TE Emily Weinberg
Nickname: Weiny (pronounced wine-ee)
Contact for Media Inquiry
Height: 5’8
Weight: 175
Age: 31
Date Born: 6/23/85
Born: Boston, MA
College: Boston University
Experience (seasons playing football): 9 years
High School: Brookline High
Favorite Sports Team: Go pats!
Full-Time Occupation: 2nd Grade teacher (4 years)
Hobbies: Boxing
Passions: Football
Sports played in College: Intramural soccer, flag football, softball and broomball
Other Sports played: Soccer, tennis, skiing
Why you got into football: I started playing flag football in college and loved it. When I found out about the Mass Mutiny through an article in the Boston Globe my sophomore year, I knew it was something I wanted to do. When I graduated college I made the decision to go for it so I went to a tryout and the rest is history.
Family: Wife-Kate
Pets: Ace (12-year-old min pin)
Two Truths & a LIE!
— I won 2nd place in a strong man competition
— I went bobsledding with members of the USA bobsledding team
— I was the 1998 junior race car champion
In Her Own Words:
I first got a taste of football in my junior and senior years of high school during the annual powder puff games. I absolutely loved it and couldn’t believe it was something I hadn’t tried to play earlier.
When I got to college I immediately joined a flag football team and played all four years. I was also constantly trying to find people to play pickup games with out on Nickerson Field at Boston University. Until my sophomore year I thought that flag would be the only opportunity I ever had to play. That was until my mom showed me and article from the Boston Globe about a women’s tackle football team (then the Mass Mutiny). She knew I was really into football as I was a huge Pats fan and really liked to play flag. She thought I would want to be a fan and go to a game…I’m sure she didn’t think I would end up playing!
I was unable to play at the time to but I promised myself it would one day be something I went for and was really hoping I would keep that promise. When I graduated college, I tried to keep myself busy with rec soccer and flag football, but felt that something was missing. I decided to Google the team and learned that the Mass Mutiny had just merged with the Bay State Warriors and had become the Boston 
Militia. I also saw that they were having tryouts the next month and decided I’d give it a try.
I didn’t really tell too many people I was going to tryout as I didn’t know if I would have the guts to go through with it, or if I had what it took to make the team. I went to one practice to see if I stood a chance and just absolutely fell in love with what I saw while watching all the players practice. I wanted to put on my sneakers (but they were in a gym) right then and there and get started.
When I came back the next week to tryout I was totally hooked. I spent the next few months trying to learn the game and improve my abilities, but mostly just figure out what was going on! Then when I put on my uniform for my first game and got my first catch and we won that season opener, I knew football was what I was meant to do.
Nine years later, I look back at my football career and feel so thankful that I started playing when I did and that I stuck with it for so long. 
The friendships I have made, the experiences I have had, the lessons I have learned, the triumphs (3 national titles!) and the defeats (losing in the final seconds of many games, injuries, etc.) I owe it all to football. I even owe my marriage to football as I met my wife while we were both playing for the Boston Militia!
One of the things that makes playing football so difficult (and at times impossible for some) is that it is NOT anyone’s full time job. I CERTAINLY do not play just to make money, but had football been my full time job, the last 9 years would have been much more manageable. Working 40+ hours a week and then going to practice 2-3 times a week, training before and after work, and traveling for games on the weekends is incredibly difficult to manage for eight months of the year. I often fantasize about what it would be like if my teammates and I could JUST focus on training, practicing, recovering and playing. I truly hope that that is what women will one day get to do. I hope that as more and more girls start to play at a younger age, that more girls leagues will begin to develop which will lead to high school teams, then college teams, and finally a women’s football draft. And I hope that these women are compensated for their level of commitment and talent just like their male counterparts.
When I was little, I never had dreams of becoming a football player because it simply never crossed my mind. I didn’t see women playing football, there were no teams for girls, it just didn’t exist and so I didn’t know it was something I could strive for. I hope that little girls can grow up and start having dreams of being a professional football player because they are seeing us do it and they know it is possible for them.
