Womens Sports

• Gene Therapy: Jeff Garcia vs Mina Kimes | Put Away Your Capes!

  Feb 1, 2022 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  In this country there are a lot of heroes. Some heroes are essential. Good police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, teachers, and many of the other nameless, faceless workers who go through life tirelessly working for the betterment and safety of others. Some heroes are unexpected. The person who rescues a kid who swam a little too far out and is not caught in the current with little to no energy left. The ones that pull you back before you walk into the street and get hit by a car because you were not paying attention. The person that opens the elevator so that you can make it on before it closes. People who stand up for those that are being oppressed, discriminated against, ridiculed for no reason and bullied. Then there are the heroes that nobody ever asked for. The one’s who pick every opportunity to come to the aid of someone who never asked for help or has even seemed as if they needed assistance. Where I am from, we call it “Caping.” You know a lot of heroes' wear capes and that is where the verb comes from.

   

  Last week former NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia was recklessly critical of ESPN football analyst Mina Kimes for her negative opinion on Jimmy Garoppolo. He questioned her ability to do the job and wondered aloud why anyone would ever hire her as a football mind. To be honest, he was completely out of line. Instead of engaging in a dialogue that could have produced a better understanding of her position and thus moved the conversation forward. He could have criticized without demeaning or degrading Kimes but emotions (and whatever he was drinking) clearly got the best of him. Within minutes of seeing Garcia’s rant, there were people firing back at him. Someone could have started a #GrillGarcia thread, sit back, and watch the replies pour in. It is a popular thing to do and Kimes is a figure that attracts all of the rescuers, so it was not surprising to see so many come to her defense. My only question is, why? Why do so many feel the need to defend Kimes against those that would attack her verbally? Why are they so invested in her?

   

  This is the part that we never seem to get to when it comes to equality. In all of the areas of sports that I exist in there is criticism. Some of it is constructive and definitely helps and some of it is just as ridiculous or worse than how Garcia attacked Kimes but here is the difference, nobody came to my rescue. Yes, I know I don’t work at ESPN or any other big-time network that is regularly consumed by millions but even in my little niche there were no heroes there for me. Why? Because this is a part of the gig. As an analyst when you give your opinion (regardless of whether it is based on facts or not) people will agree or disagree. The rational ones will disagree respectfully, but we live in an irrational society. So those responses come with the job. It is a job that Kimes and those like her are being paid handsomely to do. Does that mean you deserve to be ridiculed because you make a lot of money, no but it does mean you should understand.

   

  In my mind this is the final frontier of equality for women in male sports. A female reporter should be admonished if she says something that is off base or inherently biased because that is what would happen to a male reporter. If a male reporter can be criticized because he never played the game, the same criticism should be expected for a woman who didn’t. As women move into decision-making positions in male sports, are we expecting them to not be criticized when they make a bad selection in the draft or obtain a free agent bust? If they are not allowed to be criticized, then are we really treating them as equals? 

   

  And what are you saying when you run to Kimes defense every single time someone has something negative to say about her? What you think you are saying is “I have your back.” What you are really saying is, “I don’t know if you can handle this yourself.” That is an even bigger slap in the face than the criticism or ridicule. Ladies and especially gentlemen, Mina Kimes does not need you to defend her. She is one of the most intelligent, quick-witted, and self-deprecating people in sports broadcasting. She can more than take care of herself. When she decides that she wants to dignify stupidity with a response, it is normally something that shuts a troll down or exposes the hypocrisy or ridiculousness of a statement. She’s a wordsmith so especially on social media she does not need any of us to defend her. She’s a warrior and the keyboard is her weapon. She has the right to defend herself as much as she has the right to be defended and I am sure in an honest moment she would probably want it that way. I wonder if all of the heroes would have just shut up for a second, if she would have even bothered responding to Garcia’s comments. I’d like to believe she would not because why would she bring relevance to someone who has not been relevant in a very long time?

   

  It was an opportunity missed and that has been the case for many women in male dominated sports. Before they ever get the chance to prove that they are not fazed by the comments of the insignificant or the brain dead, here comes “Captain Save Her” swooping in to be her shield and knight in shining keyboard strokes. The hubris of men is amazing. To think that the only way a woman can feel protected and or comfortable is if a man is there is the type of archaic philosophies that led to the current inequalities in our world. In sports, the moment that we became ok with unathletic men giving us their sports takes, we should have been ok with unathletic women doing it as well. In the same breath if there’s a criticism of a male analyst that includes their lack of playing experience, then it is ok to lob that low hanging fruit at a woman. I would expect both people to handle it the same way. I don’t feel the need to save either one.

   

  The question becomes, why do you?

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

   

   

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• Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah Wins 200m Gold - Pulls Off Double Double

  Aug 3, 2021 SportZ 0 Comments

  

  Source: Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah wins 200m gold to complete second straight Olympic sweep (link)

   

  Elaine Thompson-Herah won the gold medal in the women's 200-meter race in 21.53 seconds on Tuesday in Tokyo, the second-fastest time in history behind only Florence Griffith-Joyner's 21.34. With this gold, the 29-year-old Jamaican completes a sweep of the 100 and 200 for the second straight Olympics, the first woman to ever do it twice. In the 100, she also set the Olympic record with her time of 10.61, beating Florence Griffith-Joyner's time of 10.62, set in 1988, by 0.01 seconds. Flo-Jo is now the only woman in history to run faster than Elaine Thompson.

