Blogs With Balls: Female sports community ignored, again

If you’re familiar with the mammoth multi-billion dollar male sports blogging scene, you’ve probably heard of A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin, Spencer Hall of The Sporting Blog or Dan Kellyand of the Bleacher Report.

Chances are, if you know these guys, you also know about Blogs With Balls. Why? Because they’re panelists. And chances are, (forgive me for stereotyping)… you’re a guy.

The first of its kind, Blogs With Balls is a an event occuring in New York City this Saturday, June 13. Sponsored by Yardbarker, this event will bring together some of the biggest names in the sports blogosphere for a one-day discussion on the space.

Topics include the future of sports media, leveraging social media, claiming earned media, the secret of success, content networks, financial return, and sports journalist vs. blogger.

While these topics are great ones and people in the industry would (and should) gain value from attending the event, I must point out that there is one serious problem. And if it is not addressed now, I fear that it never will be.

While some of the speakers on the agenda do include women, many of these ladies either work in the male sports industry or blog about completely men’s sports. Only one of the panelists actively blogs about women, and that’s Sarah Braesch, who, only as of a few nights ago, became an advisor to WomenTalkSports.com.

It is incredibly obvious that the female sports blogging community (yes, there is one) is seriously under-represented at this “sports blogging event.” In my opinion, if you’re going to use a gender-neutral term like “sports,” you had better include the other gender’s interests and not force us to live in a separate world. This is not only a common, significant oversight, but a dumb one, too.

As far as I know,  WomenTalkSports.com is the only network of female sports bloggers (writing completely about women’s sports).

Not one of its founders or bloggers was invited to this event. YardBarker (of which I am a member), HHR MediaGroup and every single panel moderator (including Matt Ufford, With Leather.com, Michael Tunison, KissingSuzyKolber.com, Dan Shanoff, DanShanoff.com, Sporting News, Matt Sebek, JoeSportsFan.com Dan Levy, On the DL Podcast) either did not realize this problem or chose to ignore it.

If you’re a female sports blogger, the very name of the event, Blogs With Balls, should – on some level – piss you off. Do you really think women are welcome or taken seriously at such an event? It’s not exactly welcoming for the gender that doesn’t (physically) have balls.

So I must ask those in the male sports industry – what do we need to do to be welcomed? This points to an even bigger quesiton – what do female athletes themselves need to do to be welcomed in traditional media coverage of sports (that doesn’t involve taking off clothes)? This, for example, would make a great debate topic for a panel this weekend.

Why were we excluded? Here’s my take – because that’s where the money is.  As I mentioned earlier in this post, male sports a multi-billion dollar industry. To date, the female sports industry is not at that level. Until women sports bloggers are recognized as part of a bigger, more diverse “sports community,” we will continue to rest in the shadows of our male counterparts.

I didn’t write about this topic because I hate men (I actually love them). I blog because I hope the opportunity to join this community is possible.

Until then, I’ll rest on Saturday knowing that Sarah will be there talking for me, and maybe next year, I’ll get the invite.

Fair pay and athletics: The gender disparities continue to loom

This post is part of an initiative by the National Women’s Law Center in honor of Equal Pay Day — “voices are rising up across the web in support of fair pay for women.” All day, they’ll be promoting blog posts about fair pay and tweets with the hashtag #fairpay.

The reason today is Equal Pay Day: April 28, 2009 marks the day when the average woman’s wages will finally catch up with those paid to the average man in 2008 (note – that was last year). Here’s where you can find state-by-state data on the wage gap.

So what can you to help? Well, if you’re a blogger, register here and blog about it. If you’re not (or you don’t want to), then urge your Senators to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

In keeping with my theme, I wanted to share some interesting information about fair pay in athletics. Some may think that these days, women get paid “very similar” or even “close to” men. But that’s hardly the case, as you can see… Read more

(Podcast) WNBA’s Chantelle Anderson: blogging about female athletes, lesbians and her image in the sports industry

On Friday, I conducted one of my favorite interviews – an informed telephone conversation with Chantelle Anderson who plays for the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.

Chantelle touched on many different points in this interview, but this discussion was not centered upon her role on the court.

Instead, it’s formulated around some of the topics that Chantelle has brought up off the court on her blog, and they have to do with the image and sexual orientation of modern female athletes. Read more

Will Obama create opportunities for high school girls to play sports?

Today is a day of change.

…Or at least that’s what President Obama has been preaching for the past year.

And if what he says is true, there’s a chance he could create many more opportunities for high school girls who want to play sports.

The issue: The High School Sports Information Collection Act -  a piece of legislation which would extend Title IX reporting requirements from colleges to high schools. It’s expected to be reintroduced and voted on by Congress this year.

