American Gold Sports Alliance

Women in Sports

Jenny Cavnar Makes MLB History as A’s Lead Play-by-Play Announcer with Dallas Braden

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By BVM Sportsdesk

Jenny Cavnar is set to make history as the first woman to serve as a Major League Baseball team’s primary play-by-play voice, appointed by the A’s. Her groundbreaking journey is a tribute to predecessors like Suzyn Waldman and Melanie Newman. Cavnar acknowledges the support of decision-makers like Alison Vigil and Devon Fox, leading to her current role alongside former A’s pitcher Dallas Braden. Despite the pressure, Cavnar is ready for the challenge, drawing inspiration from her broadcasting experience and the advice to “do the work” and “be you.” This opportunity symbolizes progress for women in sports and aims to normalize such hires beyond headline status, creating equal opportunities for all aspiring broadcasters.

The Big Picture

Cavnar’s appointment reflects a significant milestone in gender diversity in sports broadcasting, paving the way for more inclusive opportunities in the industry.

By the Numbers

  • Jenny Cavnar is the first woman to serve as a Major League Baseball team’s primary play-by-play voice.
  • She has over 18 seasons of experience as a broadcaster in Major League Baseball.

State of Play

  • Jenny Cavnar appointed as the A’s lead play-by-play announcer, marking a historic moment for women in sports broadcasting.
  • Her partnership with former A’s pitcher Dallas Braden adds a personal touch to the new role.
  • The appointment underscores progress towards gender equality in sports commentary and sets a precedent for future hires.

What’s Next

Cavnar’s achievement opens doors for more gender diversity in sports broadcasting, aiming to make such appointments a norm rather than an exception, fostering equal opportunities for all aspiring broadcasters.

Bottom Line

Jenny Cavnar’s groundbreaking role as the A’s lead play-by-play announcer signifies a crucial step towards gender equality in sports broadcasting, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and equal opportunities for all in the industry.

World Rugby to expand female coach development programme

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The Gallagher High Performance Academy will improve the pathway for women at elite levels of the sport and increase the prominence of female coaches and other high performance roles at the top level.

The original programme, designed in partnership with Gallagher – an official partner of women’s rugby, WXV 2023 & 2024, and Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 – was launched in 2023 ahead of the inaugural WXV 15s tournament as part of a strategic plan to accelerate the development of women’s rugby, and increase the competitiveness of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 in England.

Following the success of the initial programme, World Rugby is rolling out the scheme to all formats of the women’s game, with 10 Sevens coaches to be inaugurated into the Gallagher High Performance Academy, in 2024.

World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby, Sally Horrox said: “As we celebrate the second year of the Gallagher High Performance Academy by extending the reach of programme to encompass all formats of the women’s game, we are not just shaping coaches; we are sculpting the future of women’s rugby.

“Together with Gallagher, we continue to champion diversity, excellence, and inclusivity on and off the field. 

“The Academy enables a clear pathway for aspiring female coaches and provides vitally important coaching opportunities as we strive towards our ambitious target of 40% female high performance coaching roles at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025. 

“We are already starting to see the fruits of our labour as coaches progress into full time roles around the world.”

With a focus on talent identification, professional support and championing the next generation of international coaches, the Gallagher High Performance Academy develops existing coaching talent, and identifies opportunities for new coaches and other high performance roles.

Sixteen women, from 16 different nations, took part in the first Academy in 2023. Each of the participants were fully embedded with their respective nations, before and during WXV, providing them with meaningful professional development opportunities, as well as the opportunity to gain valuable experience of working in a high-performance sporting environment.

Off the field, participants received mentor support and took part in a series of online and in-person workshops, hosted by World Rugby and Gallagher. 

Workshops were tailored to cover a variety of topics, ranging from game planning, tactics and skill development, to relationships, communication and creating the right culture; as well as relevant, best practice learnings from Gallagher, sharing transferable skills.

All 10 newly inaugurated coaches took part in a rugby coaching masterclass at Dignity Health Sports Park, in Los Angeles.

The inductees staged a series of live coaching sessions, putting into practice the skills that they have been learning through the Academy and the in game live experience they have gained from being embedded in their respective teams for the HSBC World SVNS Series. 

They were joined by players and coaches from grassroots clubs within the local community, who benefitted from being coached by some of the most inspirational women in world rugby.

“We are proud of and excited for the extension of the Gallagher High Performance Academy into all formats of women’s rugby,” added Chris Mead, chief marketing officer for Gallagher.

“The growth of the programme is testament to its success and impact in its inaugural year, providing meaningful career development. Expanding the programme to make it more inclusive will further accelerate the growth of women’s rugby around the world and continue to raise opportunities for women both on and off the field.”

We always thought of exercise as a punishment — now it feels like fun

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By: Ella Glover | Metro UK

Before Jasmine Thomas took up surfing, her mental health was at a low point.

In the midst of the pandemic, she found herself slipping into a depression.

‘It was nice to have Zoom calls with friends when we couldn’t do it in person, but one thing led to another and the next minute I’m drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and taking drugs,’ says Jasmine, 24.

‘And all because I was bored and too lazy to leave the house for my daily exercise. In the end, I had to start therapy.

