Where There's A Will...

She Who Laughs...

I got laughed at this week. An idea I had got laughed at. In fact, the idea wasn't even mine, but one that I believe in.

Let me back up the story.

I have been fighting for field hockey for 30 years. As an athlete and a coach my fall schedule has operated around Friday Night Lights. First our field hockey team got elevated to games in the stadium, but only during the day. Then we graduated to night games, but never, ever Friday. That is football's timeslot. Period.

I've been told that football brings in the most money. Football is key to American culture. And with that came the assumption that:

Field Hockey < Football

There is an absurdity to all this, but it took me years to boil it down to this question: what is it about football that is innately better than field hockey? I thought long and hard about this. For years. Like, decades. And it finally hit me that there isn't anything. Both are fun team sports. One gets massive TV coverage and sponsorships and the other gets the overnight TV feeds during Olympic years. It doesn't have anything to do with the nature of either game, but with, well, culture. And uneven application of opportunity.

But if the success of the U.S. Women's National Team (soccer) has taught me anything, it is that changing culture is possible. That changing culture is not always a zero sum game. And that changing culture is opening opportunities that have been ignored, shut down, or considered inconceivable.

So back to the laugh.

I shared with an athletic administrator that back in the 1990s, my high school field hockey coach tried to negotiate a Field Hockey Friday Night Lights with the football coach, who happened to be her dad. My coach was not successful, but her point was clear to me. Why not us?

Thirty years later, I posed the same idea and I got the same response. The idea received a roar of laughter. I wasn't even asking for a Friday night game. I was asking to move my team off grass and onto turf, where a field hockey ball rolls smooth and fast. My argument was that the game of field hockey belongs on turf due to the nature of the sport, not because of the tides of American culture. Slow down the game and you slow down progress. Slow down the game and you slow down people.

"This is where I come from," I explained. The crusty needle did not budge an inch.

But the moment has given me a lot to think about. Like in business, there is opportunity to put your ideas out there. To challenge the thinking of others. To know that maybe your thinking is out of the realm of the people you work with, but to keep searching for others who see your vision. This requires unwavering belief. To have the opportunity to reflect on negotiation tactics and get fired up. And to keep pushing. Even if it's like a field hockey ball on grass - unnecessarily slow.

In My Research

"I first visited Wolaita Soddo, which is located six hours south of the capital city of Addis Ababa via car. It is home to a large Christian hospital that houses visiting Western medical professionals, and Wolaita Soddo University, serving a metropolis of 450,000 people. GGRF participants attend two schools. Through grade 10 they go to Abba Pascal Girls’ School, and then can attend a private coeducational secondary school for grades 11-12. The Pascal School is protected by a wall and guarded gates seven days per week by non-military civilians.

The Pascal School is also home to a large dirt field that serves many groups throughout the day. Hundreds of girls crisscross the field during recess, but the early afternoons belong to GGRF participants, who practice several days per week right after school. I watched and participated in several practices that usually lasted about an hour. We ran several laps around the field, completed calisthenics, and played team games. Many of their classmates spend hours on campus after school, socializing, watching practice, or getting extra academic help. The GGRF director explained that some of the girls attend university after they finish their secondary education. Sadly, however, their athletic training ends after 10th grade. This is not the case for males in their community, however, as the field is also home to adult male-only football games most every night. Men walk or ride motorbikes to the field to play, watch, and shower at the school." - A MIXED METHODS EXPLORATION OF GIRL ATHLETES’ DEVELOPMENT OF VOICE EMPOWERMENT IN WOLAITA SODDO AND BEKOJI, ETHIOPIA: A THREE ARTICLE. - K. Ralls

Take Her Word for It

"The law firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink found during the 2018–2019 school year, the NCAA spent $4,285 on men’s Division I and national championship participants except for basketball (Diaz, 2021). The NCAA invested far less on their women’s athletes to the tune of $1,700 each. In the case of basketball, CBA/Turner paid $850 million to broadcast the men’s tournament. Meanwhile, ESPN shells out around $100 million for the women’s tournament.

Kaplan Hecker & Fink surmised this discrepancy was because the NCAA has not invested enough time and effort into the women’s tournament. Diaz concluded that despite painful fallacies, it is not due to a lack of interest in women’s basketball. There are millions of dollars left on the table every year because of a lack of investment in women athletes."

Women's Sports History

A short one this week: according to India Times, archeologists have found paintings of field hockey sticks in Egyptian caves. The paintings are estimated to be 4,000 years old. Sticks have gone through literally thousands of years of reincarnations, with the latest being a stunning light-weight composite model that makes mobility between opponents easier using one or two hands.

Hopefully it takes a shorter amount of time to get field hockey a little more turf and a little more TV time.

At KR LLC, we believe women athletes are perfectly positioned to be standout leaders.

And if you want to relive a little bit of your glory years, we’re here for that as well!