Over the past eight years, Title IX has been treated skeptically by the Bush administration. This act was introduced and neglected in 2007.

And now is a time for change.

During his campaign, President Obama promised a lot of things. Among them, he promised to support the reintroduction of this Act, and women’s sports leaders are now challenging his administration to follow through on their promises.

The law would require high schools to collect and share information about whether their athletic programs serve both sexes equally, as colleges must do now.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, high school girls get 1.3 million fewer participation opportunities than boys do. Unlike colleges, NWLC says high schools are not required to disclose data about the degree of equality in women’s sports programs.

The rest of this article on GameChangers.net is really, really good. I highly recommend you read through it.

For more information on this and other legislation, check out the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Mascots and Masculinity

So the idea from this blog came in response to a previous post that got me thinking.  I have been on teams that have used the term “Lady” in front of our schools mascot in order to somehow feminize our image.  Although this argument may seem trivial or like a small issue, it is important for women to start realizing these examples are preventing women from truly being seen as equals in the sports arena. 

According to the Handbook of Sociology of Gender, more than 50% of 4-year colleges in the United States use sexist names for women’s teams, such as adding “Lady” to the mascot name, adding the suffix “ette” (Yellow Jackettes or Thorobrettes), or using a diminutive version of the mascot for women’s teams (Kittens or Belles).

In my opinion, we are feeding into stereotypes of women, by altering a mascot name in any of the aforementioned ways, to pertain to a women’s sports team.  Why does the mascot have to have any gender at all?  Why is the default gender male?  Does it make a difference if the hawk, bulldog, lion, professor, volunteer, cardinal, etc. is a male or a female?  Does the gender predict how we act when participating?  God forbid men are forced to compete with a female mascot, therefore all mascots must be inherently male.  As female athletes we should want to embody the same ferocious and competitive characteristics as our male counterparts.  What are we gaining by feminizing the mascot?  Do I want to be described as lady-like on the court, field, in the pool, inside the batters box? 

Obviously I do not want to get off topic, but something that just came to mind, “you throw like a girl.”  Well, #1 – I am a girl, and #2 – why is that a bad thing?  Why do these stereotypes still exist, and why, as women, are we contributing to this image? 

In my research I found two noteworthy articles relating to this topic, “We’re not bitches, we’re Bulldogs,” and “‘Lady’ Interrupted.”  Both articles use the Lady Vols as an example, and I cannot think of a better one.  Now, you don’t need to follow Women’s Basketball or even watch SportsCenter to know that the Lady Vols are one of the most known icons in Women’s College Basketball.  They are a FORCE, from all-time winningest college basketball coach, Pat Summitt, to first pick in the WNBA draft Candace Parker.  The Lady Vols have won 8 National Championship titles and have competed in every single NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball tournament since the NCAA began sanctioning the sport in 1981.  I don’t know many men that would argue the toughness that these ladies show on the court day in and day out.  I might go as far to say that the Lady Vols could compete with numerous men’s college basketball programs.  Why do we need to feminize their mascot?  The term lady is used to describe a women who is refined and polite.  I can assure you that the Lady Vols are not worried about being refined and polite on the basketball court.  Nor should any other female student-athlete be portrayed as refined and polite while competing in their respective sport.  And we, as a society, need to realize there is nothing wrong with female athletes WANTING to be competitive, ferocious, intimidating, strong, and powerful. 

In 2007, C. Vivian Stringer and Pat Summitt shared their conflicting opinions on this topic.  Summitt’s stance, “That Lady Vols logo is known throughout the country and throughout the world, I just can’t see that changing.”  Stringer’s viewpoint, “basketball is basketball, and you don’t need to make a distinction.”  The times are evident, and it’s time WE make a change!

Practice scheduling and discrimination in sports

“It shouldn’t be any different because of our gender or who we are,” she said. “Maybe people think we don’t take soccer as seriously because we are girls. I take this seriously,”said Christina Angione, 16, a soccer player at Beacon School on the West Side.

The above quote was taken from an article I read today that was published a few days ago on the NY Times website. The article was about high school girls’ soccer being played in the spring opposed to in the fall like the boys teams in New York City.

According to the article, girls have been playing soccer in the spring for 28 years.

However, many of the female players and their parents haven’t agreed with the scheduling, their complaints and threats urged the Department of Education, who were facing discrimination charges and a possible lawsuit to change the schedule.

The article goes on to talk about the many difficulties playing in the spring oppose to fall gave these young ladies and the benefits it gave the boys to practice in the fall.

The reason the article took my attention was the issue of equality amongst men and women that goes overlooked every day. The article made me feel like girls being second to boys has become so second nature that it isn’t even recognized to many as being discrimination.