‘The pandemic was a real turning point in my life. It made me realise I needed to focus on myself, my health and my happiness and to stop trying to please everybody else.’

After saving up during lockdown, the Welsh born Jasmine embarked on an 18-month trip to Asia back in 2022. This is where she discovered the sport that would ‘save [her] life’: surfing.

Jasmine thomas surfing
Jasmine went from no exercise at all to surfing every day (Picture: Jasmine Thomas)

‘I’m happiest when I’m by the sea and there’s good weather,’ she says. 

‘It doesn’t feel like exercise because I’m having fun even on the bad days.

Jasmine found surfing through her boyfriend, who is an avid surfer. 

‘I feel the time passes so quickly, you go in thinking you’ve only been in the water for 30 minutes and then next thing you know it’s three hours later and your arms are tired from all the paddling.’

She quickly went from doing zero exercise to surfing everyday, and even when she can’t surf due to the weather conditions, she is still motivated to stay healthy for when she’s ready to get back on the board.

On top of that, she says, surfing gives her purpose: ‘I get excited about my weekends now knowing that I’m going to head to the beach, exercise, meet up with friends, eat food and watch the sunsets.

‘Now my boyfriend and I go to the beach and surf together, hype each other up, helping each other to improve techniques and just generally build a strong bond whilst creating memories.

‘It’s funny because I travel to see the world and culture, he travels because of the surf spots, so surfing has made us decide a lot of our travel locations from Thailand, Bali, Australia, Portugal, Morocco.

‘I guess it’s not just about the exercise, it’s everything that comes with it.’

Jasmine Thomas holding a surf board
‘Surfing saved my life’ (Picture: Jasmine Thomas)

Government guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 suggest getting at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week, as well as two days of strengthening activities for all the main muscle groups.

But not everybody enjoys generic forms of exercise like strength training in the gym or running. 

It goes without saying that exercise is difficult, especially for beginners, but if it’s boring and unfulfilling, too? It’s no wonder that just one in 20 adults in England exercise their muscles enough. 

But, finding something you love to do, be it a team sport, a community-based exercise class, a niche form of exercise or something else, can help you to reframe exercise as something fun — the physical benefits are simply a bonus of doing something you enjoy. Doing so can help to reframe exercise from something that you have to do – a chore – to something that you want to do: a privilege. 

‘Reframing exercise gives us the ability to see where exercise can be an addition to our lives, beyond a single target or objective we are looking to achieve,’ psychologist and wellbeing consultant Lee Chambers previously told Metro.co.uk.

‘It also helps us see the opportunities exercise can provide and be more open to trying new experiences and meeting new people.’

He continued: ‘It can ignite your competitive side, distract you from the feeling of exertion, help you build that social network that provides so much more than moving your body, and also helps you to harness the benefits of play, connection and enjoyment.

Join the country’s biggest running club (even if you’re a walker)

Joining parkrun is free – it doesn’t matter if you’re a keen runner, a jogger, a walker, a social stroller or are keen to volunteer and cheer from the sidelines.

Did we mention it’s free (tick) and you only need to do it once (tick tick).

‘It can shift from punishment to self-care, from an obligation that you dread to an activity that you gain joy from.’

Since she was young, Sarah Rose Bright has had a tricky relationship with exercise. 

‘I was never good at competitive sports and I was always one of the last kids picked in the team sports sessions [at school], so I started bunking off classes,’ the love, sex and intimacy coach tells Metro.co.uk. ‘Because of that I didn’t have a great relationship with exercise.’

Beyond walking – which she has always loved – and practising yoga ‘on and off’, Sarah, 50, from Somerset, couldn’t find a method of exercise that would stick. 

That is until 2012 when, at the age of 39, Sarah discovered chi gung (also known as qigong), a traditional Chinese energy practise involving a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation. 

Sarah, chi gung practitioner
‘I plan to do chi gung for as long as I physically can’ (Picture: Sarah Rose Bright)

Sarah first started practising chi gung through public classes taught by her now-fiance, Graeme.

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When his classes stopped, Sarah found another chi gung instructor, Barry Spendlove, and stuck with him for 10 years.

‘All the exercise I’ve done over the years from dancing classes to sports at school, had an element of competitiveness or goal attached to them, such as playing in the school tournament or dancing in the school show,’ says Sarah.

‘I never enjoyed that pressure.’

Conversely, Sarah feels she is able to practise chi gung simply because she loves it and it feels good.

‘It is so relaxing,’ she adds. ‘Even doing a few minutes can transform how I feel.’

Over the years, Sarah has grown extremely passionate about chi gung, even training as an instructor, not because she wanted to teach it but because she loved it so much and wanted to keep learning about it. 

Sarah also uses chi gung as a motivator to make other healthy changes in her lifestyle, like only drinking alcohol around two times per year and taking long walks in the countryside, doing yoga and weight training in the week

Now, at the age of 50, Sarah says exercise is more important than ever.

‘As I headed to 50, my body started to change in gentle ways, and these made me aware of how important it is to look after my body,’ she says.

Sarah, qigong practitioner
‘At the age of 50, exercise is so important to me’ (Picture: Sarah Rose Bright)

‘As someone who didn’t look after their body for years, it is now a priority to me.

