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Women in Sports

Softball and baseball on same day! Woman makes NCAA history

April 10, 2024 by Tara S

Melanie Martinez-Lopez | MLB

Jillian Albayati continues to be a pioneer for women in the game of baseball.

On Sunday, she became the second player in collegiate history — and the first in Division II — to play baseball and softball on the same day when she accomplished the feat for Cal State San Marcos.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team was down four pitchers, including three starters, and were considering open tryouts in the middle of chasing the California Collegiate Athletic Association title.

Softball coach Stef Ewing immediately thought of Albayati, a right-handed pitcher for baseball and a third baseman for softball.

The move made sense, given Albayati began to play baseball when she was 3 years old — and she played throughout high school. The All-CIF pitcher from Anaheim went 20-0 with a 1.68 ERA in her high-school career, all while hitting .360.

“I piped up and said, ‘We’ve got Jill on our team, and she played high school baseball,’” Ewing told San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Kirk Kenney. “She pitches and plays third base for the U.S. Women’s National Baseball Team. She can throw.’”

It was not the first time Albayati made a mark on women’s baseball.

She was selected to play in the inaugural Trailblazer Series. It was created in 2017 to provide girls with an opportunity to play baseball with other girls in a highly competitive environment.

The following year, Albayati participated in the 2018 Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series, a program that focuses on developing girls who play baseball.

Now, she has once again made her mark nearly seven years later — this time, just days before the 2024 Trailblazer Series gets underway on Saturday.

When Albayati was offered the opportunity to pitch in a baseball game Sunday for Cal State San Marcos — a first for Division II sports (Christina Elsbury did it last year for Division III Gallaude) — there was no hesitation. According to the Union-Tribune, she threw a bullpen session on Friday to showcase her skills, and soon after, Albayati was added to the roster.

“We’re in a place where we’re pretty banged up on the mound,” Cougars baseball manager Jose Garcia told the newspaper. “It’s not asking her to come in and pitch in high-leverage situations. It’s more to give us a cushion, to eat some innings and help keep everybody as healthy as possible.”

Albayati’s complete game

When Sunday came around, the 5-foot-6 Albayati was ready to pitch in.

First came the softball game against Cal State Monterey Bay. After celebrating her teammate’s walk-off grand slam in a dramatic 4-3 win, the sophomore switched out of her softball jersey and sprinted over to the nearby baseball field. She was called in from the bullpen two batters into the ninth inning.

Albayati was not intimidated by the seven batters she faced. She allowed two runs (one earned) off three hits and one walk to close out the inning.

She then returned to the softball field after her collegiate baseball debut for the second game of a doubleheader. She went 2-for-6 in the softball team’s 4-2 victory to help the club complete the sweep — before once again returning to the baseball dugout to end her day.

“It’s just amazing,” Albayati said to Kenney. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be able to do that.”

Albayati hopes to be able to continue playing both sports, but she told Ewing her priority is softball.

“But I know her love is baseball,” Ewing said. “I thought we made a kid’s career in more ways than you can imagine by having her go out there. … We made her dream come true today.”

With both teams on the road an hour away for the next series, there is a chance she may travel with the baseball team while the injured pitchers continue to recover.

The newspaper also reported that Albayati was invited to pitch for the Savannah Bananas over the summer.

Filed Under: Athlete Spotlight, baseball, Softball, Women in Sports, Women's Sports

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

April 1, 2024 by Tara S

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.

Filed Under: baseball, Women in Sports

World Rugby to expand female coach development programme

March 28, 2024 by Tara S

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.”

Filed Under: Rugby, Women in Sports

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

March 26, 2024 by Tara S

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.

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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.

Filed Under: Women in Sports, Women's Sports

Trailblazing female baseball coach from US aims for Japan pro ranks

March 21, 2024 by Tara S

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)

Filed Under: baseball, Women in Sports

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

March 12, 2024 by Tara S

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

Filed Under: Women in Sports

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

March 12, 2024 by Tara S

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).

Filed Under: Track and Field, Women in Sports

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

February 12, 2024 by Tara S

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.

Filed Under: baseball, Women in Sports

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

January 25, 2024 by Tara S

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.”

Filed Under: Athlete Spotlight, Women in Sports, Women's Basketball, Women's Sports

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