Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day!

National Girls and Women in Sports day is today; a time when female athletes are honored. Check out this totally awesome slideshow compiled by the WomenTalkSports.com contributors! To see events and conversations going on throughout the country today, visit this page on WomenTalkSports.com.

In New York City? Check out Girls, Inc. on Thursday to see womens sports leaders

For those of you who may not know this, Wednesday (Feb. 3) is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. To celebrate, women’s sports bloggers throughout the WomenTalkSports.com network will be posting about local events and activities.  This is an awesome example of how online communities can  support a social movement for female empowerment (through sports).

If you’re like me and you live in the New York City market, there’s a great being event held the day after (Thursday) with Girls, Inc., which might be worth checking out (or at least promoting). Below is the press release.  Some cool sports chicks will be there!

Girls Incorporated of New York City to host National Girls and Women in Sports Day

New York, New York

Based on research conducted by the Women’s Sports Foundation showing that females who participate in high school sports are more likely to attend college than those who did not participate in sports, Girls Incorporated of New York City will hold their 2^nd Annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day event on February 4, 2010 in partnership with The Urban Assembly.

Seven outstanding women leaders including Phaidra Knight, a USA National Rugby Team member, Amanda Kraus, founder and Executive Director of Row New York, Kristina Marchitto, founder of the Yoga Project, Erika Mehalick, head softball coach at The Stevens Institute of Technology, Crissy Van Meter, Associate Editor for ESPN Action Sports, Kim Puntillo, the first woman to run a marathon on every continent, and Agatha Wasilewska, action sports writer for Transworld. The speakers will share their experiences, promote careers in athletics, and encourage a healthy lifestyle with the girls.

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The power of the telephone: feminism, sports and social change

This blog post is part of my ongoing weekly series discussing the role of social media and female athletics.

I’ve been blogging the past couple of weeks about social media and its impact upon women in sport – mainly due to my own personal interests but also to fulfill a class requirement. This week, I’m compelled to change it up a little big and bring us back to a time before the Internet and social media, a time when we relied upon the telephone. Why? Because I am beginning to realize it’s just still as “social” as any other media utilized today.

I’m going to take you back to a time that I can only imagine (because I wasn’t alive). Let’s think about the 19760′s and 1970′s, a time when our foresisters (female equivalent of forefathers) organized and fought for an equal playing field as it relates to gender and sport.

Let’s think of people like Bernice Sandler, a part-time lecturer at the University of Maryland, and Rep. Martha Griffiths (D-Michigan), Rep. Edith Green (D-Ohio), researchers like Vivian Acosta and Linda Jean Carpenter, and athletes like Billie Jean King who started coming together at the grassroots level to create change. For the sake of this post, let’s call these women “feminists.” (but I don’t want to label anyone)

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, during that time, there existed a combination of, “the modern feminist movement, a youth culture, and other sources of social unrest.” And these are women who did something about it.

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Audio interviews: Women’s Sports Foundation’s red carpet event

Check out some of the interviews from the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Annual Salute to Women in Sports red carpet event last night… (Click links below pictures to listen to the interviews).

Apologize in advance for the lack of “depth” in my questions (interviews are very short). Please understand I was being trampled upon by other media personnel and didn’t have enough time to prepare. However, that said, there are some great quotes here and definitely worth listening in.

Jessica Mendoza Interview
Softball left fielder and Women’s Sports Foundation President Jessica Mendoza discusses the importance of social media in female athletics.  Jessica is an avid member of WomenTalkSports.com and is responsible for inviting me to the red carpet event.

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Nancy Lieberman Interview
Nancy Lieberman, ESPN women’s basketball analyst/Olympian discusses the “family” of female professional athletes and the importance for women to continue to support the Women’s Sports Foundation.

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Photos from Women’s Sports Foundation red carpet

Check it out (click through to Flickr to see descriptions)…

Ok, so I’m not a professional photographer. But I did my best. Very cool to meet such neat people who have “moved the needle” from multiple generations of women in sport.

Live Blogging from the Women’s Sports Foundations’s Annual Salute to Women in Sports!

Tonight, I’m going to be live blogging from the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Annual Salute to Women in Sports event at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Stay tuned below around 6pm ET for some live coverage from the Red Carpet!

Tonight’s evening hosts include Bob Costas, Mary Carillo, and Billie Jean King, Women’s Sports Foundation’s founder. Honorees include Annika Sorenstam, legendary golfer and philanthropist, Dick Ebersol, Chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, and Pat Summitt, University of Tennessee head women’s basketball coach  and all-time winningest coach in NCAA history.

Follow me live over at WomenTalkSports.com. Or, follow me on Twitter: @mhueter

Womens Sports Foundation Annual Salute to Women in Sports… Here I come

This week, I’m going to do something I’ve been waiting to do for a long time.

I’ll be attending the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Annual Salute to Women in Sports event in New York City as a member of the media and co-founder of WomenTalkSports.com. I’ll be covering the event on WomenTalkSports from in the red carpet and the media room (hopefully in real-time).

