Recognition Has No Gender

Today's blog post was written by Remy Lewis.  Remy is a Psychology Major at Purdue University North Central and is a former Division One Track and Field Athlete at Indiana State University.  He is currently an intern with Play Like a Champion.  He is also a Coach, Scout, and Trainer for Sports Prep NBA.

In an age where sports are often dominated by men, women have made countless strides towards gender equality in all sports. Thanks to Title IX and overall cultural advancement, these days you can find men and women with generally equal opportunities to participate in sports at the high school and college levels--and at some schools, the women's teams often outperform the men.

But what about the publicity? What about the recognition? Are we giving equal opportunities AND recognizing and publicizing the highest levels of achievement? Some who may be stuck in the past may feel as if we have given the female athletic community enough for them to be satisfied, but the female athletic community, and those of us who may coach superb female athletes would tend to disagree.

Photo Courtesy of usssapride.com

How many of you recognize this symbol to the left? Until recently, I didn't know that we had a National Professional league for women playing fast pitch softball. This fast pitch league currently features 5 teams with many of the top college softball players in recent years. Some form of this league has been prevalent since 1997, but has reshaped and reformed itself in a bid for national recognition. According to its history, it has been shown on national television including its championship games. At one point, teams from the league competed with Olympic teams from around the world during the regular season. Now it is working on expansion so that it may have many home grown competitive teams just like Major League Baseball, then some of its All-Stars could represent the U.S. in the Olympics.

Photo Courtesy of WNBA.com

Other than few sports fans at the University of Notre Dame, who can recognize this picture? For those of you that may not watch enough ESPN, this is a photo of Notre Dame Women's Basketball Guard Jewell Loyd who was drafted as the #1 overall pick in the WNBA. The WNBA draft was held last week on April 16th 2015, a fact which went largely unnoticed accept in key media markets that either fed players or host teams. Jewell was a 2015 Consensus All-American who helped lead her team to the National championship game against UConn.

Where were you during last years NPF (National Pro Fastpitch) championship game? Or do you remember who won the WNBA Championship Game last year? (Phoenix.)  How can we not promote these types of events for our athletes? Some of these women represent our country in the Olympics, and many of them represented our favorite collegiate programs with pride. The athletes are out on the field or court for the name on the front of the jersey and the love of their game. We will never see women reach the status of men in professional of even collegiate sports until we begin to recognize these women for the amazing athletes they are.  Play Like a Champion strives to promote equal opportunities for all athletes of all ages, but the rest of the country still needs to realize that the women participating in professional sports are not only some of the top female athletes in our country, but some of the most outstanding athletes in the world. We should all give them the respect, support, and recognition they have earned and deserve. 

The Spirit of Sportsmanship

Today's blog was written by Allison DeLuna, a manager on the Notre Dame Softball team and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching class taught by Play Like a Champion Today co-founders Kristin Sheehan and Professor Clark Power. 

I can understand the emotions that come from getting a homerun for the first time, the excitement you feel for you and your team. This particular scenario was a little different than most homeruns and could have ended in a two run single.  Sara Tucholsky from Western Oregon had her first homerun ever and forgot to touch first base in the excitement.  She turned to touch first and in that instance, tore her ACL instead.  The rule is that her teammates and coaches are not allowed to touch her or else her homerun would not have counted.  As an alternative, two of her opponents willingly carried her around the bases because her teammates could not.

I believe that this situation was handled with amazing integrity by Mallory Holtman from Central Washington. She and a teammate picked an injured Tucholsky up and carried her around the bases even though they knew it would hurt their chances in the game. The reason they gave for doing so was simple: she deserved it. A selfless and simple act that ultimately cost Central Washington the game and the Conference Championship (4-2).

Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace of Central Washington carry Sara Tucholsky "home."

I love everything about the game of softball and this supreme act of kindness made me love it even more.  As a softball player, I can relate to both teams, Central Washington and Western Oregon.   When I first read about this story and saw the clip from this inspiring softball game I was so completely moved. It has been a long time since a sportsmanship story like this has made this big an impact on me.  Character and selflessness is something that players can strive to do, and they could take a page out of these players handbooks.