‘Whenever I’ve met people in their 70s and 80s who practice to chi gung regularly, they have a sparkle and a vibrancy that is unmistakable.

‘I want to be that person in my old age.

‘I plan to do chi gung for as long as I physically can.’

Lexi Thawley, 27, a PhD student from Manchester also found motivation for other, more generic, forms of exercise through something a little more niche – training in martial arts.

‘I find that now when I do strength training or cardio, I’m doing it because it will actually improve my ability in something I care about, not just because I feel like I have to,’ she says. 

Lexi
‘Martial arts allows you to connect with people in a way that I don’t think a lot of other forms of exercise do’ (Picture: Lexi Thawley)

Lexi says she had a ‘complex’ relationship with exercise for most of her life. 

‘I really enjoyed exercising, but I didn’t feel very confident about it, or about my body in general,’ she says.

‘I didn’t have a great relationship with my body growing up.

‘I’ve always been bigger and I think growing up in the early 2000s, when there was such a toxic culture around body image, definitely played into it.

‘I wasn’t very present in my body and I felt a lot of shame about how it looked and how it moved, so I just thought sport wasn’t for me.’

This all changed when she started going to Brazilian jiu jitsu, mixed martial arts (MMA) and kickboxing lessons around three years ago. 

‘Not only is it great for improving your confidence and empowering you, especially because you know how to defend yourself, but people are also open about the condition of their body, whether that’s in terms of injuries or making weight for competition.

‘Conversations about weight and body image and how that affects you in sports can be quite taboo, and the fact that they’re normalised within martial arts is really nice.’

On top of that, Lexi has been able to meet and connect with so many different people through her sport, something she doesn’t think would have been possible without it. 

‘It’s really cool, both in terms of enjoyment as well as having fun and making friends from all walks of life,’ she says.

‘This sport really allows you to connect with people in a way that I don’t think a lot of other forms of exercise do.’

This is the thing about finding an exercise-based hobby — it’s about so much more than just exercise. From finding community to developing a passion, there are so many hidden benefits to seeing exercise as more than just something to tick off a list.

Trailblazing female baseball coach from US aims for Japan pro ranks

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Bianca Smith is on a mission to find out how far her life-long passion for baseball can take her as a coach, and whether her fascination with Japan can make that happen in Nippon Professional Baseball.

The first black woman hired to coach by a Major League Baseball team, Smith is now a world away from America’s minor leagues, in Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido, working as a sports advisor and coaching elementary school and middle school teams.

With her degrees in business and law, the 33-year-old Smith once saw herself as a future MLB team president, but found her true calling in uniform on the field with players.

When the Boston Red Sox wanted to keep her at the lowest minor-league level for 2023, Smith opted to move on, not knowing a dream opportunity would shortly open up and bring her to Japan.

“I have been fascinated with Japan since I was 12, just like any American kid (through) anime. Then I started reading manga,” Smith said. “I fell in love with Japan, and when I decided I was going to work in baseball, that was top of my list.”

Turned onto baseball by her mother, a New York Yankees fan, Smith’s favorite player was Derek Jeter. She was alerted to a different style of baseball in Japan after Hideki Matsui joined the Yankees.

“I have been following the Japanese national team since the first World Baseball Classic in 2006. The aspects of Japanese baseball are what I’m passionate about, the defense, the base running, the strategy, that’s why I love watching them. That’s why Japan.”

In Higashikawa, Hokkaido, she’s sharing her knowledge and experience with kids and coaches but said it’s hard to tell when coaches and parents buy into her ideas or if they’re only open because the head coach is on board.

“That’s why I’ve got all the information together so I can explain why we need to do it this way. I’ve been picking and choosing,” she said, sounding like the lawyer she trained to be.

Smith’s coaching journey has been a process of learning how to manage her need to control things, and developing communication and teaching skills to better help players.

“I don’t want to come in changing the culture because that never works,” she said. “But I am a player coach. In the pros (in the United States) they’re used to this. Even the coaches that are territorial, they’ll still listen to players. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have a job.”

Despite her deep and sustained interest in Japan, Smith was not prepared for the ritual displays of respect she has witnessed toward coaches, parents and the field itself, or for the culture of fault finding.

“It’s one of the first things I saw. In a practice game, a kid makes one mistake, they pull them and make them practice for 30 minutes, next to the game, that same mistake they messed up,” Smith said.

When the head coach eventually asked how mistakes are dealt with in America, Smith told him.

“You put him back in,” she said. “You talk to him quickly and then put him back in. If they know that if they make one mistake they’re going to get pulled, they’re going to be afraid to make a mistake. They’re going to play it safe on every play.”

Smith has been willing to lead by example through her efforts to learn languages and communicate in them as best she can, mistakes and all.

How analogous is a willingness to make mistakes in a foreign language and a willingness to make mistakes in baseball?

“It’s completely the same,” Smith said. “You’re not going to get better if you don’t push your limits and try to go past them.”

Coaching kids has pushed her to be even better at simplifying techniques in order to demonstrate them.

“It comes in handy as a coach, particularly working with people who don’t speak your language,” she said.

