier. Afternoon.
I al was like morning because it's not as hot. Yeah,
I mean like once it gets to this time, like
later in the season, doesn't matter as much, but training
camp when we used to have afternoon practices. Thank you
(24:15):
lady so much. This is fabulous and I appreciate all
being here. Thank you so much. This is fun. Thanks
for joining us for another episode of the Purple Chair Podcast.
New episodes drop every other Tuesday. Don't forget to rate
and subscribe. I'll catch you next time.
Welcome back to the Purple Chair Podcast. I'm your host,
Cassie Calvert, and today I'm going to take you behind
the curtain of the Ravens organization. Did you know NFL
franchises have jobs focused on mental health? How about a
seamstress manager. There's so much more to NFL franchises than
meets the eye. So meet three incredible women with three
(00:28):
very different jobs. Welcome Sarah Snyder, the director of Sports Nutrition,
Dr Tricia Bent Goodley, team clinician, and Ebony Short, seamstress manager,
to the Purple Chair Podcast. All right, let's start with
how we got here. So, Ebany, what was your background
before coming to the Ravens. I'll start with you and
for fans who might not know, what is your job
entail as a seamstress manager? Boy? So background, uh, I'm like,
(00:55):
how can I keep it short and sweet? Um? Primarily
theater I did. I was in UM working on Broadway
for a few years as a costume technician and did
all like h God, almost all the shows so like
Lion King, Wicked, Hamilton's all the all the fun stuff.
(01:16):
And then UM, I would work on cruise ships for
a while. I did that. I was in fashion. That's
where my primary UM start was, and then designing and
then doing custom like Peacebo clothes for for people, and
then and then moved out of New York and then
came here and sort of applied not really not even
knowing that football teams had seems and then uh, and
(01:40):
so I said, okay, well why not? And I was
traveling for a while working with another studio and came
in and um, and they made it worth worth it
to stay. So UM, I am now the seamstress manager UM,
which we have like five seamstresses with us, and UM
we do everything from that. Primary thing is repairs alterations
(02:04):
UM on the jerseys and uniforms. We make up about
pads to sew into the pants and uh and patches
like any anything with sewing. And then and then beyond
because then there's things like I was painting cleats last night,
So anything beyond that, you know, it helps supports the
players and the coaches for getting day. For sure is
(02:25):
it's kind of what falls under our wheelhouse will repair equipment.
That's fascinating me. I don't think people really, I think
people just think, you know, like Jersey's come here and yeah,
you know, yeah, and so there's a lot of mbroidery,
a lot of name plates. I mean, um and don't
fact check me, but we might be one of two
teams and no Green Bay has a department. Um, I
(02:46):
don't know about who else, but one of two teams
that even have them, and so we definitely offer like
the customization that you really can't get anywhere else is
I think one of the biggest appeals because the guy
has come in and they want pants where certain areas,
so they has to be a certain spot or you know,
whatever the case may be, or something that's simple, like
we had someone start the other day and was able
(03:08):
to run out into practice and so like things like
if his name won its jersey, you know, which is
never doesn't usually happen, especially when you don't have a
team of ladies that can push it out. So yeah,
it's it is. It is fascinating because if you do,
you see a game thing and you're like, oh, they
just have these are ready, and then you're like, no, no,
(03:29):
I want to back up to one other thing too.
It's just fascinating to me that you came from Broadway,
you're doing costumes, and now you work for a football team.
Did you ever think when you're on Broadway working for
Hamilton's and all these crazy shows, like one day you'd
be working for a football team. No? No, I mean
you know, I was always a huge football fan that
come from a big like football sports family in general,
(03:51):
and so even there, if I would talk about football
there they were like, so that was always the funniest,
uh part of it. But never never what have the like,
oh we'll have seems just in the nfl um which
is fun. That's always a fun super neat all. Right,
Dr Trisha will move to use. You came to the
(04:13):
Ravens from a Howard University and you were kind of
in a hybrid role for a while. Now you're with
the team full time. You've had so many numerous accolades
in your career and now you're the team clinician for
the Ravens. So what does team clinician actually like mean
for your day to day role? So, so first I
have to say, I'm super excited to be sitting next
to these two women and it completely blows me away
(04:35):
because you work with people every day, but you don't
know just how great they really are. You know how
great they are, But now it's like, Golly, I can't
wait for with Sarah um UM. But the role of
the team clinician some call the role behavioral health clinician
UM is to really be a support of mental health
(04:56):
support and emotional support two players, coaches, and of families.
So you work with pretty much everyone. You know, you
support UM staff as well within the organization providing mental
health education being available and if a crisis occurs, UM
being able to refer people, whether that's here in the
Baltimore area or back home, making sure that they have
(05:20):
the resources and the supports that they need. Uh, you know,
on a seven basis basically, so you know, whenever someone
has a need, we don't necessarily get off season. UM.