Right now, I have 1) no idea what to wear, 2) no idea what to say, and 3) no idea what I’m in for. But I’m not at all scared, and I’m really excited for the opportunity to meet some of the people I respect the most.

Appreciate any tips/advice/interview questions you can give me.

If you’re interested, tickets are still on sale here. If you have a blog, I highly recommend you promote this event, since it’s an important one for our industry. Two thumbs up to WSF (esp. President Jessica Mendoza) for recognizing the women’s sports blogging community as a valuable member of the media.

Check out the recap from last year:

2016 Olympics in Chicago? Nastia Liukin, President and Michelle Obama say “yes”

Personally, I think it would be cool to have the Olympics in Chicago in 2016. Nastia Liukin thinks so (click picture below), as well as President and Michelle Obama – they’re traveling to Copenhagen today to pitch Chicago’s bid to the International Olympic Committee. 

Will it work? We’ll see!

Tampax: A suitable sponsor for female athletes?

I continued to read Joe Favorito’s blog today and also saw his post about Tampax. I have such strong feelings on this subject that I just couldn’t resist sharing it with my readers.

Favorito’s post is titled Great Example of How Far Women’s Brands Have Come… For the Better… Serena Williams and Tampax. He told a simple story:

In 1997, as the WTA Tour was suffering finincially, and they were presented with a unique opportunity to have Tampax sponsor the tour.  At the time, Tampax was looking to “take the category out of the traditional area and attach itself to vibrant, global accessible female athletes who could grow with the brand.”

The deal never happened because the athletes and advisors feared “a feminine hygiene product as its title sponsor would cause tennis not to be taken seriously as a sports brand and would slow the growth of the sport into the mainstream.”

Today, however, 12 years later, the deal went through. Favorito says this change is remnicent of a new female athlete image, “Women’s athletes are powerful role models and health and well being for women and girls is much more prevalent an issue than ever before.”

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Erin Andrews tells peep hole victimization story on Oprah

I Tivo’d Oprah today and got to see a story that I’d been waiting for awhile. ESPN reporter Erin Andrews told the queen of talk television the story of a complete invasion of privacy as a female sports reporter.

This is the first and only interview Erin will conduct with herself as the subject of the story. Now that it’s over, she told Oprah she’s ready for football season to begin and, even more importantly, she’s ready to move on.

What Erin told Oprah was the story of a classic peeping Tom, only today’s peeping Tom lives in the age of a World Wide Web, an environment where anybody can create content and share it with the world.  While the Web is awesome in its own right, it takes no mercy upon sexy female journalists (especially in the sports world).

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Live blogging from Washington Mystics vs. Chicago Sky game, Saturday June 20, 7pm

I will be live blogging from the Washington Mystics vs. Chicago Sky game tonight at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC at 7pm.

This is a special day for the Maryland/Washington, DC area. Why? Because two local stars will be facing each other: Marissa Coleman of the Washington Mystics and Kristi Toliver of the Chicago Stars.

Toliver and Coleman were teammates on the University of Maryland this past year – local and national favorites to advance the club in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, their journey was cut short with a loss to Louisville in the elite eight.

During the NCAA tournament, Graham Hays from ESPN described the Toliver/Coleman popularity, saying,

“There are times when the things Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman do on a basketball court make it difficult to believe your own eyes. But in person, it doesn’t take a replay to verify the moment. All you have to do is listen for the roar.”

I plan to see that roar again today as the two local stars revisit their home city. I anticipate to see local girls basketball teams filling the stands, including my own, the 14U Classics AAU club of Bethesda, MD, as the WNBA, understood how my girls worship Coleman and Toliver and graciously invited us to witness their reunion.

Unfortunately, Coleman, the most promising rookie on the Mystics – averaging 12.7ppg, suffered a high ankle injury during a practice scrimmage last week. She’s out 4-6 weeks.

However, I am looking forward to seeing Toliver play. Though she’s only averaging 3.5 ppg so far for the Sky, she is expected to make an immediate impact on the club this season.

A piece in the Chicago Tribune earlier this month quoted Kristi’s coach, Steven Key, speaking very highly of her,

“Kristi Toliver is an unbelievable talent. She’s got a lot of skills,” said Sky coach/general manager Steven Key of his first-round draft pick from Maryland. “She can shoot the three and she has an unbelievable eye for her teammates.”

It just may take some time for her (and her teammates) to adjust over the course of this season.

Other players to watch today will be:

Washington Mystics:

Alana Beard – A graduate of Duke in her sixth year with the team, Beard is the Mystics biggest offensive threat as the leading scorer, averaging 17.3 ppg.

Crystal Langhorne – another local favorite, Langhorne, a Maryland graduate, led the Terps to a national championship in 2006. At 6’2,” Langhorne leads the Mystics in rebounds, averaging over 8 per game, and is third leading scorer, averaging 10.3 ppg.

Monique Currie – In her fourth year with the league, Currie is a graduate of the Duke women’s basketball powerhouse. Another strong team leader, Currie averages 7 ppg so far this season.