“A good coach is able to take a complicated idea and simplify it for anybody. Being a lawyer is just like being a coach,” she said. “A lawyer has to break down the law for someone who doesn’t understand it and take the important parts that actually apply to them.”

As an advocate of the player-first coaching that is gradually making headway in Japanese pro baseball and who shares its compulsion to plan everything that can be controlled, Smith would seem to be an attractive hire for a Japanese pro team.

But she said, the team would have to genuinely want her to empower players to develop their own styles rather than lecture them on doctrine and dogma.

“I want you to take control of your own development because you know your body better than I do,” she said. “I could not coach for an organization that would not let me have that kind of freedom with my players.”

(By Jim Allen)

From Volunteer to Leader: Muneerah Balesaria’s Journey with Salaam Peace

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This International Women’s Day we’re shining a light on the success stories of young women and girls within the StreetGames network to inspire and motivate others.

In Leyton and Waltham Forest, Muneerah Balesaria’s path from volunteer to key staff member at Salaam Peace shows us just how much sports can shape personal growth and community leadership. Through her commitment and hard work, Muneerah has become a true inspiration for everyone around her.

Muneerah’s connection to Salaam Peace began unexpectedly when her maths teacher referred her to the organisation before the Covid-19 lockdown. Intrigued by its mission, she stepped into Salaam Peace, beginning her journey of self-discovery and volunteering.

Initially grappling with confidence issues, Muneerah faced the challenge of taking on a leadership role. With Salaam Peace’s supportive staff, she found the courage to overcome these hurdles, leveraging her love for sports and natural leadership abilities to leave a lasting impact.

Motivated to give back to her community and inspired by her mentors, Muneerah embraced training and mentorship opportunities. Through hard work, she emerged as a champion for safeguarding and inclusivity within her sessions.

At Salaam Peace, Muneerah isn’t just a participant; she’s deeply committed to making a difference. Her “can-do” attitude and unwavering dedication have earned her respect from leading primary school programmes to spearheading girls’ football sessions.

Giulietta DeLissandri, schoolteacher told us, “Muneerah has an exceptional attitude whilst working with the girl’s team and my daughter and all the other girls, love her sessions.”

Juggling part-time work and university studies, Muneerah remains a steady presence in her community. Her achievements, including the StreetGames London and South East ‘Us Girls’ award in 2023, reflect her determination and commitment to excellence.

Today, Muneerah’s influence is felt far and wide in her community, inspiring others to see the amazing possibilities that sports can bring. Her story shows how powerful it is to follow your heart and never give up. Looking forward, Muneerah is dedicated to growing as a person and giving back to her community. With plans for more learning and helping others, she’s excited to see what the future holds.

“Muneerah has been a huge asset to Salaam Peace. Her current work includes study support programmes, Gender specific sports sessions, parent and child programmes and school-based delivery. Muneerah is very hard working and a quick learner. A very good role model for our participants.”

Sabir Bham, Founder/CEO Salaam Peace

Angela Martin named MVC Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year

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Kieran Intemann | GoSycamores.com

ST. LOUIS – Indiana State Cross Country and Track and Field Program Director and Head Coach Angela Martin was selected as the 2024 MVC Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, as announced Monday by the conference office.
 
Martin, who led the Sycamores to a sweep of the 2024 MVC Indoor Championships, was selected by the league’s head coaches as the Coach of the Year on both the men’s and women’s side. It was Indiana State’s second indoor championship sweep in the last three years and marks the seventh MVC Championships, indoor or outdoor, won by the Indiana State program since 2022 (five men’s, two women’s).
 
Under Martin’s watch, Indiana State finished with an indoor program record 183.5 points on the men’s side on its way to a third consecutive MVC Indoor Championship. The Indiana State women finished with 121 points and won their second MVC Indoor Championship in the last three seasons.
 
As a team, Indiana State finished with seven individual conference champions and 19 additional all-conference honorees. The Sycamores finished the championships with 57 athletes in point-scoring positions, picking up points in nearly every event that they had a participant in.
 
For the season, Indiana State had 32 additions to its all-time top-10 list, with more than have of those additions being top-five program marks. The Sycamores went wire-to-wire atop the MVC ratings index on both the men’s and women’s side and were consistently among the highest-ranked teams in the Great Lakes region, reaching as high as No. 1 on the men’s side.
 
Indiana State also racked up multiple specialty awards, finishing with the MVC’s Most Outstanding Men’s Field Athlete and Women’s Field Athlete in Will Staggs and Niesha Anderson, respectively. Staggs, who was a Second Team All-American in 2024, also earned MVC Elite 17 honors, while Shomari Rogers-Walton was the MVC’s Most Valuable Athlete at the championships.
 
Monday’s announcement marks Martin’s seventh MVC Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honors (four women’s, three men’s).

Pawol to be first woman to umpire MLB Spring Training games since 2007

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Julia Kreuz | MLB

Jen Pawol has been steadily moving up the umpires ranks over the course of her eight-year career, and she is now one step closer to the Majors with the Monday announcement that she will be the first woman since 2007 to work in Major League Spring Training games. This is a crucial step in Pawol’s effort to become the first female umpire in the Majors, a goal that’s significantly closer today than yesterday.

