Across the country, some of the top college, high-school and youth football coaches advance, unify and grow the sport as USA Football Master Trainers.

Master Trainers train and educate school-based and youth football programs nationwide, teaching USA Football’s nationally endorsed curriculum to dedicated moms and dads who love their children through coaching America’s favorite sport to them. Nearly 600,000 coach certifications have been completed through USA Football in the sport’s national governing body’s relatively short, but significant 17-year history.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we highlight a pair of female Master Trainers – Knengi Martin and Leah Hinkle – who have a combined 30 years of playing experience and nearly 20 years of coaching or education experience. Both women are advocates for education and smarter play through USA Football’s Heads Up Football program, reimagining the sport and establishing standards to nourish children through the fun and physical literacy of football as well as its inherent and timeless values.

Knengi Martin – Master Trainer since 2014

Knengi Martin has always had a love for football. She also is inspired by how the sport enriches the lives of those who love to play and teach it. As a child, playing youth football captured her imagination, which drew her to play in high school before starting her professional football career in 2003. Martin has coached high school football in California for more than a decade.

While she’s seen both girls’ and women’s football participation grow in recent years, she’s ready for it to take the next step forward.

That was part of the reason the team she plays for, the San Diego Rebellion, decided to join the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC). Martin is a Rebellion player and co-owner and said that the WNFC, which was formed in 2018 and begins its inaugural season on April 6, can bring greater exposure and competition to women’s football nationally.

“For so many years, women just didn’t have access to the information in the game of football,” Martin said. “With higher-level coaches, more visibility of women in football, I think that’s something I see continuing to change for the better.”

That availability of information is something that Martin says Jim Farrell, head coach of the 2017 U.S. Women’s National Team in football, spoke about often. Martin was part of that gold-medal-winning U.S. team as well as U.S. National Team squads in 2010 and 2013.

Martin has been named a five-time first-team All-Star, 2014 Women’s Football Alliance defensive player of the year and three-time All-World selection at defensive end (twice) and middle linebacker (once) during her 16-year playing career.

As a requirement for being in the WNFC, member organizations must start a girl’s flag or tackle football program within the first three years of joining. Already in talks with several organizations in the San Diego-area, Martin is excited to see the development of future cohorts of girl football players.

“I think this is going to help create a new generation of girls who don’t just love football but are learning it at the same age and for the same amount of time that boys are,” Martin said. “… For us, finding a place where girls can come and be supported and they can learn all the same stuff that the boys are learning in an environment that supports them and encourages them, that’s huge for us.”

While Martin has had an impressive career on the field, she’s been equally as impressive on the sideline as a high school coach.

In 2010, Martin became the first California high school junior varsity head coach, and in 2014, became the first female head coach for a boys varsity football team in San Diego. Heading into her 11th season coaching high school football, Martin is currently the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Serra High School within the San Diego Unified School District.

She utilizes the information she learns as a Master Trainer in her instructional clinics, both as a coach and as a player.

“All of our blocking, all of our tackling and contact is based on shoulder tackling and everything that was put into practice,” Martin said. “So, whether it’s at the high school or it’s with the San Diego Rebellion, that’s huge for us. Just making sure that we’re training our players on how, not only to be safer in the sport, but also how to be more fundamentally sound.”

Martin credits some of the pioneers for women in football, like Jen Welter, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals and an alumna of the U.S. Women’s National Team program, who serves as a defensive specialist for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football, Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians and Katie Sowers of the San Francisco 49ers for creating the path for women in football.

“It’s my 11th year coaching high school football and I love every minute of it,” Martin said. “I love the players, I love the participation that I get from them, so I can only see women in football growing.”

Leah Hinkle – Master Trainer since 2015

Leah Hinkle’s love for football, quite literally, fell into her lap.

She didn’t start playing football until she was 21 years old. Growing up, Hinkle was a dancer, so she was never formally introduced to the sport at a young age.

That changed in 2004, when Hinkle was passing by some booths at the Benton County (Ore.) Fair. She noticed one booth advertising a local tackle football team. It wasn’t until she looked closer and saw that some of the players had ponytails poking out of their helmets that she realized it was women’s tackle football.

“I remember I said out loud, ‘Oh, this is women playing football,’ because I didn’t know anything about it and they kind of pounced on me,” Hinkle said. “They were like, ‘Yeah, and you can play football, too.’”

After attending an information session, Hinkle decided to give football a shot. She went to practices and – during her first play – intercepted a pass.

“The first game that I ever played in, I went in at corner and this ball just dropped from out of the sky and right into my lap,” Hinkle said. “And that was it. I was hooked from then on. It was such a rush to be on a football field and have your teammates cheering for you because you just got a turnover.”

Hinkle went on to play football for 14 years for the Corvallis Pride, Portland Shockwave and U.S. Women’s National Team in 2010 and 2013 before hanging up her cleats in 2017. As a player, she won two gold medals, was a two-time Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) All-American at middle linebacker and won back-to-back defensive MVP awards.

Hinkle says that she was fortunate to begin playing at a time where women’s tackle football really began to get off the ground. 

“That was kind of the golden age of women’s tackle football, when it was really gaining some momentum, but we still didn’t have the world’s attention,” Hinkle said. “A lot of us remember a time when nobody heard of women’s tackle football or supported women’s tackle football and there wasn’t a Jen Welter, there wasn’t a Kathryn Smith, yet.”

While Hinkle no longer plays, she continues to advance the game as a USA Football Master Trainer by leading football coaching clinics throughout Oregon, a state where high school football coaches require USA Football certification.

Currently, Hinkle is the tackling coach for the WFA’s Portland Shockwave and has coached middle and high school football teams and continues to attend educational camps. She also is an English learning specialist for non-native English speakers for the Clackamas Education Service District in Oregon.

Since introducing Heads Up Football and similar programs, Hinkle says she’s seen a large change in the way the game is taught throughout the state.

“Those really unsafe practices, I’m hearing less of that and when I do clinics, I always try to get coaches to share their best practices and learn from each other,” Hinkle said. “I am seeing and hearing about a lot of changes and it makes me happy because when I first started playing football, I did all of that stuff and I have had injuries that were probably preventable.”

Hinkle said she’s seen unnecessary contact drills being taken out of practices and, instead, coaches focus on drills that will help in game-like situations.

She’s also seen an uptick in girls playing football and points to her story to open minds and hearts of parents and fellow coaches to empower their daughters to discover the joy and benefits of playing football as she did.

“I tell them, ‘Hey, guess what? I played 14 years of women’s tackle football and your daughter can, too,’” Hinkle said. “I would say to young girls, do what you love, do what makes you happy and forget about everything else. Don’t let anybody stop you.”