American Gold Sports Alliance

Athlete Spotlight

Aurélie Rivard wins 3rd straight Paralympic title in women’s S10 400m freestyle

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The Canadian Press 

Canada’s Aurélie Rivard swam to her third consecutive Paralympic gold medal in the women’s 400-metre S10 freestyle event on Thursday at the Paris Games.

The 28-year-old from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., won the final with a time of four minutes 29.20 seconds at Paris La Défense Arena.

Alexandra Truwit of the United States (4:31.39) and Bianka Pap of Hungary (4:35.63) earned silver and bronze, respectively.

It’s the third medal of the Games for Rivard, 28, who holds the world and Paralympic record in the 400 freestyle, set at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021. She has also won silver in the 100 freestyle and bronze in the 50 freestyle in Paris.

Tess Routliffe reached the podium for Canada in the pool just minutes before Rivard.

Routliffe grabbed bronze in the women’s SB7 100-metre breaststroke for her second medal of the Paralympics. The 25-year-old resident of Caledon, Ont., earned silver in the women’s SM7 200-metre individual medley.

Erin Matson has carved her place in women’s sports. Can field hockey capitalize?

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Brendan Quinn | The Athletic

PARIS — The week was almost over, the Olympics nearly wrapped, when Erin Matson walked into the lobby of a botanical-themed boutique hotel. A sort of gilded garden pulled from a Parisian dream. This place is how the other side lives, and the name fit. La Fantaisie.

Nike booked a block of rooms during the Olympic Games. Its guests were part of an annual Athlete Think Tank, a consortium to survey influential women in sports. The list included Dawn Staley, Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird and so on. They sat for group discussions, Master Class presentations from Serena Williams and Stacey Abrams, and for product sessions, giving feedback on Nike goods coming out soon and others still years from release.

The youngest member of the group was USC basketball star Juju Watkins. The second-youngest was Matson — a 24-year-old entering her second season as head field hockey coach at the University of North Carolina.

Matson arrived in the lobby wearing an oversized designer Nike sweatsuit. The chauffeur waiting outside was scheduled to leave for the airport in 45 minutes. Jess Sims, the Peloton instructor-turned-ESPN personality, walked past, asking if she and Matson were sharing a ride to Charles de Gaulle.

This is not the typical life of an American college field hockey coach. Matson is represented by Wasserman Group, the powerful sports and entertainment agency representing Katie Ledecky, Diana Taurasi, Nelly Korda and others, and this summer proved her reach. She walked the red carpet at the ESPYs. She was a featured speaker at the espnW Summit in New York City.

At a time when spiking interest in women’s sports is dictated heavily by name recognition and star power, Matson has found a place in these reserved spaces. Once the country’s top high school field hockey player and member of the U.S. national team at age 17, she played five seasons (2018-22) at North Carolina and won all imaginable honors. She became the NCAA’s third all-time leading goal scorer, was part of four national championship teams, and was named national player of the year three times.

But this year, instead of competing in Paris, the 24-year-old face of the sport was across town hanging out with Serena Williams as the U.S. national team went 1-3-1.

The backstory is layered. Following the December 2022 retirement of legendary coach Karen Shelton, UNC named Matson, then 22, as head coach of the winningest, most well-funded college field hockey program in the country. Many celebrated the move as daring — a succession mimicking Shelton’s rise 42 years earlier. It was another era, but Shelton once went from being a three-time national player of the year at West Chester, to high school head coach in New Jersey, to taking over UNC at 23. Others weren’t so cheery about the move. Some saw Matson’s hiring as ridiculous, a borderline insult to women’s sports, and criticized the school for what they saw as a closed job search.

Matson and the Tar Heels responded by winning the school’s 11th national championship in her first season as head coach.

All of this before turning 25.

Thus, the status.

Thus, Paris.

Matson filled a journal with notes and quotes. She talked to Staley about coach-captain relationships. She listened to Abrams speak on staying true to one’s values. She felt, at times, out of place. “Why am I here?” Not because of a lack of credentials, but because of field hockey’s ultra-niche place in women’s sports. It’s an issue much older than Matson.

Over lunch with Rapinoe one day, Matson was struck by a realization — that Rapinoe, a U.S. soccer icon, became so by being transcendent on the field and outspoken off the field. She raised the profile of women’s soccer as a player, a freedom afforded on the field more than when working as the CEO on the sideline.

In Paris, that field was Yves du Manoir Stadium. The U.S. national team, a group featuring two of Matson’s current players, one former player and five players she’ll coach against this fall, were outscored by eight goals and eliminated in pool play. They failed to medal, again, extending a streak dating to 1984.