Whenever MLB needs fill-in or additional umpires during the regular season, it draws from the group of Triple-A umpires that are named to the MLB Call-Up list that is made up exclusively of umpires that had been invited to MLB Spring Training. After firmly standing her ground while the pool of candidates narrowed around her, Pawol’s odds have never been more favorable.

She’s had nearly a decade to build up to this moment.

Pawol started her career on June 24, 2016, in the Gulf Coast League. At the time, Pawol was the seventh woman to umpire in a Minor League game, following in the footsteps of Bernice Gera (1972), Christine Wren (1975-77), Pam Postema (1977-89), Theresa Cox Fairlady (1989-91), Ria Cortesio (1999-2007) and Shanna Kook (2003-04). Cortesio was the most recent female umpire to work a Spring Training game.

Not since Postema, though, has there been this much momentum in a woman’s quest to officiate in the Major Leagues.

The 47-year-old Pawol is one of nine women scheduled to work on-field roles in the Minor Leagues this season. Yet, the list of female umps who have made it as far as Triple-A is significantly shorter: Postema, who was also the first woman assigned to Major League Spring Training games, and Pawol. The league has put a real effort into growing those numbers in recent years. If you open the testimonial page of MLB’s umpire camp website, two of the first four videos you’ll see feature women. One of them is Pawol, and the other is Isabella Robb, who became a professional umpire in 2022.

Pawol first attended an MLB/MiLB tryout camp in 2015 in Cincinnati, at the suggestion of long-time umpires Ted Barrett and Paul Nauert, whom she’d met at an ump clinic in Atlanta the year prior. Pawol was among 38 people invited to the league’s Umpire Training Academy in Vero Beach, Fla. That led to her Minors assignment in ’16.

Pawol kept rising from there. From the GCL, she moved through the ranks all the way to Double-A in 2022 and Triple-A in ’23.

But she and the game go back way further than that.

A New Jersey native, Pawol was inducted into the West Milford High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022 after graduating in 1995 as a three-year all-state athlete in softball and soccer. That earned her a softball scholarship with Hofstra University, where she played in Division I as a catcher. Around that same time, a young Pawol also began umpiring softball games, a practice not uncommon for college backstops looking to get a better feel for the strike zone.

She added a World Championship with the U.S. Women’s softball team in Toronto in 2001 before converting into an NCAA umpire for both softball and baseball.

Becoming a reference for the generations after her is a fortunate bonus for Pawol en route to the main goal. But that’s usually how it goes for pioneers. Like the women who paved the way before her, Pawol is forging a path that’s wider than herself.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer makes history as NCAA’s winningest coach

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By: Yi-Jin Yu | GMA

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer is officially the winningest coach in NCAA history.

VanDerveer, 70, earned the record Sunday with Stanford’s win against Oregon State. The Stanford Cardinal beat the Beavers 65-56 in a home game at Maples Pavilion.

“Robin, it’s just a little bit surreal to be honest with you,” VanDerveer told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts on Monday. “You just take each game one at a time and I’ve loved coaching.”

“And you know, this was a really tough game,” VanDerveer continued. “Oregon State’s a great team and we had some players really step up. [Forward] Kiki Iriafen had 36 points. It was an awesome game and I was just really happy for our fans that we could do it at home. It was a full house and it was a great celebration. It was really amazing.”

Following Stanford’s victory, VanDerveer said she was impressed Oregon State also celebrated her achievement.

“I just also want to say that when I went through the line with the Oregon State players, each one of them congratulated me and I just thought that was first class,” VanDerveer said. “It was just an outpouring of love from the fans and it’s a little bit overwhelming. It was just really an awesome day.”

Stanford’s latest triumph brings VanDerveer to 1,203 wins, passing former Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski for the most wins. Krzyzewski said in a statement afterward that VanDerveer was a “true guardian” of basketball.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for Tara VanDerveer, who is already one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of basketball. This is yet another milestone to add to an amazing legacy,” Krzyzewski said. “More important than all the astounding numbers and career accomplishments, she’s positively impacted countless lives as a coach and a mentor. Tara remains a true guardian of our sport.”

VanDeveer said hearing from other top sports leaders like Krzyzewski has been “really meaningful,” too.

Throughout her four-decade career, VanDerveer has made it to the NCAA tournament 37 times, led her team to three national championships and even coached the USA Basketball National Team to an Olympic gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. But she’s most pleased with the growth of Stanford’s women’s basketball program.

“I’m most proud of the improvement and just the life impact that Stanford basketball has on the women I coach,” VanDerveer said. “I learned so much from the players on our team and to be at Stanford, around such great coaches, a great university and have my assistants that helped me. Basketball is a team sport and obviously I wouldn’t have accomplished this without great assistance and great, great, great players.”

As a coach, VanDerveer said she ultimately wanted to help young players become the “best versions of themselves.”

“I want to take them to a place that they can’t get by themselves,” she said. “I learned this, I think, from my piano teacher, where I was trying to teach myself and that was hopeless but I was making CDs in a year with a great piano teacher and I just want to help our team and each player be the best they can be.”

30 Under 30 2024: Meet The Athletes And Executives Leading Sports Into The Future

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These all-stars are expanding their industry into new sports, technologies and demographics.