I can remember something similar happening to me while I was in high school. I was a part of a winning program, my high school girls basketball team, was better than our guys team almost every year I attended.

Practice scheduling is always tough; however practicing is always tough for dedicated student athletes. The best practice times are earlier, it leaves more time for homework and rest, right?

This one time I’m thinking of my high school athletic director, who scheduled my winning basketball team. At the time, we may have been undefeated. But we were forced to practice at the 7-9pm slot. For whatever reason, we always had the latest time, and the freshmen boys team the earliest practice.

I’m not even sure ever won a game.

Enough said.

Gender Barriers in Athletics

So, I’ve been contemplating how I want to comment on this article since it was released a week ago, on January 8th. The NCAA released its findings in a recent study conducted to determine the number of women interested in pursuing a career in athletics. For me, this study was staggering, eye-opening, and disheartening. I immediately emailed it to every woman I know in the business. Some background: I am an assistant swim coach for a Division 3 men’s and women’s swim team. This is my 5th year as an assistant and my goal has always been to become a head coach.

The reason why this study hit home for me is because I can completely understand the challenges women face. In the sport of swimming, a majority of the programs are combined, men’s and women’s. The number of women coaching women is small, the number of women coaching men is even smaller. I know of 2 women in Division 3 who are the head coaches of both the men and the women. This is not to say that there aren’t more, and it is my hope to do a study on the number of female coaches in swimming at the division 3 level.

A colleague just did some similar research at the division 1 level. Danielle Grobmyer is assistant swim coach at UMass. Looking to further her success in a field dominated by men, she wanted to do some research and look realistically at the statistics. 14% of swim coaches at the division 1 level are women. 28 out of 207 coaches are women. Ironically these statistics are not publicized anywhere. Now understand that athletic directors generally replace a male head coach with a male. Doesn’t look like breaking into the field of coaching is going to be an easy task for just any successful female. No wonder women are discouraged and often decide to pursue another career, or decide to start a family.

Now, I’m 26 years old. I’m not ready to have children, but I know that one day I do want to have them. This is one factor in my decision making process when I decide how I want to move forward with my career. I am truly worried that coaching will continue to be a less desirable career for women, and therefore there will continue to be a minority of women in coaching. Catch22. Women grow up having male coaches, so they assume coaching is a male’s job, or they underestimate what a female coach can offer that a male coach cannot. Women do not see strong, confident coaches so they don’t have role models in the field. For me, this has been the driving force in motivating me to be successful, push the envelope, and become a strong, confident, and inspiring female coach.

I have had some really great female coaches, some really horrible female coaches, some really great male coaches, and some really horrible male coaches. The people I most respect in my lifelong career in athletics, are women. Some of them weren’t even my specific coach, but I have chosen a career that will allow me to emulate them, my role-models. This study, Gender Equity in College Coaching and Administration – Perceived Barriers, although not what many women want to see, is only fueling my motivation to make a difference.

Hockey Hall of Fame’s exclusion of women “is just plain sad”

Last week, Damien Cox, an ESPN writer, recently wrote a compelling editorial about the Hockey Hall of Fame’s exclusion of women.

He referred to the exclusion of women as “just plain sad,” “embarrassing,” “misogynistic,” “a little like North Korea,” and “Dark. Secretive. Isolated. Resolute.”

I now love Damien Cox.

Damien discloses how the HoF officials have done nothing to help women. They’ve kept the same group of individuals (the only ones who can nominate athletes), and they never release any information about the nominees.

Several members even say “they are embarrassed at the way in which some members have gone out of their way to exclude women.”

My favorite part of Damien’s article:

“This week, as the world is entranced after an enormous and historic barrier fell with the election of an African-African as U.S. president, those defiantly dedicated to keeping doors closed to others on the basis of race or gender simply look sad.”

Special thanks to both Damien from ESPN (the full text has some great history in it – take a look) and Ken from After Atlanta for bringing this to my attention.

It’s promising to see men stick up for our rights to have a seat at the table.

Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris on cover of Sports Illustrated

University of Oklahoma basketball player Courtney Paris is on the cover of Sports Illustrated with men’s player Blake Griffin. Both are named preseason All-Americans.

The headline of Sports Illustrated magazine’s basketball preview is “Double Team” (see to the right).

This is great news, and it’s awesome to see a woman right beside a man in Sports Illustrated, especially when it comes to preseason basketball.

This is great stuff. For more information, check out Pretty Tough.

Jaime Nared Takes On The Boys (and America)

14-year-old Jaime Nared is making headlines across the country. So far, she’s been on ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN’s Headline News and featured in Thursday’s New York Times as well as big time sports blogs like The Bleacher Report. Why? Because she’s breaking barriers.