  Meanwhile, Namibia's Christine Mboma took the silver medal in 21.81, while the United States' Gabby Thomas earned bronze at 21.87. Thomas in particular edged out Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the line to medal. The Harvard graduate was another gold medal favorite, who grabbed the attention of the world when she ran a 21.61 at the US Trials back in June, which at the time was second-fastest time in women's 200 history. Of course, that mark would soon be surpassed by Thompson-Herah's performance in this gold medal race, which surpassed the Thomas's PB by almost a tenth of a second. 

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• Reporter Compares 17yo Coco Gauff to the Williams Sisters "because you're Black"

  Jun 1, 2021 SportZ 0 Comments

  There is a lot of debate going on right now with Naomi Osaka's withdrawal from this year's French Open, mainly due to the media and how they impact the athlete's wellbeing. For those who don't know, to sum it up, the other day, Osaka was initially fined by tennis officials after announcing she wouldn't participate in interviews for the entirety of the Slam tournament, for the betterment of her mental health. No long after, she pulled out of the competition entirely.

  But, Naomi isn't the only one dealing with questionable media.

  One example took place the other day. During a recent press conference (at the French Open, no less), 17 year-old Coco Gauff was compared to Serena Williams by the reporter "because you're black."

  “You are often compared to the Williams sisters. Maybe it’s because you’re Black. But I guess it’s because you’re talented and maybe American too,” were the reporter's exact words.

  Gauff's response was deemed praiseworthy -- she emphasized that she and Serena (who was the focus of the question) were two different people, and that playing her was something she always dreamed about. Still, fans were appalled by the reporter's remark, and view it as further vindication of Naomi Osaka's decision (not that she needs any in the first place).

  Source: Reporter says Coco Gauff is compared a lot to Serena Williams ‘because you’re Black’

   

   

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• Olympic high jumper pressured to 'perform better' and lose a few pounds

  May 20, 2021 CWN Publisher 0 Comments

  Female athletes are being pressured to loose weight and to look good for the camera in order to get and keep their sponsorships.  Here is a story about  Olympic High Jumper Priscilla Frederick-Loomis and her challenges with expectations and eating disorders.

  The rejection was brutal. At the age of 16, Priscilla Frederick-Loomis attended a model agency casting session in New York City where she was told that she was "too heavy."

   

  

  Even now at the age of 31, those two words still play on the Olympic high jumper's mind. Raised by a single mother in New Jersey, Loomis also toyed with the idea of becoming an actor and that's a dream she hasn't given up on as she has pursued her athletics career.

  "I'm going to use track and field as a way to make a name for myself," Loomis, who is a two-time Pan American Games silver medalist and competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, tells CNN Sport from her home in the US. She represented Antigua and Barbuda, where her father is from.

  Pursuing a career in track and field hasn't been easy.

  "When you are trying to be an elite athlete, on top of trying to get signed on, on top of dealing with coaches, you also have, the pressures, one for me, of being an African-American female representing a Caribbean island. And you're adding on top of all that body shaming."

  Even though she never thought she had an eating disorder, Loomis remembers a conversation she had with her college nutritionist, asking: "'How can I be anorexic and be an athlete?'"

  "When I said to my nutritionist that I want to be anorexic, never did I mean I want to have an eating disorder. The power of the word wasn't apparent to me.

  "Now, I look back like and think, 'What the hell was wrong with me? I didn't even realize a lot of female athletes have eating disorders."

  But at that point in her career, that's what Loomis felt she had to do to be successful given she was 158 lbs and is 5 ft 10 tall, which she noted is six inches shorter and at least 20 pounds more than her rivals.

  "In my head, it was common sense: don't eat a lot, look better, jump better," said Loomis, who remembers a time at college when her then coach Richard Fisher advised her to grab something to eat after a training session.

  "I wanted an ice cream, a little ice cream," she says as she demonstrated how small the size was.

  Except another coach told Loomis to put the ice cream down.

  According to US-based eating disorder expert Dr. Gayle Brooks our culture emphasizes and overvalues thinness as the health and beauty ideal.

  "When this cultural value system is combined with the pressures of athletic competition, which places an emphasis on diet, appearance, size and weight to achieve peak performance, it places some athletes at high risk of developing disordered eating and possibly eating disorders," Dr. Brooks told CNN Sport.

  Dr. Brooks is the vice president and chief clinical officer for the Renfrew Center, a US-based clinic specializing in eating disorders treatments. Over Brooks' 30 year career, she has treated many patients who suffer from eating disorders and acted as the eating disorders specialist in the HBO film Thin.

  According to a US study -- Prevalence of Eating disorders among Blacks in the National Survey of American Life -- anorexia was the rarest eating disorder among African American adults and adolescents, while binge eating was the most prevalent eating disorder among adults and adolescents.