You know we're available whenever someone needs us. Right, what
do you think is like you just mentioned your resource
kind of all encompassing. What's the most important aspect of
(05:41):
your role to you? I think I would say one,
you have to be clinically sound. You have to be
able to put pieces of puzzles together, because sometimes people
don't always know exactly how they feel or what they're feeling.
They just know it doesn't feel right. So you know,
you you really have to be clinically sound, But I
(06:02):
would say more than anything, you have to be able
to build relationships with different groups of people. UM. You
have to be able to connect with different people, understand
their story, UM, kind of put yourself where they are
and support them in that space. And I think you've
always got to have a vision or hope for what
(06:25):
is possible when people don't. So don't you mentioned her
position is kind of unique. Do all positions or all
teams excuse me, have a position like yours? Are you
aware of that? So every club as of twenty nineteen
UM the c b A, they were all required to
have a team clinician. Team clinicians are required to be
(06:46):
at clubs eight to ten hours a week. We me
being here full time is rare. There are only a
few of us that are actually full time working in
our clubs and fully integrated. So UM, I always say
that even before the cv A, I always felt pretty
well integrated. Even before I became full time, there was
always a support for this role and a respect for
(07:10):
the role itself. Team clinicians have to maintain confidentiality, but
even before that was part of the c b A.
That was something that we did and was valued here,
so I think we were pretty fortunate. Um. We have
a lot of really great support for this role, and
that does make a huge difference. Sarah. I think when
I say you're the director of sports nutrition, most people
(07:31):
understand that has to do with the nutrition for the players.
But what are all the different responsibilities of your role? UM.
I would echo a lot of what doctor Tris said,
and it's really, um, whatever the players need if they
have a goal to lean out, gain weight, even just
to maintain weight during the training camp we just had,
that was a challenge and I applaud so many of
(07:52):
our guys for maintaining while they expended so much on
the field and in that weather that we had as
hot as it was. Um. It can be a specific
requests on the road, um. Travel, certain people have special diets. UM.
So there are specific preferences from beverages to products, to
(08:13):
meals to food that I have to listen and take
into account for planning purposes. I'll plan the menus, I'll
work with operations, I'll work with strength and conditioning, I'll
work with athletic training. And I get to work with
these lovely ladies as well every day. So UM, yeah,
that's that's a lot of of what it may entail.
Do you have a favorite like nutrition success story where
(08:34):
you've really helped a player overhaul their regimen. Yeah. Um,
I would say when I arrived here, we did have
a player who needed to um lose a significant amount
of weight, and um it was it was a great
connection where we were able to figure out the equation
(08:54):
that can make that happen for him. So, um it
was just as planned. He was in it, and um
we had great success with it. It was I would say,
the connection is a big piece of it. How do
you teach players to kind of carry those habits over
when they're not here in the building and you can't
be there with them to kind of make advice guidance
(09:15):
a lot of times, I mean, even our rookies that
just came in this year, they're still learning their bodies.
So even when they went away for maybe their their
June July break, UM, seeing what they did during that
time was a learning experience for many of them. Some
of them had great success and really knows to the
grind eight great worked out amazingly and came back into
(09:39):
Jake ball. Others, Um, you know, rested took the time
to relax a lot more and and may have you know,
fallen off a little bit. But for the rookie experience,
I think I would like to point that out, like,
remember what you did to get this result? And we
have great, um, you know, tools to help us see
like here are the results that we're seeing here and um,
(10:00):
what did you do to produce these results? That's that
stuff we really have to take note of for the
rest of your career. So we're always always learning our bodies.
I mean there it is the NFL level. They we're
still learning a lot. Even when we go through a
humidity in South Carolina, we're learning our bodies in that situation.
So definitely something to take note of and use for
(10:24):
the future. Do you find that the vets are pretty
good about that at this point, like they've kind of
been through it or is it's still I'm guessing that
some you kind of have to stay on a little
more than others. I would say, Um, they they may
have been through it maybe within their career, so they
do know the equation that works for them in certain instances. Um,
But yeah, I am surprised once in a while when
(10:45):
we I have seen in my career that you know,
struggle with whether it be hydration or um. You know,
they haven't quite figured out the correct equation that works
for for how to maintain their weight throughout the year. UM.
So yeah, I am most of them. Yes, they can
also help some of the rookies and the younger guys
(11:06):
um with their practices and and you know they're great
to share that information in that firsthand experience. Right. You
guys both kind of mentioned dr ticians there. How collaborative,
this kind of holistic view of a player's health is.