The instinct, of course, is to make it make sense, but nothing is quite so simple here, and it’s only the sport that’s suffering.

Here’s the shortest possible version of the long, convoluted tale of Matson and USA Field Hockey. When hired at North Carolina, Matson knew taking a full-time job with a six-figure salary meant stepping away from the U.S. national team. In her version of events, she wanted a few years to settle into the job, then hoped to continue her playing career, splitting time between coaching and playing. She told UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham of her plans to pursue the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. He was all for it.

Then two things happened. The Tar Heels won the national title in Matson’s first season. And the U.S. national team, one projected as a long shot to make the Paris Olympics, successfully qualified for the Games.

Reversing course on her original decision, Matson made a late effort to land a spot on the U.S. team, requesting a tryout and playing in the indoor Pan-Am Games to notch some international playing reps. While much of the already established U.S. national team had sacrificed time and energy, living and training at a facility in Charlotte, N.C., the official roster was not yet finalized. Multiple collegians who played their 2023 seasons would be invited to try out. Matson would not. USA Field Hockey issued a statement that Matson “did not qualify under the mandatory terms of the selection criteria.” Simon Hoskins, the executive director of USA Field Hockey, told The Athletic it was his decision to deny the tryout request, saying, “It’s an organizational policy, so it comes to me.”

The resulting backlash ran both ways. Matson’s supporters levied accusations of jealousy in the ranks of USA Field Hockey. Matson’s detractors criticized her for wanting special treatment and walking away from the national team in the first place. Acrimony and arguments mounted. Earlier this summer, a series of conversations with members of the 1984 bronze-medal winning team drew a variety of responses — both that USA Field Hockey wasn’t capitalizing on a new star, and that roster policies exist for a reason. Meanwhile, other current college coaches declined to go on the record to discuss the topic.

Anyone operating from a perch of perspective could see a valid case either way. Matson did choose to prioritize her coaching career over her playing career. At the same time, regardless of protocols or personal feelings, was it really in the sport’s best interest for her not to try out for the Olympics?

Field hockey, played evenly among men and women in other parts of the world, has long struggled to catch on in the United States. While other women’s sports have hit periods of momentum, field hockey has never moved into the mainstream. It’s regional. It requires specific (read: expensive) turf. It doesn’t draw droves of kids as a youth sport. So while other women’s sports have enjoyed measurable growth, like increased college scholarship totals, field hockey has stagnated. A lack of success at the national level can be seen as both a root cause and a byproduct. Since ’84, the United States has finished no better than fifth in any Games since.

Hoskins cites a lack of government funding.

“It’s just not fair,” he said. “It’s a subsidized industry that we’re competing in. It’s a real struggle for the organization.”

Money is one thing, but popularity is another, and field hockey has never waded into public consciousness because the public knows so little about it. Sports need stars; in this instance, the sport’s biggest American star wasn’t part of the game’s biggest stage in Paris. Well, she was, except she was watching track and swimming meets and posting pictures for her 70,000 Instagram followers while the U.S. team scored five total goals in five games.

Neither the results nor the optics add up.

Though the ugliness of the 2024 process is still fresh, Matson says she fully intends to pursue a spot on the 2028 Olympic team, even if that requires upwards of two years playing for the national team — “One hundred percent,” she said — but as an organization, USA Field Hockey must examine its shortcomings at the international level.

“I think there’s got to be changes (in the system),” Matson said. “I won’t sugarcoat that. I don’t know how many times we’ve got to fail for people to say that, but like, you know, come on. So I think there’s going to be. But there’s definitely no question that I would love to do that. I know I can help.”

Considering how fraught things turned through the spring, some will wonder what’s rectifiable.

“You don’t have to like me,” Matson said. “I’m not telling you to be my friend. I don’t need any more friends. I have support and I’m grateful. But why can’t we come to an understanding? Do we want to win or have the best chance to win? I don’t mean just here at the Olympics. Our sport needs to win.

“I’m not someone who lives in regret, gets hung up on that, or holds grudges. I truly believe if you want to grow or progress, you can’t be hung up on that stuff.”

In the meantime, Matson will keep coaching. In what felt like a wink to her detractors, she made a notable hire this summer. Romea Riccardo, who won five NCAA titles at UNC and graduated in December, was named as a full-time assistant coach on staff. Matson says Riccardo was to her what she was to Shelton. Once upon a time, the two were freshmen together.