Shannon Rhodes says she’s “one of one,” but that’s not a boast. A senior director with the NBA, leading a team that builds apps for the league, the 29-year-old Rhodes notes, sadly, that there just aren’t many other women at the intersection of sports and software engineering.

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JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES

“My aim,” she says, “is to be one of many.”

Rhodes isn’t the only one redefining what success looks like in the sports world. Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma, 28, cofounder of the fast-growing sports drink brand Barcode, and Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler, 28, who has his own fantasy football show and frequently streams himself playing video games, are helping expand athletes’ opportunities off the field. Meanwhile, Kelly Sherman, 28, is aiding that effort from the agency side, working with WME Sports’ content division to launch media companies for athletes.

Diana Flores, 26, captain of Mexico’s women’s national flag football team, is bringing attention to a new sport—one that’s headed to the 2028 Summer Olympics. And Jason Spector, 29, is introducing fans to new technologies, merging artificial intelligence with gambling as CBS Sports’ lead data scientist.

ll six are members of Forbes’ 2024 30 Under 30 class in the Sports category, highlighting the all-star athletes, innovative founders and accomplished business professionals defining the future of the industry. Candidates—who had to be 29 or younger as of December 31, 2023, and could not have been previously named to a Forbes 30 Under 30 continental list—were reviewed by a panel of judges featuring some of the sports world’s biggest players: Devin Booker, the Phoenix Suns’ star shooting guard and an alum of the 2022 30 Under 30 list; Sal Galatioto, founder and president of investment bank Galatioto Sports Partners; Carolyn Kindle, CEO and co-owner of Major League Soccer’s St. Louis City SC; and Renee Montgomery, a two-time WNBA champion as a player who has transitioned to ownership with the Atlanta Dream.

Two of this year’s Under 30 listers—Lauren Esrig, 29, of the Voice in Sport Foundation and Alison Reed, 28, of Women in Sports Tech—work with nonprofits creating new opportunities for women in the industry. Natalie White, 25, founder of Moolah Kicks, is also thinking about inclusivity, but with an entrepreneurial twist: Her company makes performance basketball sneakers designed specifically for female feet. Also in the world of women’s basketball, Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, 27, is serving as an advisor for a new league for high schoolers while aiming to launch a new professional league during the WNBA offseason.

Those efforts, and the momentum sweeping across women’s sports more broadly, helped land 18 women among the list’s 30 members.

Along with gender equality, racial diversity is also a growing concern in the industry, with KB Partners senior associate Matt Howard, 29, noting, for instance, that he is among a small group of Black investors in venture capital. But here, too, the 30 Under 30 honorees intend to make a difference. Tennis star Jessica Pegula, 29, for example, now sits on the board of the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association. In all, 15 members of this year’s list identify as people of color.

“As a young Black man, I am passionate about working in a profession that allows me to work predominantly with Black men that are considered culture drivers and sometimes even leaders in our community,” WME Sports basketball agent Isiah Turner, 29, says, adding, “I also believe that in today’s society, one of the best ways to create change is through economics, and that is one of the things that drives me every day to be successful.”

Other sports luminaries from the 2024 list include Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, 26; Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards, 22; and Olivia Dunne, 21, who leads a dual life as an LSU gymnast and as one of the faces of the NCAA’s new NIL marketing era.

Victoria Arlen, 29, who recovered from two serious neurological conditions to win four Paralympic medals and join ESPN as an on-air host, shared her motto with Forbes, and it is surely one her fellow Under 30 listers can relate to, even under less life-threatening circumstances: “Face it, embrace it, defy it, conquer it.”

29 | Tennis Player

Jessica Pegula

Tennis loves a teenage prodigy, whether it’s Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams or Coco Gauff. Pegula, though, had to wait, and work, for her success, not cracking the top 100 in the world rankings until 2019, when she was 24. Next came a meteoric rise to No. 3 in singles in 2022 and No. 1 in doubles in 2023. “Looking back four years later about where my mindset was, I don’t know if I really, truly believed it,” she says. “It’s just been a very long journey.” That trek began in Buffalo, New York, where Pegula’s parents, Terry and Kim, are the billionaire owners of both the NFL’s Bills and the NHL’s Sabres. Pegula can more than stand on her own now, however, making an estimated $6 million from endorsements and appearances on top of $6 million in 2023 prize money. She also owns a skin care line, Ready 24, and sits on the board of the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association. “Athletes are becoming more than one-dimensional, becoming many different things and showing their interests on and off the field,” she says. “And I think it’s great.”

27 | Forward

Napheesa Collier

Napheesa Collier, who took most of the 2022 WNBA season off after welcoming her first child, returned to the court in 2023 and got right back to dominating, finishing fourth in scoring and seventh in rebounding. Working with fellow WNBA star Breanna Stewart, she is also launching a new league called Unrivaled to play during the WNBA offseason, and she will serve as an advisor for Overtime Select, a new league for high schoolers.

25 | Outfielder

Ronald Acuña Jr.

In his six seasons in the majors, Ronald Acuna Jr. has helped the Braves win six division titles, displaying Ruthian power, lightning speed and seemingly limitless swagger. Among his accolades: the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year Award, four All-Star selections and, most recently, the 2023 NL MVP Award. He is the first player ever to post 40 home runs and 70 steals in a single season.

