Once upon a time, the WNBA reached out to female bloggers…

And they lived happily ever after.

This is not a fairytale – it’s truth.

Today, the WNBA reached out to me (on behalf of Women Talk Sports), @techmama Beth Blecherman of Silicon Valley Mom Blogs’ Techmamas, @PunditMom of PunditMom and Sarah, @GoonSquadSarah, of Blogher.

Why? Because they wanted our opinion. On how they can become more involved in social media.

It’s truly refreshing to hear when a company actually decides to listen and take feedback from its audience – namely, in the WNBA’s case, influencers of niche female blogging communities.

We gave them some great ideas, including having athletes join Twitter (in my opinion this is the most important thing they need to do), making RSS feeds more visible and identifiable, having more embeddable/portable content, having WNBA players create viral videos teaching basketball moves, attending blogger conferences such as Blogher, guest blogging, offering tickets and incentives to bloggers so they can give them away as prizes, inviting bloggers to attend the WNBA draft, making WNBA players available for weekly or monthly interviews.

This is all really great stuff (there’s more, but it’s too much to type up).

I learned a few things, too…

I learned that Diana Taurasi maybe be one of the first WNBA players on Twitter, also maybe Candice Wiggins (who’s got a great background story). I heard that the WNBA has many great charitable programs that bloggers should hear about and cover. Also, I was invited today to join the WNBA’s Facebook fan page and follow them on Twitter, @WNBA.

In addition, I came to the realization that female sports bloggers need to start more actively engaging with mom blogs (we have many similarities). Together, we can help promote female sports initiatives. THEY are the ones with the connection to the youth audience.

I hope (if I can afford it) to attend future Blogher conferences and network with some of the mommy bloggers – I hope some of the female professional sports teams (and their sponsors) will be in attendance, too. Would be great to have an entire session dedicated to female sports someday.

Anyway, if you have any ideas that you’d like me to pass along, please be sure to leave me a comment. I’m very excited of this new relationship, and I hope WNBA will continue to foster more as they grow to engage directly with their fans and become a more transparent, credible organization.

Her Sports Rounds: The Best of Women’s Sports

Below is my weekly rounds of what’s being discussed in the blogosphere of women’s sports:

16-year-old girl (with a mean knuckleball) is playing professional Japanese baseball. Check it out at Girls Dig Sports (b5 media). Also cross-posted at Girls Can’t What! and Pretty Tough. (I will likely be blogging about this later, too).

Sue Favor surveys foreign players on US college teams – covered at the Women’s Hoops blog.

Mara Yamauchi, a British long distance runner who holds the record for the second fastest time in a marathon amongst British women, is discussed at Right Fielders.

Jennifer discusses her frustration with playing on mixed-gender rec teams on From a Left Wing. (I have to say – I have to agree with her points).

Women Who Serve posted a link to a 2009 guide for the Women’s Tennis Association.

Keri Mikulski discussed her recent trip to Texas to meet professional softball players, including USA Softball gold and silver medalist and the best shortstop in the world, Natasha Watley.

Pat Griffin discussed Jeff Sheng’s Fearless Campus Tour, a traveling photo exhibit of GLBT high school and collegiate athletes, on her LGBT Sports blog.

Over at Sports, Media and Society, Marie Hardin discussed a new book about women’s basketball by by Marie Hardin, titled, “Why She Plays” . The book features interviews with top figures in women’s basketball — including Val Ackerman, Tamika Catchings, Donna Lopiano, and Diana Taurasi.

At the Stanford Women’s Basketball blog, Judy Richter discussed how Stanford’s forward Jillian Harmon is looking to lead the team this year.

At The Final Sprint, editor Adam Jacobs featured post-run interview videos with elite runners Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher.

Apryl Delancey from Women Like Sports, featured a video from the Seattle Majestics, an IWFL team in her area.

Hope you enjoyed! Please be sure to send your links over to me at bciplayedsports@gmail.com to be considered for inclusion the next rounds.