“The argument from the schools that recruit against us is, ‘They’re a young staff; they have no idea what they’re doing,’” Matson said. “And you know, I always joke — don’t people know that we like a target on our back by now? If you just stay quiet and don’t tell me what you’re thinking, I’ll actually probably get less motivated. But if you keep telling me, oh, you’re too young, oh, you can’t do this and that — like, stop it, ‘cause you’re only hurting yourself.”

The 2024 North Carolina season will start next week with the Tar Heels, again, a national title favorite. Matson says she knows perceptions. “That, oh, Erin is off gallivanting in Paris. Oh, Erin is out in LA at the ESPY Awards,” she said. “But I don’t think people understand that I know how fortunate I am, and I use these opportunities and ask, how can we be better, how can the sport get bigger?”

Maybe that’s possible. Or maybe it’s fantasy.

Rising Stars Michelle Agyemang and Vivienne Lia Are Arsenal Through and Through

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By: Meredith Heil | Just Women’s Sports
In the UK, the path toward becoming a professional soccer player starts early.

Kids in the US usually start out with local or travel clubs before moving to a high school team and then maybe playing in college before going pro. And recently, a small but growing number of teenage players are opting to sign contracts with the NWSL before they’ve even finished school.

But across the pond in the UK, a promising footballer’s road to stardom can start as young as five years old. The academy system was established to guide aspiring young players as they work towards an adult contract, with professional clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham, Chelsea, and others supplying their youth programs with full-time coaches, training facilities, and a match calendar. Then at 18, the senior club either offers the player a pro deal or releases them to pursue a spot on another team’s roster.

Arsenal soccer player Leah Williamson and Paris Saint-Germain player Mary Earps of England national team at Women’s Finalissima 2023
Captain Leah Williamson and goalkeeper Mary Earps are just two of the academy grads headlining the England national team. (Naomi Baker – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
The goal has always been to nurture and sustain homegrown talent, with academies around the league producing WSL and England national team icons like Leah Williamson, Lauren James, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, and Mary Earps. And now more than ever, it’s something big league teams are focused on given the women’s game’s meteoric post-Euros rise in the UK.

Of course, academy life isn’t just afterschool practice and weekend fixtures at the training grounds. When senior clubs travel for international friendlies, they’ll often invite a few academy players to tag along. It’s a way to give the young players some exposure, bonding time with the team, and minutes on the field, all while the coaching staff has the opportunity to evaluate their progress and see how they gel with the club.

Arsenal Academy products Michelle Agyemang and Vivienne Lia in Washington, DC
Academy players often travel with the senior team for international exhibitions. (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
That was the case for Michelle Agyemang and Vivienne Lia, two up-and-coming academy products who joined Arsenal FC on their recent USA tour. 18-year-old Agyemang recently graduated from Arsenal’s academy, signing her first pro contract with the team this past May after debuting in November 2022 at the age of 16. 17-year-old Lia is still finishing school and academy training, having taken the field with the senior club for the first time in February 2024.

Last week, JWS spoke to the England U19 standouts in Washington, DC ahead of Arsenal’s friendly with crosstown rivals Chelsea to learn more about their journeys from childhood Gooners to academy superstars and beyond.

How’s the trip going so far?
Michelle Agyemang: So far good. I think it’s been good to go out and see the monuments and stuff, and obviously training. It’s been nice to be around everyone as well.

Viv, this is your second team trip after Arsenal’s Australia exhibition in May. How are you finding it?
Vivienne Lia: It’s great. Australia was more hectic with the fans, but over here it’s been relaxed. But it’s also been more dense — because it’s pre-season, we’ve been working a lot more than we did in our postseason trip.

How old were each of you when you signed with Arsenal Academy?
MA: I was six.

VL: I was 14.

Naomi Williams, Michelle Agyemang, Vivianne Miedema, Freya Godfrey, Vivienne Lia and Katie Reid of Arsenal posing for a photo on the pitch
Michelle and Viv — pictured here with ex-Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema and fellow academy products Naomi Williams, Freya Godfrey, and Katie Reid — both joined Arsenal at a young age. (Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
I know Arsenal has recently moved away from academy trials and now uses a talent identification team to recruit young players, but what was the process like when you joined?
MA: At the time, you just apply on a website, come in for a massive trial with about 30 girls, do a bit of training, and then if you’re successful, you go to a second round with less girls. And that’s it: Two sessions and then they send you an email or a letter. It’s quite simple really.