  "We are really understanding more and more that eating disorders are not just a White, suburban women's disease, and that, you know, for a long time the belief was that women of color, particularly Black women, were protected culturally from developing eating disorders," said Dr. Brooks.

  As she trained for her first Olympic appearance in 2016, Loomis adhered to a strict diet.

  "I would eat super healthy and super clean, be on it for a month. One time I was just like, 'I really would love a donut, or I really would love a cupcake' and I have a sweet tooth."

  However, according to then-coach Richard Fisher, Loomis wasn't eating enough.

  "We started working together, she was eating maybe three meals a day tops. Everything was low and minimum.

  "She would be so hungry, she would eat unhealthy things as anyone, and her lack of nutrition was hindering her from performing the correct way that she needed to."

  The track and field coach adds: "A lot of coaches look at, I would say the average high jumper who's professional and look at their height and their weight ratio.

  "They use that as the standard for what they believe an athlete should be, which in reality is not true all the time. Yes, it might be the perfect standard of what you want. But a lot of these athletes, you have to realize, are one a billion.

  "Priscilla always used to say to me, 'I'm the shortest, fattest high jumper out there.'"

  According to World Athletics, in a statement sent to CNN: "There is no one kind of body measurement requirement to qualify for the Olympics. That is not the case. There is no such requirement. The qualifying standards are all based around performance."

  Last year World Athletics released a Nutrition Consensus Statement providing the latest research and guidance around nutrition to athletes, coaches and administrators.

  In a statement sent to CNN Sport, the International Olympic Committee also said it "stands for non-discrimination as one of the founding pillars of the Olympic Movement, which is reflected in the Olympic Charter, Fundamental Principle 6.

  "The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Olympic Charter shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

  "Furthermore, athletes' safety and wellbeing is a priority and a core value for the IOC, which is committed to leading and supporting the Olympic Movement in the implementation of safeguarding measures, in line with its mission stated in the Olympic Charter to promote safe sport and the protection of athletes from all forms of harassment and abuse."

  Even Loomis' teammates were all too quick to chime in with disparaging comments about her appearance.

  After Loomis' appearance at the 2015 Outdoor World Championships in Beijing, she says she was called "thick" and "heavy" by her teammates from Antigua and Barbuda. And that was after she had just competed on the track.

  The Antiguan and Barbuda Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to CNN Sport's request for comment.

  Three years later she placed fifth in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. She went to the bar to grab a beer to celebrate when a man, who recognized Loomis from her famous purple hair, came up to her and said, "Oh, I saw you on TV. If you would drop a few kilos, you would have performed better."

  As a result of those comments, Loomis says she would drink a pot of coffee to dehydrate herself to appear slim on screen.

  Loomis is currently working with a female coach, Lauren Biscardi, a former New York state champion in high jump, who the 31-year-old athlete says has "changed my professional career. She has helped me love training, love myself and has allowed me to feel."

  Loomis competed at Rio in  2016 and has ambitions  to compete at the Tokyo Olympics and at Beijing 2022.

  You can the rest of the article Here

  Source:  CNN

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• Isha Johansen's rise to FIFA's corridors of power as an African woman

  May 19, 2021 CWN Publisher 0 Comments

  Source: CNN

  For Isha Johansen, a journey that began by helping to give kids displaced by war a semblance of a normal childhood, has led her to become the first West African woman elected to soccer's world governing body's FIFA council.

   

  Well, it seems like FIFA has been one step ahead, dipping their hands right into the core. FIFA together with UEFA and  IMD formed the Women in Football Leadership Programme. The aim of this program being to empower women to take up leadership positions.

  This great initiative by the trio has already inspired some women to assume leadership positions from all over the world. 

  The 2019 edition of the program brought together 24 participants in Zurich from 18th to 20th of November 2019. FIFA along with other governing bodies have been continuously working on a common aim. The aim has been to enrich the industry with different and valuable opinions as well as backgrounds and experiences. With the achievement of this aim comes the ability to make the game as inclusive as possible to women as well as embracing diversity in gender, perspective, race, religion, and social status. The most essential goal for the achievement of the prior mentioned aim is, therefore, the representation of women in football leadership.

  You all know how men always say “women are complex creatures,” which applies in football as well. No man in power can fully understand the needs of women, only a woman can. Therefore, women play vital roles in the success of organizations where women are involved, especially if the aim is to be diverse and inclusive. The genesis of this program is a win-win situation for both male and female organizations. As much as the program provides a platform for women to grow and improve their decision-making skills, it also allows them to create a balance, allowing maximum sharing of ideas and progress.

  The Women in Football Leadership program seeks to use a powerful leadership training week to support the careers of women who have a great influence on the today and tomorrow of football as a game and an industry. The program allows participants to work on and discuss aspects of leadership for continual career development. At the end of the WFLP, every participant takes home leadership skills, extended networks and strong links with other women in positions of authority as well as the confidence to set and pursue career goals. 

  The program includes plenary discussions, role-playing, and one-on-one coaching. Teaching and professional skills development, as well as team dynamics, are also part of the package. The training week creates a good training environment, conducive for personal, professional growth and promotion of self-awareness and team spirit in a bid to enhance leadership skills.

   

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