How important is incorporating all these different areas into the
players success, team success. You know, I don't know how
(11:27):
any one person could do this. It really is a mind,
body spirit collaboration. So really um, recognizing how all of
those different areas come together, because we are complex people,
all of us, and so um, someone's mental health, for example,
could impact their physical health, which means that it might
(11:50):
mean that Sarah and I have to collaborate in terms
of thinking about you know, how physical health could be
impacting mental health. Right, we might find something happening there
that allows us to understand that there's some other issue
that could be going on and then we can address
it um and and it helps the person from a
(12:12):
holistic standpoint, so um and then spiritually right, you know,
we're luckily we have a team chaplain here too, so
we can lean in on him and and and get
support from him. So I think to be able to
I sort of like what Ebony said. You know, when
you see that player out there, they are a full
person who needs a range of supports, and we are
(12:36):
able to give them that mind, body spirit sort of
connection so they can begem to understand, you know, how
is my mental health affecting my body or how is
my body impacting how I feel about myself? So yeah,
I think that you know, there's no way to do
this in isolation. We've talked a little bit about kind
of the misconceptions of working here and like players and
(12:59):
all of that. But Ebony, I'll start with you. What
surprised you the most kind of about working here. I
don't know if this was a surprise, but I mean
maybe it's just more of a reiteration, but how all
of these different departments. It's like you've got this, you
see the screen you got you watch TV and you're like, okay, football,
and then behind it, You've got like eight thousand other
(13:22):
other departments and teams and you know, things that are
going on to help make that even happen. And so
I think what, um, I don't know if it was
as much of a surprise, but more of like a
reality check and even being able to tell people like
there's so much more that goes into a game day,
you know, than than just like popping on the TV
(13:44):
and being able to watch and even an experience, you know,
and so at every point it's an experience and and
um and how people are able to perform and so
like for us, I think it's a lot about helping
the guys to be able to perform um out on
the feet open. And at the same time, it's you know,
then it's how our fans inside of the stadium, how
(14:05):
are you know who's watching where? Like all of these
little pieces that come together which makes it incredible. But
you know, I think no one ever really thinks about
all of these little parts to make up to just
make a one o'clock, you know, to wont re gain work.
And we've got what thirty two teams in the league,
and so to think of that, how it makes it
(14:28):
much big like a whole universe. It's fun. What about
for you too, I will share something that most people
in the building don't know. Um. So, so I'm not
from here, and so where I grew up, Um, we
didn't watch a lot. Well, I didn't watch a lot
of football. I watched a lot of basketball and baseball
(14:50):
and things like that, and then moved here, and Um,
I was drawn to this team. I loved it, and
I thought, Wow, they seem to be really blue collar,
you know, never give up, um, push your way through
type of team. Like I see this sort of family
piece and like they look amazing. I think I like
(15:13):
the Ravens, right. And then after that, you know, I
was like, that's gonna be my team. So what I
thought I saw is what was real. I think that's
what surprised me coming in the building. Um, just that
idea of putting in hard work, UM, caring about the
person next to you, um for me, you know, just
(15:36):
supporting the man the woman that's beside you. Right. I
think that for me was something that I had a
chance to see, Like all those things I thought I
saw is actually real. So I think that was the
thing that maybe surprise, not surprised me but made me go, yeah,
I'm glad I picked the Ravens. Um. I would say
(16:01):
two things. UM. One is I I feel the if
the walls could talk kind of vibe. Um, the leadership
and the history that's in these walls. I can feel that.
I don't know it because I wasn't here, but um,
it comes in in different themes and tones throughout the
building and stories and things that are are brought up
(16:23):
from the past of of maybe Ed read and and
Ray Lewis being here. So UM, I love that that
vibe that I can feel like if these walls could talk,
I know there's a lot that would be said. Um.
And so that that I haven't really felt before in
a building, the history and the fabric UM. And then
(16:44):
I I was surprised and and thrilled how much the
owner provides support. I mean, BASHADDI provides tremendous support for us.
And it starts at the top and it goes down
and I haven't really seen that before. Yeah, that is
really special. Um. Obviously, I'll say the obviously, there were
(17:06):
four women sitting around this table talking in NFL like
that can be pretty rare. I think something that was
interesting to me the last year. You know, during the
COVID season, there are even fewer people here, and so
you three were among some of the few women that
were here in the building every day during that time,
just because of everyone working from home and all of that.