VL: Mine was quite similar. There was a trial system: one and two trials. At the first one there were quite a lot of girls and then it cut it off a bit. From there, you get an email whether you got in or not. Now it’s changed where they don’t have open trials — you come in for training sessions instead.

Did your parents sign you up?
MA: I was playing for a local boys team and my dad was like, “Oh, might as well just sign her up.” So he did, for a few different teams. And then we literally just rocked up to [a pitch] not too far from Colney for a little training session.

Do you remember that day?
MA: I do quite well. To be fair, we got lost on the way. We went to, I think it was a little farm instead of the training pitch. And then I remember my dad, he kind of pranked me a bit. He was like, “Oh yeah, sorry Michelle, you didn’t get in.” Then he actually brings out the letter. So it was really cute — a really good day.

Michelle Agyemang of England, centre, celebrates with team-mates Alexia Potter, left, and Vivienne Lia after scoring her side’s seventh goal during the UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championship 2023/2024 Finals
Alongside Arsenal, Michelle and Viv have long been fixtures of England’s youth national team system. (Photo by Tyler Miller – Sportsfile/UEFA via Getty Images)
If you were raised in the US, do you think you would have tried to turn pro at a young age or opt for the college route?
VL: I think probably the school route, because you want to get a firm foundation of education first. Because your career is not guaranteed at whatever age — you can get an injury, God forbid, and of course that’s part of the game.

MA: I’d say the same. It’s also the experience of college — so many of my friends have gone through college and it just looks like good fun, obviously alongside football. You miss that if you go straight to pro. Getting school alongside football is something we don’t get in England, so I think that’d be a really good balance to have between the two.

When you’re in the academy, how much time are you devoting to soccer?
MA: I’d spend as much time as I could on both. So as soon as I finished school, I’m straight into the car, changing in the car, eating in the car, doing homework in the car, on the way to training. And then on the way back, I slept. It was an endless cycle but that was the only thing I knew.

VL: When you’re younger, it’s still a mix of it being a hobby but still your passion. But then as you get older — when it becomes more jam-packed, more serious — you have to try and find a balance between both. In England the systems are split, so you still have to go to school, but you also have to go to training. For me now, I go into school two, three times a week and training as well, so it’s about finding a good balance.

A general view of the soccer jerseys of Kyra Cooney-Cross, Emily Fox and Michelle Agyemang in the Arsenal dressing room
Growing up an Arsenal fan, Michelle always dreamed of taking the pitch for the Gunners. (Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
So you’re both lifelong Gooners — was Arsenal always the dream?
VL: Yeah, 100%. That was the dream for me. Of course, I grew up in North London — everyone’s either Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, or you got the odd northern team they support. Everyone wants to play for their local club, their childhood club. It was always a dream of mine to play for Arsenal and to make history at this club.

When you were younger, did you see women’s football as a viable career path?
MA: Absolutely not, no. My mum was saying to me the other day that she just thought I’d just go to Arsenal to do a few training sessions and then come back home. But the development of the game has been so fast in recent years. So I never really saw it as a career until maybe under-10s, -12s when it actually started to get much bigger as a game. At the beginning, I don’t think I had a real plan for football. But things change, and here we are.

Michelle Agyemang and Viv Lia of Arsenal during the Arsenal Women’s visit to the Washington Mystics WNBA team
Michelle and Viv showed off their basketball skills while visiting the WNBA’s Washington Mystics in DC. (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Was the experience the same for you, Viv, seeing as you joined the academy a bit later?
VL: Different actually. I always wanted to be a footballer — or at least an athlete. It was either tennis, track, or football for me. But I always had more of a love for football, so I was like, “Okay, if I don’t become a footballer, I’ll be a tennis player instead.” Like, “I’ll be in sport.”

Football was always what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t completely sure it was possible. But as a kid you’re like, “Oh yeah, it’ll be possible. I can do anything.” So I didn’t really think of that side of it until I got older I was like, “Oh, this is actually something that I can do as a profession.”

How has your game changed as you’ve gotten more time at the senior level?
MA: At Arsenal, the passing, the movement — everything is so crisp. It’s a shock at first but you adapt. For my game, I’ve added more technical bits: passing, moving, working together as a team. As a kid, you want to go run and score 10 goals, but you obviously can’t do that here. So working with teammates, moving the ball, moving myself to help other players — that’s a big part of my game that I’ve improved here.

VL: The details are so important at this top level. At youth level, you can get away with not pressing as hard or not recovering as quick, but [in senior club games] you’ll get punished for that. It makes sure that you’re always working to the best of your ability, but also it switches you on mentally. You have to keep attuned to how quick the game is or spot different triggers — that’s the main difference between senior football and youth football.

