Darcy Leslie, a former football player with the Chicago Force football team, got to spend six weeks as an intern in the scouting department of the New York Jets last summer, and the Windy City Times has a great account of her time with the NFL team.
Leslie told the Windy City Times that she found an incredibly welcoming environment at the Jets. She said she got to know all of the players and coaches as she was tasked during with scouting different units of the team each week. Yet it was the coaches from another part of the team that showed her just how welcoming the team was.
Leslie, with a strong passion for fitness and nutrition, asked the Jets’ strength and conditioning coach out to lunch to talk about his role and what his workload entailed. “I was expecting a ‘No,’ but instead, Coach [Justus] Galac welcomed the opportunity to share his knowledge. I learned so much in that hour about his role and how he manages to balance his job and family. He then invited me to sit in on the players’ workout. It was definitely one of my highlights while being here. Justus and his two assistant coaches, Aaron [McLaurin] and Joe [Giacobbe], were very knowledgeable. They are always busy, but were so open to answer any questions that I had and I was never made to feel like I was wasting their time. I was grateful for that.”
According to the Windy City Times, Leslie is “an out, married lesbian.”
It should be of no surprise that Leslie also specifically mentioned Atlanta Falcons assistant general manager Scott Pioli as someone who has helped her in her journey. Last year Pioli played prominently in the stories of gay former NFL player Ryan O’Callaghan and out San Francisco 49ers assistant coach Katie Sowers.
You can read Ross Forman’s feature piece about Leslie’s time with the Jets at the Windy City Times.