25 | Outfielder

Ronald Acuña Jr.

In his six seasons in the majors, Ronald Acuna Jr. has helped the Braves win six division titles, displaying Ruthian power, lightning speed and seemingly limitless swagger. Among his accolades: the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year Award, four All-Star selections and, most recently, the 2023 NL MVP Award. He is the first player ever to post 40 home runs and 70 steals in a single season.

29 | TV Host

Victoria Arlen

Two rare neurological conditions left Victoria Arlen in a vegetative state for nearly four years, and doctors believed her chances of survival were slim. But she recovered to win four medals in swimming at the 2012 Paralympics and joined ESPN as on-air talent in 2015 at age 20. She now hosts shows including “SportsCenter” across the network’s platforms and also appears on “American Ninja Warrior Junior” on NBC’s Peacock.

29 | Cofounder

Austin Barone

Austin Barone is CEO and handles sales and business development for Just Play Solutions, a workflow and automation platform he cofounded in late 2014 while playing football at the University of Kansas. Barone says Just Play has helped coaches and sports organizations adapt to a new digital age, offering features including automated scouting and advanced data analysis.

28 | Senior Manager of Brand and Content Strategy

Robyn Brown

After Brittney Griner was detained in Russia in February 2022, Robyn Brown devoted the Mercury’s social channels to raising awareness and telling Griner’s story, with the #WeAreBG campaign driving 103 million impressions, she says. For a follow-up in 2023, Brown led the social strategy for DT10K, a campaign around Diana Taurasi becoming the first WNBA player to reach 10,000 points.

22 | Swimmer

Kate Douglass

Kate Douglass had one of history’s most dominant collegiate careers in any sport, becoming the first Division I swimmer to win three individual national titles in three different strokes and piling up 15 NCAA titles during her time at the University of Virginia. At the international level, she won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and piled up nine medals between the 2022 and 2023 world championships.

21 | Gymnast

Olivia Dunne

Olivia Dunne has been an all-American on uneven bars at LSU, but she is better known as one of the faces of college sports’ NIL era, with more than 12 million followers between TikTok and Instagram. She has long-term partnerships with brands including Vuori, American Eagle and Motorola, and Forbes estimates that she made $2.3 million over the 12 months ending in June.

22 | Shooting Guard

Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards appeared as the trash-talking antagonist in Adam Sandler’s 2022 basketball film “Hustle,” foreshadowing a breakout year in which he earned his first NBA All-Star selection with the Timberwolves and led Team USA in scoring at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Edwards, the NBA’s No. 1 overall pick in 2020, also recently released his first signature shoe, with Adidas.

29 | Director of Strategy and Development

Lauren Esrig

Working with the Voice in Sport Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to equity and access to sport for girls, Lauren Esrig has built a Title IX micro-grant program to address gaps at U.S. schools. Noting that only 3% of sports science research is conducted with female athletes, she has led investments in studies focused on women with Stanford and Harvard, and she helped secure Adidas as a research partner.

28 | Running Back

Austin Ekeler

Austin Ekeler has risen from an NCAA Division II star at Western Colorado and an undrafted NFL rookie to starring for the Chargers. Off the field, he has a fantasy football show with Yahoo Sports and has frequently streamed himself playing video games on Twitch, helping earn him a reputation as one of the most “interactive” athletes. He also recently launched fan-engagement platform Eksperience.

29 | Senior Associate

Matt Howard

At KB Partners, a $127 million sports-tech-dedicated investment fund, Matt Howard shoulders major responsibilities, leading and negotiating deal terms, observing on boards and supplying updates to limited partners. A former team captain for Penn basketball, he also continues to mentor young players and speaks on panels focused on preparing young athletes for college.

26 | Quarterback

Diana Flores

Diana Flores, who picked up flag football as an 8-year-old, went from playing in the NFL’s grassroots program in Mexico to participating in the league’s flag championships and, in 2022, leading her country to a 39-6 blowout of the U.S. to win gold at the World Games. She now serves as a global ambassador for the NFL and is the first Under Armour athlete in her sport

27 | Brand Consulting Executive

Stasia Foster

Stasia Foster is a sports marketer working in the sports consulting division at CAA, providing strategic advice to brand clients including Bose, New Balance and JPMorgan Chase on sports league and property sponsorships, talent partnerships and experiential marketing strategies. She was also one of the first CAA sports consulting representatives to participate in, and later graduate from, CAA Elevate, the firm’s agent training program.

26 | Quarterback

Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson, the NFL’s MVP for the 2019 season, signed a five-year, $260 million extension with the Ravens in May after representing himself in negotiations. His $72.5 million signing bonus, which set an NFL contract record, made him football’s highest-paid player for 2023. Off the field, he has a personal clothing brand, a restaurant and a production company and record label.

24 | Professional Skateboarder

Tyshawn Jones

Tyshawn Jones doesn’t skate in competitions but is known as New York’s king of street skating for his jaw-dropping videos, including a production for Supreme that earned him Thrasher Magazine’s 2018 Skater of the Year Award. (He claimed the honor again in 2022.) He started signing sponsorships at age 13 and is also active as an entrepreneur, with a board company, a parts provider, an underwear line and a restaurant.