Bayern Munich goalkeeper Maria Luisa Grohs is beaten as Frida Maanum of Arsenal scores the opening goal during the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg match between Arsenal and FC Bayern Munich
Frida Maanum’s opening goal against Bayern Munich at the 2023 Champions League quarterfinal is the stuff of Arsenal lore. (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
What is your favorite Arsenal memory?
VL: It was the season before last season, the Champions League game against Bayern Munich at home when Frida Maanum scored top bins. I was ball-girling for that and I had the perfect view of it. I was like, “This is the best goal I’ve ever witnessed in my life.” Being an Arsenal fan, [knowing] the context of that game, I was like, “Wow, this is incredible.”

MA: That’s a good one. I’ll go for two seasons ago when we played Wolfsburg at home in the [Champions League] semi-final. I think it was two-two going into the second leg and then for me, coming on very late in the game — a Champions League debut — that was a massive moment. Just the atmosphere, 62,000 fans, everything.

After playing the Washington Spirit earlier this week, how do you find the NWSL compares to the WSL? Is there a different flow to the game? A different approach?
MA: We always associate America with athleticism, so the transition element was so fast at every point in the game, from the first minute to the last. And the atmosphere was very interesting as well. You got the fans hyping up a corner kick — like, “Get up and cheer. It’s a corner kick!” I’ve never seen that in my life, never ever seen that, but it’s nice as well. I liked it.

VL: Yeah, the game was very fast-paced. But it was really on runs, their wide players just bombing it forward. The physical level of the game is top. As you said, the rest of the world associates America with athleticism — powerful, fast, physical. That was something that I thought of straight away, like it’s less technical but still at a high level.

Vivienne Lia of Arsenal before the pre season friendly match between Washington Spirit and Arsenal Women
Representing the Arsenal at the senior level at the center of Viv’s future plans. (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Where do you guys see yourself in five years?
MA: Right here.

Right in this room?
MA: Yeah. (laughs)

VL: In DC?

MA: Yeah, in DC. It would be awesome coming back. Imagine.

VL: I’ll say the same: At Arsenal, establishing myself in the senior game and really showing what I’m about. And that’s it — that’s a good one.

US Tennis Star Madison Keys Talks US Open, Staying Healthy, and Redefining Success

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Madison Keys was just 16 when she featured in her first US Open, and the home Grand Slam holds a special place in the now-29-year-old’s tennis star’s heart.

“It’s truly the best, greatest feeling in the entire world,” Keys told JWS last week. “I think there have been some of my most heartbreaking moments in front of a US Open crowd, but also some of my absolute most favorite, literally to the point of mid-match getting goosebumps.”

Ahead of today’s 2024 US Open kickoff, Keys commented on the power of the New York Slam’s fans, saying, “The thing I’ve always loved about playing at the US Open is that, literally no matter how down and out you felt, the entire crowd was still there trying to get you through and push you through.”

Madison Keys celebrates winning a set at Wimbledon in July.
An injury forced Madison Keys to withdraw from Wimbledon mid-match in July.


A chaotic 2024 sets up Keys’s US Open appearance
The world No. 14 has had a rollercoaster 2024 season, missing the Australian Open due to injury before making solid finishes at WTA events in Miami, Madrid, and Strasbourg.

The Illinois product then suffered an injury at Wimbledon, withdrawing in the Round of 16 while in a winning position against eventual finalist Jasmine Paolini. “As devastating as that match against Jasmine was,” detailed Keys, “it was also one of my favorite matches that I’ve played, just because I feel like we were both playing so well.”

Her veteran perspective allowed Keys to calmly view the injury for what it was: a simple setback. “[Wimbledon] was really reassuring that I didn’t do anything wrong,” Keys said. “It wasn’t this big thing that we had to worry about or manage. It was just really horrible timing.”

US tennis player Madison Keys smile and rests at practice before the Toronto Open earlier this month.
Managing her health and her schedule is proving vital to Madison Keys’ goal of a long tennis career. (Robert Prange/Getty Images)
Prioritizing health is vital to Keys’s tennis career
The 2016 Rio Olympic semifinalist pulled out of the 2024 Paris Games in an effort to maintain her health and gear up for the season’s final Slam — a decision she says was hard-won.

“It’s one of the greatest honors to be able to play for your country and play at an Olympics, and it was honestly one of my favorite tennis moments of my life,” she said. “But I’m getting older — I’ve been on tour for a long time. They like to call me a veteran now, and I think you have to start shifting gears a little bit to prioritize the best schedule…to be able to maintain a high level and stay healthy.”

