Women & Sport is a NorthJersey.com column dedicated to female athletes from the rec league level to college and pro. If you have any advice on a North Jersey athlete who should be featured in the column, no matter how young or old, please drop me a line at anzidei@northjersey.com.
We’ve brought all the columns together here in one place for you to dig in and get your fix on the multifaceted issues surrounding women’s sports.
Along the way, you’ll also get to know me — Melanie Anzidei, a former college football player who is eager to find forgotten or underreported sports stories and bring them to the forefront for the world to see.
ESPYs controversy latest example that college athletes deserve better (7-22-22)
In the same week that the NCAA released its progress report on gender equity and college basketball, ESPN came under fire for not inviting South’s women’s basketball star Carolina Aliyah Boston for the annual summer awards show, the ESPYs. To see also : Dunn is proud of where Title IX took on women’s sports, he knows the fight is not going on. Both points show the polarizing nature of women’s sports: One day we get to celebrate progress, and then a glaring example shines a spotlight on all the work that still needs to be done.
Boston won a national championship and was named National Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 2022. She was also nominated for best college athlete in women’s sports at this year’s ESPYs. However, she was kept off the awards guest list – a decision that proved an epic fail for the sports broadcast network.
For NJ trans youth, women’s sports remain safe space despite bans elsewhere (7-15-22)
At least 18 states currently ban transgender athletes from participating in sports that match their gender identity — with more bans likely to be introduced in other states. In New Jersey, the right of trans athletes is somewhat of a cornerstone in the youth sports landscape.
Female college athletes are early winners in first year of NIL (7-8-22)
It has officially been a year since the era of the name, image and likeness in college sports began. NIL permanently changed the landscape of college sports, ushering in a new form of amateurism for student-athletes across the board. On the same subject : Sports Betting in Georgia: When it’s legalized, like online betting where you can find picks, top promotions. And although much will continue to change in the coming years with NIL, so far female athletes have been early winners, reaping the benefits of endorsement deals.
Female athletes have made strides on reproductive freedom in the workplace (7-1-22)
The symbolism could not be clearer. A week ago the United States celebrated 50 years since Title IX became the law of the land — ushering in a new era for girls and women who played sports in the 1970s. Read also : Six Sports Represented in the 2022 Hall of Fame Class – Baylor University Athletics. It was a monumental milestone, and this year after that the conversation turned to finding ways to keep the momentum going.
But a day after that anniversary, the momentum decreased when the Supreme Court stopped Roe v. Wade and what was for almost 50 years a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. Reproductive freedom and women’s sports go hand in hand.
50 years after Title IX, there are still plenty of modern day ‘firsts’ in NJ (6-24-22)
It has been 50 years since Title IX became the law of the land. In 37 words, the landmark passage opened the door for gender equity in sports, education and society to take shape across the United States. All these years later, many doors are still opening for girls playing sports.
In New Jersey, there are countless untold stories about women making daily strides in male-dominated sports spaces. Today, I’m going to take a moment to highlight some of the modern “firsts” for women and girls in Garden State sports.
The women’s game is the crown jewel of American soccer. That matters. (6-17-22)
When you have a game that thrives at the highest level, it provides young players with a visualization of what the future looks like in that sport. There’s still a lot to do to grow a game beyond that, but it’s a start.
In North Jersey and New York, Gotham FC is slowly growing the game by investing in an official reserve team in the Women’s Premier Soccer League and increasing youth clinics. Kearny, known as Soccertown USA, is now the home of the recently formed women’s pro-am team, Paisley Athletic.
As sports icons call for gun laws, female athletes have long been activists (6-10-22)
Athletes have been using their platforms to protest social injustices and drive change for decades. In the world of women’s sports especially, athletes have been making this kind of call to action — with athletes’ demands even leading to significant change in recent years. Following the Uvalde massacre that left 19 children and two teachers dead, Natasha Cloud of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics addressed reporters, calling on fans to listen to write their local politicians to demand change, with a repeat of a similar call to action made by the team in 2020.
“This game doesn’t matter,” Cloud said. “The [21] lives lost today from senseless gun violence in Texas, at an elementary school – we’re talking about our children not being safe to go to school and our government still not implementing laws sensible about weapons.”
WNBA shining example of how investments in women’s sports continue to grow (6-3-22)
What can we say about the W? It’s the oldest running professional women’s league in the country – that alone is huge. With women’s sports leagues struggling to last more than a few seasons in recent decades, the WNBA in many ways could serve as a North Star.
The league, like most women’s sports organizations, is experiencing record growth. More people are watching. The 2022 league draft averaged 403,000 viewers, or 20% more than last year. That’s on top of the overall viewership increase from last season.
Better yet, not only are more people watching professional women’s basketball, but they are also investing in it.
US soccer’s equal pay victory will stand as biggest sports win of 2022 (5-27-22)
There are few teams as important to sports history as the United States women’s national soccer team. Whether you talk about the squad that brought home a historic fourth World Cup title after defeating the Netherlands in the summer of 2019, or the legendary ’99ers who brought football to the women in the mainstream, the team embodies what athletes are capable of when they challenge the status quo. quo.
Their latest achievement? Ensuring equal pay with the US men’s national soccer team.
As Title IX hits 50, new NorthJersey.com column devoted to female athletes (5-20-22)
Women’s sport is having a moment — not the kind of moment that will pass, but one that will be remembered and reflected upon.
Almost every day there is another breaking story that shows another threshold of broken glass, or another historical milestone reached. Whether it was Kelsie Whitmore becoming the first woman to start an Atlantic League game, or when Barcelona Femení won their record for the most attended women’s soccer match in history with 91,648 spectators in Camp Nou. Or — you get the idea.
Even as I sit here writing this column, news has come out that FIFA, the governing body of world football, has named three women among the 36 referees selected to officiate in the men’s World Cup in Qatar later this year, and three more in the group. of assistants.
With so much happening in the world of women’s sport, we found it important not to let these moments pass without recognition. For too long, that’s exactly what we’ve done.
That’s why we’re creating a space to talk about it all. The highest and the lowest. The new and the old. From the sports business side, for youth development. From pros, to rec championships. No topic is off limits, and we are eager to highlight these stories with you, our reader.