Chicago Sky –

Jia Perkins - A Texas Tech graduate who has been playing in the WNBA since 2004, though she skipped her first year due to the birth of her daughter. Perkins now leads the Sky with 19.8 ppg. And, at only 5’8″, she grabs an impressive 5.8 rebounds per game.

Sylvia Fowles - A Louisiana State grad in her second year with the league, goes by the name “Big Syl” as she towers a height of 6’6″. She averages 15.5 ppg and grabs 8.8 rebounds per game.

Candice Dupree – A graduate of Temple in her fourth year with the WNBA, Dupree, 6’2,” already averages 15ppg for the Sky.

Looks like a good game. Be sure to check out the live blog via WomenTalkSports.com.

Sports Industry: Women and Minorities Wanted, Future Sole paves the way for sneaker designers

As a minority woman, recent college graduate and an aspiring sports journalist there is only one thing I am searching for; an opportunity.

This post is about opportunities for minority women in the sports industry, and it touches on a special sneaker design contest called Future Sole. While the registration deadline for this contest has already passed (6/1/09), there is still an opportunity for you to participate by voting for the winner. This post (hopefully) will give you reason to do so.

In order to paint the picture for how important this program is, I decided to share a little bit about my own life.

I posses a strong desire to make a name for myself in the sports communication industry, and by myself, I mean a strong African- American woman with a high passion for sports.  The last couple of weeks I have been searching day in and day out for a fall internship. “Sports Journalism”, were my initial keywords that I typed in many search engines, which then opened my eyes to other career paths, ones that I wasn’t aware of.

I stumbled across the NCAA career center, where I discovered the sports information director profession. Immediately I took a strong interest in the position, the job sounded appealing to my interests. However, I will be honest; the fine print at the end of all of the job descriptions grasped the majority of my attention and ignited my confidence.

The fine print read somewhere along the lines of ‘women and ethnic minorities strongly encouraged to apply’, which seemed to good to be true. After more internship searching, this statement became a reoccurring theme.

There is a lack of women and minorities in the sports media industry.

As an African- American woman that is striving to become successful in the industry that I love, I plan to be a force in breaking down the barriers, race and gender combined. I am confident that  I have the same dream as many other young female athletes; when I was young, I wanted to be a professional basketball player, until recently I realized the odds of that happening were slim to none.

I  decided not to give up; I just made the decision to take another road to the same goal.

I discovered my passion for writing, media, and sports. I switched my college undergraduate major from Health and Physical Education to Journalism, because I love to write I played basketball my entire life on the high school and collegiate levels.

I now have my B.A. in Journalism at the age of 23, and can proudly say that I’m the first in my immediate family to achieve a college degree. My brother (pictured with me above) is close behind, too, set to finish his degree in the next couple of years.

This is an accomplishment that I am very proud of, however, I will always look back and wish there were more opportunities and exposure along the way to guide me toward my dreams.

With a lot of hard work and some help from others on the way, I made out alright. But as a child, or teenager, they were non-existent.

I believe one of the keys to making a way for women in sports media is opportunity. My community and childhood surroundings didn’t introduce me to women’s sports; actually my middle school didn’t even have a basketball program (those opportunities came later – in junior high, high school and college).

But one thing I learned is that it isn’t too late to make change.  I plan to give back to the young ladies in my community, which is predominately African- American, and help them broaden their horizons.

On a larger scale, there are still individuals who have become successful, and are providing chances for the youth. Future Sole is an example of such an organization.

Future Sole is a sneaker design contest that was created in 2007 to give youth the access to the footwear design industry.

“When I was growing up, there wasn’t a forum to learn about the sneaker design industry or a community to share design ideas,” said Edwards. “Many kids don’t know a career in footwear design exists, so with Future Sole I wanted to open their eyes to the possibilities and show them how they can achieve it.”

- D’Wayne Edwards, Jordan Brand Footwear Design Director

Future Sole is a nationwide high school footwear design competition co-sponsored by Nike. The contest is in its second year, and the registration ran until 6/1/09. High school students between the ages of 14-19 were eligible for the contest. While the deadline for this has past, you can still participate by voting for the winner.

Why women? Because there are only 2% women of color collectively. The contest hopes to close the demographic gaps in the industry.

Lisa Leslie of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks is a sponsor of this program, and this really speaks to her ongoing support of minority youth trying to make it in the industry.

“I believe this program will  impact many kids lives in a very positive way. I think this is an awesome opportunity for any child who’s creative and loves to draw. I am happy to be a role model and have the opportunity to give back especially in my own community!”

What that says to me is there is another avenue for creative women (especially colored women) in the sports industry to take. Last years winners were two males, while that is awesome, maybe this year can be different, and two women can win the contest.

I can remember a good friend of mine always drawing pictures of cool sneakers when we were younger; he wanted to design sneakers. If he had access to an organization like Future Sole back then, he may have been able to pursue this dream.

For more information, please visit www.futuresole.com. To vote for a winner, click here.

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