"It's a whole new season, women. I'm Michele Stutz and I wrote The PlayBook."

I grew up in a house full of women, my dad rarely spoke. I learned to love the game of football through my dad. I found comfort in football. It made sense to me. It was easy to understand. It was simple. Fast-forward my life to a house full of all boys. Mother of three married for ten years. Perfect life.

Then, my husband then left me for a girl half my age and I was devastated. Remembering what my dad taught me about the game, I started to look at football differently. I started to relate football terminology with funny sayings that deal with relationships. If I could just learn how to score again…and then I thought, I bet a lot of women are in the same boat as me and came up with “Women Who Score”. A funny way to express the kind of statement you are trying to make.

I wrote a book entitled “The Playbook” using football analogies as they relate to relationships. I then began to relate the terminology of football to funny relationship sayings/status.

I’m angry, sad, bitter, happy, and excited all wound up into one! My team was my marriage and when that failed, it was like I was benched on the sideline but I still had a lot of games left to play. Knowing what it feels like to be on a team makes leaving that team very difficult. I enjoy all facets of football from the pre- season to the superbowl. In my marriage, I felt as if I was drafted, had an amazing season, won a few superbowls and then became a free agent.

Being a free agent made me set some new parameters. Plays that I was willing to run or teams I was willing to sign with changed. I don’t know if these parameters changed because I was smarter, understood the game better, or I was just no longer a rookie.

Having played the game left me able to understand the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Better yet, how to prepare for a new season.

So I hope I can help you with a few words of advice as we laugh together and train for a new way of scoring big in all of our personal and work relationships!