First Ever Women’s Tackle Football NFTs to also be the First Ever Carbon Negative minted NFTs
by Sasha Santiago
Gridiron Queendom‘s (GIQ) mission is to support and promote women and girls who love and play flag or tackle football around the planet. And now, GIQ is charging into the metaverse with a genesis NFT drop: GIQ’s Passing TD (touchdown) card. A limited-edition collection that’s being anchored in SuperWorld’s AR virtual land at the entryway of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, just in time for Super Bowl LVI.
Serial entrepreneur, elite athlete, and founder of GIQ, Adrienne Smith, is a five-time member of the U.S. women’s national flag football team and a two-time member of the U.S. women’s national tackle football team. As the first female tackle football player to score a touchdown on the international stage, be it in real life or in a virtual space, Adrienne is a born and bred outlier and she has the championship rings to prove it.
“When you see it, you can be it,” Smith adds, “And when you have women playing flag football or playing tackle football on TV, in print, or on social media, not only does it reinforce and legitimize the girl, herself, but it also normalizes the concept of women and girls playing the sport for boys and men.
GIQ’s genesis drop is a limited edition collection called the Passing TD O.G. card. The collection is made up of unique 3D NFT assets inspired by one of the playing cards from the successful kids and family card game Smith created called, Blitz Champz.
GIQ has partnered with my company, Grid Edge. We’re the team behind the creative roadmap that will usher in a series of seasonal NFT collections in support of women and girls who play football. For years, Adrienne has been a trailblazer for energy sustainability education and work force opportunities that drive the development of community microgrids.
Sustainable energy is one of the central focuses of this project. These are the first NFTs that will be launched on Synk’s platform. Lawrence Orsini, the founder of Synk says, “We’re creating a solution to the energy problem blockchain poses for our planet, I’m happy Adrienne’s NFTs are the first minted with carbon negative attributes.”
Smith reinforces, “I saw a need to create an entity (GIQ). I heard too many stories of young girls getting bullied. Teen girls getting bullied. Women not having access to (football) equipment. I get people reaching out to me from all parts of the world, from Morocco, Japan, Russia who look to the US as the bastion of female empowerment and equity.”
“The most important thing to remember is the number of firsts that’s behind this particular NFT project. It’s the first women’s tackle football NFT collection steered by a pro-athlete and Black woman. It’s the first carbon-negative minting of NFTs through the Synk platform on the Cardano proof-of-stake blockchain. And it’s also aiming to provide the first-of-its-kind use case in SuperWorld, a blockchain agnostic metaverse space,” says Byron Brooks, an NFT collector, and virtual landowner.
When you visit GIQnfts.com, you’ll see a place to join the First Movers list. The names on the list are the ones who will get the first shot at scoring one of the 100 GIQ genesis that are also the world’s very first Carbon Negative NFTs to be minted on the Synk platform.
Co-founder and CEO of Superworld CEO, Hrish Lotlikar says, “I’m thrilled to be working with GIQ and Adrienne, and honored for the opportunity for SuperWorld to bring visibility to women’s football and promote active participation from women and girls in the Metaverse.”