28 | Forward

Kyle Kuzma

On the court, Kyle Kuzma is a versatile forward, now playing on a four-year, $102 million contract. Off it, he cofounded the fast-growing sports drink Barcode, which made a splash by signing fellow NBA player Victor Wembanyama as an ambassador. Kuzma also created a lifestyle brand, Childhood Dreams, and has collaborated with Puma on two apparel collections

28 | Global Consumer Direct Marketing Lead For Women’s Running

Darcy McFarlane

A former pro soccer player, Darcy McFarlane led key digital and physical product launches for Nike around the 2023 Women’s World Cup, including the Phantom Luna cleat and the company’s first athlete workouts for Netflix. In an earlier role, she was product marketing manager for the Nike Running and Training Club apps, helping develop the shoemaker’s first adaptive workouts

25 | Water Polo Player

Maddie Musselman

Maddie Musselman won Olympic gold in 2016, finishing as Team USA’s second-leading scorer at age 18, and she was named tournament MVP at the Tokyo Games in 2021 as the U.S. claimed another title. She has also racked up four world championship golds, cementing her as the best athlete in her family, no small feat considering her father was an MLB pitcher and her mother played college soccer.

28 | Director of Program Operations

Alison Reed

A former soccer player at the U.S. Air Force Academy and a military veteran, Alison Reed says she always found herself the only woman in the room and decided to become an advocate to help women land leadership roles themselves. She now runs the fellowship program for Women in Sports Tech, a nonprofit helping businesses diversify talent pipelines and create more inclusive cultures

29 | Basketball Data Science And Scheduling Lead

Patrick Harrel

Patrick Harrel leads the NBA’s game scheduling optimization, using data to route road trips more efficiently to reduce the travel burden on NBA players. He has also helped design and implement the NBA’s Covid restart in 2020 and its new play-in and in-season tournaments, and he serves as a league representative on the Competition Committee, which recommends rule changes each year

25 | Founder

Natalie White

Natalie White is CEO of Moolah Kicks, which produces sneakers specifically designed for female basketball players. Through a partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods, Moolah’s first production run debuted in more than 140 stores, helping create the retailer’s first women’s basketball wall, and the brand now appears in more than 500 stores and is expanding its direct-to-consumer channel.

21 | Forward

Angel Reese

Angel Reese led LSU to its first-ever women’s basketball national championship in 2023, earning the NCAA tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award to go with first-team all-American honors. She has also become one of the most marketable stars of the NCAA’s new NIL era, appearing in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue and partnering with brands including Coach, Reebok and PepsiCo’s Starry.

29 | Connected Engineering Lead

Shannon Rhodes

Shannon Rhodes’ teams have launched nine global NBA apps on 12 connected device app stores and worked on the Los Angeles Clippers’ new streaming app, ClipperVision, powered by the NBA app. Previously, she worked on the software engineering team at ESPN, catching the company’s attention, she says, with her senior project at Villanova, which was to automate the first-and-ten line with a $10 camera for high schools

23 | Sprinter

Sha’Carri Richardson

Sha’Carri Richardson missed the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after a failed drug test drew her a one-month suspension; she was later lauded for speaking openly about how she used cannabis to cope with Olympic qualifying and the death of her biological mother. After a disappointing 2022 season, she took gold in the 100 meters at the 2023 world championships with the fifth-fastest time ever. She also won bronze in the 200.

28 | Agent

Kelly Sherman

After starting in the mailroom at WME, Kelly Sherman became the first agent in the company’s sports content division, building top athletes’ media businesses. She helped Peyton Manning build Omaha Productions, playing a role in the creation of the “Manningcast,” and she has been involved with the companies of notable athletes including LeBron James and Draymond Green, as well as the Kobe Bryant Estate.

23 | Forward

Sophia Smith

Although the U.S. failed to accomplish its goal at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Sophia Smith was the breakout star for a team in transition, posting two goals and an assist. She has been even more dominant at the club level: The NWSL’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 2020, she led the Portland Thorns to the NWSL title in 2022 and earned league and championship MVP honors

29 | Lead Data Scientist

Jason Spector

Jason Spector developed Sportsline AI, an artificial intelligence model that predicts scores and player stat lines for the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, MLB and most of the world’s biggest soccer leagues. Once he could demonstrate that it could outperform professional handicappers, he says, he joined CBS Sports’ “Early Edge” podcast to give out betting picks

29 | Agent

Isiah Turner

Isiah Turner signed his first NBA client, Josh Christopher, while in law school in 2021 and has represented picks in the last two NBA drafts as well, with Jabari Walker and Gradey Dick. Turner has also helped his agency place clients in European, Asian and Latin American leagues and played a key role in recruiting young talent as NIL clients.

29 | Chief Growth Officer

Tom Weingarten

Tom Weingarten, who started as an intern in 2015, now serves as chief growth officer at sports media company Overtime, where he leads its social media strategy across 80-plus accounts. (He actually joined the company before it was called Overtime and was among its first ten employees.) Weingarten also has a role as on-air talent, interviewing players and speaking on podcasts.

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