Gender barriers… in basketball.

The NY Times calls her “12 going on Candace Parker.” At 6 foot 1″, Nared is catching attention for her participation on Team Concept boys’ team in Portland, Oregon.

All was cool until a game back in April, when she scored 30 points. Suddenly, Jaime got a call from her coach who informed her that she was banned from planning on the team.

Interesting coincidence.

Apparently, Team Concept played in a league called Hoop, a private gym that runs the league that Team Concept plays in. All of a sudden, after her performance scoring 30 points, the league cited a previously unenforced rule against mixed-gender play.

Timing seems a little bit too perfect, doesn’t it?

Only problem now is the GIRLS don’t want her playing with them, either. Poor kid.

Girls teams don’t want her playing because she KILLS. Apparently, the last time she played against girls her age, the final score was 90-7. Her coach equated her participation with girls her age like Shaq playing on a high school team.

By forcing Jaime to play against girls her own age, she’s not getting any better.

The NY Times even says, “Playing with boys is a standard part of girls’ basketball training. Often it’s where talented girls can find the game best suited to their skills.”

So it is going to take some pushing.

It’s not surprising to me that there’s a strong-willed mom behind this effort.

When Jaime’s mother, Reiko Williams, heard that her daughter had been kicked off the boys’ team, she says she felt she needed to act. “I have three daughters,” she told the NY Times. “The world is going to give them pink and dolls. My two older daughters, Jackie and Jaime, want to play basketball. I feel it’s my job as a parent to help them be the best they can be at what they choose to do.”

After the league cut Jaime from the boys’ team, Jaimie’s mom called the Portland media. Then, a trail of media coverage and support followed.

When I read the NY Times article on Jaime last week, I sent it around to some of my blogger friends. One asked me whether I think Jaime should be allowed to compete with older girls or if she should compete against boys her age.

My answer..

Playing with the boys got her on Good Morning America.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rBbZ01FrKA]

I say stick with the boys.

Best of luck, Jaime!

Happy Birthday, Title IX!

I know I’m a few days late on this, but I definitely want to address this. Happy 36th birthday to Title IX, the federal law granting girls and women in high schools and colleges the right to equal opportunity in sports.

Title IX states,

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

But the greatest visible impact Title IX has made in our society is seen in sports. Since its passage on June 23, 1972,  female athletes across the national have been competing at levels we’d never thought possible.

But as women, we need to protect what we have fought for. The battle continues in Congress to ensure Title IX remains strong and effective.

Further, we need to support this legislation at a stronger level. It needs to be tested in our nation’s high schools. Send a message to your congressional representative though the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Together, we can fight for we have, and change what we will become. Happy Birthday Title IX. If you didn’t exist, my life would be drastically different.

41-Year-Old Torres Attempts Fifth Olympic Qualifier

It has been studied and confirmed over and over again: age and gender each have a significant impact on the cardiac response to exercise. But for some reason, it doesn’t seem to apply to Dara Torres, a 41-year-old mother who is attempting to qualify for her fifth Olympic Games on June 29-July 6 at the USA Swimming Team Trials.

If Dara Torres qualifies for the Beijing Olympics, she will become the first swimmer to make five Olympic teams and will be the oldest female Olympic swimmer to date. She is truly the definition of the bionic woman, and serves as an inspiration to those who battle the inevitable obstacle of age.

To put this phenomenon into perspective, in 1984 (the year before I was born) Torres won her first Olympic gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. She was 14 years old. Here she is, today, still kicking butt.

Torres boggles the minds of exercise physiologists everywhere. Her physicality is remarkable for her age, and because of this, she receives regular and frequent drug tests to prove she is for real.

Her training regimen is different than the 17-year-olds she competes against. Wendy Lewellen from the Women’s Sports Foundation says,

“She takes Thursdays and Sundays off from her typical 7-2:30 work-outs, and she plays close attention to her diet. At 5’11”, she’s 10 pounds lighter than she was in 2000. I expected to encounter in Torres a living nutritional chemistry experiment. But aside from relying heavily on her Living Fuel shakes and bars in the early part of the day, her diet sounds simply sensible.”

What makes a professional athlete a true champion? In my opinion, it’s how they use their image and voice to make an impact on society.

Torees does just that. She has used her influence to raise awareness around health issues that have touched her life. Toyota sponsors her effort to spotlight eating disorders, which is a very large problem in the community of female athletes.

I’d like to wish Dara Torres the best of luck as she takes to the lanes June 29-July 6 in Omaha, Neb. For more information on the event, go to USASwimming.org.

To get an even better understanding of how amazing her story has become, check out the below ABC “Person of the Week” video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6FjZ5nTCXM&hl=en]

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