Recognizing that pacing her seasons will help protect her health and, ultimately, her career, Keys is clear on her path forward. “At this point in my career, my biggest goal is I want to play tennis for as long as I want to play tennis,” she said. “I don’t want some outside force to be the reason that I have to step away from the game.”

When it comes to her health, Keys says the details matter, like prioritizing nutrition and sleep in the run-up to another US Open and partnering with supplement companies to boost her conditioning along the way.

“I’ve started to change my perspective on success and goals,” said Keys. “At the end of every day, being able to say, ‘Okay, did I accomplish my goal? If not, what were the lessons learned? How can I move forward with them?’ I think that’s honestly the best way to go about success in tennis.”

Aryna Sabalenka primed for US Open after Cincinnati Open win

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Pa Sport Staff | The Independent

Aryna Sabalenka missed Wimbledon with injury, but has impressed on her return to the court

Aryna Sabalenka continued her impressive build-up ahead of the US Open with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Jessica Pegula in the Cincinnati Open final.

Sabalenka, who missed Wimbledon with a shoulder injury, had beaten world number one Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals and is set to return to second spot in the next WTA rankings update.

The Belarusian soon built on an early break against Pegula in the opening set to hold for a 4-1 lead which she never looked like relinquishing.

After Pegula was broken again in the first game of the second set, it seemed Sabalenka would be coasting towards another WTA title, but lifted by the home support, the American dug in.


Sixth seed Pegula took her first break chance in the 10th game to level at 5-5, only for Sabalenka to immediately break back and then serve for the match once again.

Sabalenka kept the pressure on, setting up a championship point with another big forehand winner, which she converted when Pegula dropped a return into the net.

It was a first title for Sabalenka since she landed a second consecutive Australian Open success in January, sealing a perfect week for the 26-year-old who did not drop a set.

“This trophy means a lot, it is a really big achievement, especially coming after injury, with this fear of getting injured again,” Sabalenka said in her courtside interview, broadcast by Sky Sports.

“My team did everything they could to make sure I felt as good as I can and I am proud of myself I was able to handle all of those emotions.”

Clark and Ledecky lead charge of women’s sports in Indy

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INDIANAPOLIS – Anyone looking for proof of the meteoric rise of women’s sport need look no further than downtown Indianapolis this weekend where within a five block radius fans turned out in their droves to witness the brilliance of Katie Ledecky and Caitlin Clark.

Seven-times Olympic gold medallist Ledecky qualified for her fourth Games under the lights of Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday in front of an adoring crowd of 20,689, a record number for a swim meet.

Less than 24 hours later, Clark thrilled a sold-out arena of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse as the WNBA’s Indiana Fever beat the visiting Chicago Sky 91-83.

“It just shows that when given the opportunity, women’s sports are amazingly fun to watch and only on the rise,” Clark told reporters after scoring 23 points in the hard-fought win.

“People are finally starting to realise how great of a product it is,” she said.

“Once they come and watch one time they can’t get enough and they continue to come back.

“To be a small part of that is super fun and to play in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,000 people, that’s not something you ever take for granted.”

Clark was on the receiving end of a hard foul from rival Angel Reese during the contest but said that is just the way it goes when elite athletes battle head-to-head.

“People love to see the emotion and the passion that we play with,” she said.

“I think that was something that was maybe not appreciated in women’s sports and it should be. That’s what makes it fun.”

Ledecky said she was having more fun than ever after punching her ticket to the Paris Games with a triumph in the 400 metres freestyle.

The 27-year-old was by far the biggest attraction on the opening night of the U.S. Olympic Trials, which for the first time are being held inside an NFL stadium with the atmosphere of a rock concert.

“I was blown away walking out there and seeing all the fans,” Ledecky said.

“I hope it moves our sport forward. I hope there are some young swimmers out there that get excited about today.”

Clark’s team mate Aliyah Boston said she is proud to be part of a movement that is inspiring the next generation.

“Younger girls now have so many more athletes to look up to and say I want to be like her, I want to be an Olympian just like her,” Boston said.

“To be a part of that is amazing. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” REUTERS

SIMONE BILES WINS 9TH ALL-AROUND TITLE AT U.S. GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

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by: Emma Hruby | Just Women’s Sports

Simone Biles took home a ninth All-Around title at the US Championships this weekend, extending her own record and setting the scene for a possibly dominant Olympics run.

