At the espnW Women + Sports Summit last week, stellar athletes, activists, celebrities, NCAA administrators, sports marketers and enthusiasts spent three days putting their heads together to improve the role of sports in the lives of women and girls in the US and across the world.
Although we awarded no prizes and no envelopes were dramatically opened, my participation at the this conference felt like going to an Academy Awards for female sports fans, enthusiasts, and athletes: Every day world-class athletes and luminaries in sports-related fields shared thoughts at the podium but also over work outs, savory food, and beautiful views. In upcoming posts I'll share in more details some of the events and guests that made an impression on me. Here I'll flash some of my favorite highlights from the summit. In upcoming posts I'll share about world-class athletes and their approach to life management, multi-tasking, parenting, and athletics in character-building. I'll also revisit discussions on growing women's leadership internationally through sport.
The conference had a running theme celebrating 40 years of the landmark Title IX legislation, and I'll recap some of its effects and recognitions.
There were lots of other not-to-be-missed ideas and achievers; I'll touch on a few them here. You can visit the espnW Summit archive to find articles and videos from the conference.
I'd like to introduce you to:
Alana Nichols, Paralympian Gold medalist in both basketball (summer) and skiing (winter). Alana is not only a great athlete but a delightful, personable lunch companion. She said the conference increased her intent to be more open to fans and the public, so here I am, doing my part to make her resolution come true! Check Alana out on Facebook or Twitter.
Don McPherson, former NFL and Canadian Football League quarterback and now a gender-rights activist and educator from the Sports Leadership Institute at Adelphi University. Don talked about differences in sports fandom and broadcasting between men (stats, gambling ) and women (community, connection). He observed that boys are raised to be "not-women, not-gay, but not raised to be whole, complete men with positive male attributes."
Another of my lunch companions was Kristy Scrymgeour, CEO of Velocio Events and owner of the Specialized lululemon women's cycling team. When the HTC-Highroad partnership of men's and women's teams lost their sponsorship, the men's team disbanded but Kristy moved from Marketing and Communication at Highroad to an ownership position for the women's team. She is both determined and passionate (a former competitive cyclist herself) and another bonus as a meal companion. Look for big things from her team and her tour.
Those of you, like me, struggling with cheese graters for knees may want to follow up on the statements of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kevin Stone. His approach to knee health and knee treatments includes a bias toward therapy and biological treatments before traditional knee replacement. One of his guiding principles is, "What you'll be doing has to be fun. How can you get to doing it?" This conference full of athletes listened intently to his talk about knee health and remediation. His theories were jammed into a 10-minute presentation but sounded worth looking into, so here are some links to click: Stone Clinic, his research publications, and his TED talk. May your knees be healthier than mine.
Judy Sweet, former Athletic Director at the University of California, San Diego, and NCAA President and now with the new Association of Women's Coaches, which offers academies to teach leadership, and offers networking and resources. Judy went where no woman had gone before in the highest reaches of athletic administration and opened doors in throughout collegiate sports. Judy shared my interest in intramural and playground-level non-elite athletics that I was pursuing on behalf of GeekMom, in addition to the awesome professional, world-record-setting, and Olympic athletics that were represented at the conference.
Heather Willems came from ImageThink, a company that graphically records the content of meetings by creating giant posters on-the-spot with cartoons of the major concepts discussed, and trains others to do it too. The Summit's major sessions were graphically recorded: entertaining and rewarding. I'll share those images in a later post.
espn__W__ is ESPN's one-stop site for women's sports coverage. They organized this inspiring Women + Sports conference for the third year. Our comfort was ensured by the extremely accommodating staff of the Ritz-Carlton/Dove Mountain(AZ) staff. Lexus co-sponsored; my flight arrived too late for a scheduled test drive but I rode to and from the Tucson airport in the featured luxurious Lexus ES, which was on display for us throughout the conference.
I'll be back in the coming days with meatier posts on some of the topics that received lots of discussion from high-profile speakers. Stay tuned!