Did you feel that kind of male female disparity more
(17:28):
last year at all? I don't know. Well, I guess
it's hard. I don't know if there was a more
of a disparity last year. I get well, from me
and Sarah, we're like the only two women on that
side of the building. So I think it's always been
that way anyway. So we're like same old, same old,
you know, sort of a thing. Um. I think it
(17:51):
made it more clear the women that were like in
the business and and in other parts and other departments
that not seeing them in the cafeteria or not seeing them,
you know, in the hallway. It was like, oh, so
it's just two of us, and at that time the scenes,
you know, other scenes just couldn't be in as well,
and so it was like just literally too and so
(18:13):
and then sometimes I would see that the trich, but
like it was, you know, I guess maybe it made it,
it made it more clear that it was like, oh,
there's very few of us that are in you know,
in here, So I guess for me, so I'm on
a different side of the building. Um I kind of,
um how sort of in the player engagement side of
(18:35):
the building. And UM, I probably I didn't feel a
difference in that sense. I did, I hear what you're saying,
have any The most notable thing was like, you know,
if you go to the ladies room, you know there's
in there, you know. Um, But UM, I think I
(18:56):
didn't really notice it. And I think in part because
I pretty much don't notice it day to day. Um
it could be because I you know, I have two sons,
I'm in a house with males pretty much all the time.
But um, I've never felt I've never felt like, I've
never felt it was it was something for me to
(19:18):
be to have to even think about, to be really honest,
that's their Sarah is something you and I have talked
about before. It's kind of logistical things that have changed
as women have become more common in the NFL, and
you know, we have started to progress that board and
things as simple as having a locker room on like
away games. You know, now there's every time we travel,
there's a female locker room for female staff on the
(19:39):
football side that are traveling with the team. So it
sounds like a small thing, but like that didn't even
exist before. And if you talked to Dr Cruel or
orthopedic surgeon, she's she was changing in the stalls. I mean,
she didn't have a bathroom for so many years and
then it was what five years ago where they implemented
that women would have a locker room, and um, that's
been tremendous. I mean, but I do I look at
(20:01):
Dr Curl and I'm like, she's she's been here for
a long time without this. And I know, even working
in college settings, we we were changing in the bathrooms,
um before games and after games because there was really
a space. But even with clothing that's become relatively newer
where there's now women's sizes of clothing and that's pretty exciting.
(20:23):
And even coming here to the Ravens, I mean, the
women's locker room is phenomenal. It's it's absolutely phenomenal. I
mean I when I walked in there, I was like, Wow,
this is this is different. This is really cool. And
even from equipment, like when I when I travel on
the road. I've never seen my name in my locker before.
That was probably like just touched my heart. When I
(20:44):
got here, I was like, Wow, they do that. They
do that for us the women. I've never seen that before.
So um, it's an interesting perspective, like when you when
you've never seen it before and all of a sudden
you you show up to the Ravens and you have
a place. Yeah, it makes you feel like you belong there,
like you do have a place. So we've talked a
lot about football in your roles obviously, what do you
(21:06):
guys like to do away from work, away from football,
like when that free time does exist, when it happens,
I've been I I, um, I paint and draw pretty
often and then um, and so I've been picking that
back up. I've put it on the back burning for
(21:26):
a while and now I've started bringing it back. Whenever
I have some time to the Davil, even if it's
during lunch, I'll do a drawing or something or paint.
Is there like a sick thing you like to draw?
I do like people a lot, so if I can
kind of creep on them, I will tryn't. He's got
paintings in her office. If I can creep when a
(21:52):
few people then it's like, it's great. But I'll do
anything for the most part. Don't creep on me any
fortress I know. UM. I love writing. I continue to write. UM,
I'm grateful that I can still keep doing that. It's
(22:15):
important to me. I love to read, and I probably
binge watch Friends way too much on UM. I I
like to move if I'm not at my desk, whether
it's walking, taking a walk around the harbor, or hiking.
I'm from Boulder, Colorado, where hiking is like a treat there. UM, traveling,
(22:42):
any walking on the beach, just just moving. Working out
makes me feel great. And we have such a great
workout environment here for employees and staff to where we
can get some of that in if we don't have
time to get outside and do it. UM seeing family
and such too. And then Ebany and I talked about
home improvement kind of thing. And I actually like to
(23:03):
sew on my off time juice. So if you ever
need any help, Sarah's got They are very creative, very creative,
that's neat all. Right. Before we finish, we have this
little game we do at the end of each episode.
It's called the purple hot seats, not the intense. I
promise it's a little this or that game rapid fire.
(23:23):
So I'll have each of you answer each of you.
So the first one is bye week trip or relax
at home, Relax at home, relax at home family, Okay,
color rush or the black jerseys jerseys black jersey USh.
Sarah's gonna pix it up all right. The facilities, lunch
or dinner mm hmm. Can Sarah plan the menues? I
(23:51):
would do lunch, all right, and then we'll do morning
practice or afternoon morning, morning, because I get them back earlier. Afternoon.
I al was like morning because it's not as hot. Yeah,
I mean like once it gets to this time, like
later in the season, doesn't matter as much, but training
camp when we used to have afternoon practices. Thank you
(24:15):
lady so much. This is fabulous and I appreciate all
being here. Thank you so much. This is fun. Thanks
for joining us for another episode of the Purple Chair Podcast.
New episodes drop every other Tuesday. Don't forget to rate
and subscribe. I'll catch you next time.
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