Biles also won all four individual apparatus events she competed in: Floor, Beam, Vault, and Uneven Bars. Following the meet, Biles said she “couldn’t be more proud.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of how I’m doing this time in the year and just gaining that confidence over and over, getting myself back in front of a crowd and just doing what I do in practice,” Biles told the NBC broadcast on Sunday.

A 37-time world and Olympic medalist, Biles automatically qualified for the Olympic trials with her win. A third-straight Summer Games is now firmly within sight for Biles, who suffered from a mental block at the Tokyo Olympics that pulled her from the All-Around competition. 

Biles took two years off from gymnastics after the Tokyo Games, emphasizing her ability to have fun as an essential component of her success.

“It took a lot mentally and physically to just trust my gymnastics again and most importantly trust myself,” Biles said at a news conference after Sunday’s competition. “I think that was the hardest part after Tokyo is I didn’t trust myself to do gymnastics.

“Everyone says I look like I’m having fun, so that’s good because I feel like most of the time if I’m not stressing or having anxiety, I do feel like I’m having fun.”

The reigning World Champion, the 27-year-old is once again looking like a front-runner to win the All-Around gold medal. 

“Now, having gone to two Olympics, each one gets a little bit more stressful because I know exactly what to expect,” she said. “I know exactly what I expect from myself.”

Even amidst her dominance, Biles took the time to encourage her fellow competitors. Following a fall by Suni Lee, Biles offered up words of support to her former Olympic teammate, saying she knew exactly what Lee was going through.

“I dealt with that in Tokyo,” Biles said Sunday. “I just knew that she needed some encouragement and somebody to trust her gymnastics for her and to believe in her, so that’s exactly what I did.”

“I don’t think I could have done it without her,” Lee said about Biles after the meet. “She’s been one of my biggest inspirations for a long time. I know that we’re kind of teammates and competitors, but she’s somebody that I look up to.”

The cultural change at the ‘MCG of the Desert’

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By: Sarah Black | AFL

THERE’S one main road into Ltyentye Apurte, or Santa Teresa – it’s an 80km route south-west of Alice Springs, and about 60km of it is unrelenting, bumpy red dirt.

As you drive in (four-wheel drive territory only, particularly after it rains, when it turns into QUITE the wet’n’wild adventure), there’s a big cross on the mountain, above the white church at the end of the road.

On your right, the general store, with the school and basketball court just next to the church.

But on your left? The ‘MCG of the Desert’, Santa Teresa oval.

An impossibly green, grassed oval, surrounded by rich red clay, courtesy of a fundraising drive which was directed in part by Melbourne and the MCC.

Launched in 2021, the grass has held up remarkably well considering its location, although there’s plenty of green scrub surrounding the area as we head into the cooler months.

It’s here that a slow cultural change is taking place – teenage girls are playing football.

Friday marked an AFL9s Kungkas Grand Final for local girls in the area, with a composite Central West side taking on the Ntaria (Hermannsburg) Bulldogs.

A few weeks earlier, an extraordinary football festival had played out at Yulara, in the foothills of Uluru, a tournament attracting young women from Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Most of the local community in Santa Teresa are members of the Arrente mob, but Kungkas is a Pitjantjatjara word for “young women”.

For many, football has been for the brothers and uncles, and there’s “shamejob” (embarrassment) attached to being the first women in the area to play the game.

But these teenagers are – kick by kick, mark by mark – forging a new path, one that their little sisters, who are now thriving in Auskick clinics, can now follow.

The players were given a guard of honour out onto the field, much to their initial reluctance, but they ran together as one, breaking apart into their teams for a pre-game chat.NEWS2024 AFLW FIXTURE: Swans rewarded, mid-week footy bonanza

They say the dry conditions mean desert footy is played in the air, compared to the ground-style of the more humid Tiwi Islands up the other end of the Territory. To generalise, think Shane McAdam vs Maurice Rioli jnr.

Tackling wasn’t a huge feature – the crowd and players collapsing in helpless giggles as a Central West girl had a moment and took down her own teammate – and it was a game played on the run, the ball pinging from one end to the other.

Players had received new boots, half of which were abandoned by half-time as the blisters kicked in and the familiarity of bare feet or socks came calling.

The boots were courtesy of the rebel Boot Drive in Adelaide during Gather Round this year, where pre-loved or donated new boots were cleaned and sorted by recycler TreadLightly, and distributed on Friday to both the young women and the kids of the community.

The Ntaria Bulldogs side had a handful of players who also participate in the competition in town, the six-team Central Australia women’s football league in Alice Springs, and it shows on the day.

Faye, a silky mover through the midfield, was named best on ground as the Bulldogs romped home – both sides wearing guernseys they designed themselves – while skipper Taren, a rock at full-back with a thumping bare foot, won her side’s coach’s award.

Taren – who spray-painted the front of her hair in the Bulldogs’ colours of red, white and blue, complete with a long red ribbon around her pony-tail – is the first woman in her family to play, and hopes her younger sisters will eventually join her as they grow up.

“I came from a family that’s crazy about footy, and I also play in town with the Pioneers,” Taren said.

“I’m the first girl in my family to play. I’ve got four little sisters, too.

“I grew up playing footy with my brothers, so I decided to join, too.”

Family and community members were dotted in the two small grandstands (five metres wide at most), dogs roamed and hassled those eating sausages and hamburgers from the barbeque, while the younger kids played endless kick to kick with whomever they could rope in.

The teenage boys had their own kicking partners – Kozzy Pickett and McAdam.

Ahead of the men’s match against Fremantle, the Demons were in town, along with AFLW clubmates Tyla Hanks, Sarah Lampard, Maeve Chaplin, Saraid Taylor and Lily Johnson.

Chaplin enthusiastically took the imaginary goal umpire flags for the Grand Final, creating her own unique and elaborate way of signalling goals, while head of AFLW Jessie Mulholland ran water.

After helping run an Auskick session with the younger kids – which has a deliberate bent towards unstructured and free play, building skills in that way rather than a focus on rigid drills – the remaining quartet of AFLW players continued to muck around with those not playing.

Football in remote communities is not just kick-mark-handball, it also provides a conduit for health and wellbeing, schooling and getting the community together.FEATUREMark these in your calendar: The 10 must-watch games in 2024

AFLNT has between 9-12 remote development managers who clock up thousands of kilometres a week, living in the communities and delivering clinics in their areas.

At Santa Teresa, it’s Alice-based Simon Treiber and Tommy Dutton, who focus just as much on empowering local community members to run their own sessions as the kids themselves.

The kids jump all over the shorter Tommy, taking mock speccies, and he takes it all in his stride, grinning as he bustles from task to task on the day, cognisant of the far-reaching impact of his job.

Melbourne vice-captain Hanks – also a smaller target at 157cm – was also used as a launching pad for speccies.

“Today’s about coming out here and representing the club, but for us, it’s more so trying to lead where we can and help girls be involved in footy. Sport gives us a lot of lessons in life, and as much as we think we’re giving them and their community something, we’re learning a lot too,” Hanks said.

“It’s not a one-way relationship, we’ve all volunteered to be here just before pre-season to get exposure and experience in these communities. We’re trying to make a difference where we can, but we’re also gaining an understanding of our communities in our NGA zone out here.

“As soon as we got here, kids just wanted to kick the footy, and there’s just a genuine love for the game. Some of the girls are playing in bare feet now, but footy is such a strong part in how they connect. It’s similar ground we’ve got.”

Four NCAA softball players made history at the NCAA Super Regionals

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The Gist

Superstars dominated the storylines at the long weekend’s Super Regionals.

The GIST: ICYMI, superstars dominated the storylines at the long weekend’s Super Regionals. National awards, NCAA records, and Women’s College World Series (WCWS) berths — oh my!

The accolades: Last night, USA Softball named No. 8–seed Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady the Player of the Year. The sophomore leads the nation’s pitchers in earned run average by an unbelievably wide margin and will continue to tear up the circle as her Cardinal goes to work in the WCWS.

  • Joining Canady in the spotlight is infielder Jaysoni Beachum, who unanimously bagged Freshman of the Year last night. Although her heroics at the plate weren’t enough to help No. 15 Florida State reach the WCWS, the future’s bright in Tallahassee.

The records: Two players made Division I (DI) history over the long weekend. First, No. 4–seed Florida utility player Skylar Wallace set the career runs record when she crossed the plate for the 303rd time in Friday’s Game 1 win over Baylor. She’s a runner, she’s a track star.

  • Next, No. 7 Missouri pitcher Taylor Pannell is walking away a winner despite her squad’s season-ending loss to No. 10 Duke — her 15th save on Saturday tied the DI single-season record.
  • As for DI team records, No. 2 Oklahoma extended one of their own on Friday when the Sooners beat aforementioned Florida State 4–2 to advance to the WCWS, marking their 18th (!!!) straight NCAA Tournament win. Doesn’t get more dominant than that.

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