How I Spent My Day

Remember when social media first started to become popular and people started posting on Facebook every little thing they did?  Like folded laundry, took a shower, went to the gym... nothing really out of the ordinary, usual everyday kinds of things?  Like today, my brother just re-posted his first Facebook post of each month of 2019.  How four people liked that is beyond me.  Or remember when AOL Instant Messenger had "Away Messages" that would automatically get sent back to anyone who wrote you because you were away from your computer?

One time in college, I had an "Away Message" up that was a quote from the band "3 Doors Down."  Here's a YouTube link to one of their hits, "Here Without You," in case you need a refresher. I don't remember the quote I used, but it was probably from this song.  Anyways, I had their quote as my away message and I probably didn't have proper punctuation to identify it as a song because my sister called me at 2AM and when I sleepily answered from my own bed in my dorm room, she asked "Who lives 3 doors down from you that you're spending all this time with?"  Ha!

Anyways, now that you are reflecting on all the simple things you used to post on your own social media or the things that annoy you when you read them from others, I'm going to tell you how I spent my day today. An Abby Play-By-Play for your reading enjoyment.  I'm sure you all want to know.

Today is Monday, December 16th.  I woke up around 7:30AM, before my alarm.  I usually don't need my alarm to wake up, so today was no exception.  I have Mondays off and was excited that I had signed up to watch the Breakthrough Summit, a digital leadership conference for women in sports.  If you missed it, you can still watch the replay by signing up here.

LaChina Robinson and Jill Ellis

The Summit kicked off with introduction from ESPN Basketball Analyst LaChina Robinson (Twitter @LaChina Robinson) interviewing Jill Ellis Head Soccer Coach for the 2019 World Cup Champions US Women's Soccer  National Team.  I didn't plan to live tweet quotes from today... but then the inspiring quotes just wouldn't stop coming.  Coach Ellis talked about her career path, things coaches should consider as they work towards the top, her experience working with outspoken professional athletes in the current environment where women are voicing their opinions, loudly, about the inequalities in opportunity, pay, the workforce, and so many other areas.  My favorite quote from this interview was Coach Ellis saying "If I'm the same leader today that I was two years ago, I'm failing."  The value of personal growth is enormous, and I heard her loud and clear.

At this point, I got out of bed and made a bowl of Frosted Flakes with Almond Milk and some grapes which I enjoyed while watching the next portion of the Summit. LaChina had an interesting discussion with a panel coming from three different sports backgrounds.  Dr. Jen Welter (Twitter @jwelter47) is considered to be the first woman who worked in the NFL when she joined the Arizona Cardinals Coaching Staff in 2015 after a successful career as a Pro Footballer herself.  She said she called herself a 'Pro" because they didn't earn enough money for the "fessional" and that when her team won a championship following a 12-0 season, she got her first paycheck along with her championship ring. The check was for $12.  But she was paid to play her sport, football, and that was a big deal.

LaChina and Panel: Jen, Ginny, and Charmelle

Also on the panel was Seattle Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder (Twitter @ginnygilder) who I've previously written about here and who is an Olympian Rower.  What stuck out to me from Ginny's talk was how the Storm ownership group, Force 10 Hoops, initially came together to determine why they wanted to collectively purchase the Seattle Storm.  They wanted to support a team that the community loved, but they also wanted a platform to use to support the changes they saw necessary in the world.  After five years working with the team, I had never heard that story, and now I can't wait to hear more about it.

Third on the panel was Penn State Senior Associate Athletic Director Charmelle Green (Twitter  @charmelle44) who played college softball at Utah and was the only black female athlete on campus at that time.  She talked about her career path and about learning from your mistakes and using them for growth.  Carmelle is also the President-Elect of WeCoach who sponsored this event.  The Vision Statement of WeCoach is "recruitment, advancement, and retention of women coaches of all sports and levels."  Throughout today's event, data was presented showing that female coaches don't stick around as long as their male counterparts.  The data improves if the female coach was, herself, coached by a female coach.  The data also improves if females were asked as student athletes if they would consider coaching as a career after college - compared to those who were never asked to consider that path.  The data was presented in an online live Q+A chat during their lunch session by two of the later presenters.

It was at this point that I unfortunately had to head out for my appointment with my therapist because #mentalhealth.  In the car I listened to the presentation of Felecia Mulkey (Twitter @BaylorAcroCoach), Acrobatics and Tumbling Coach at Baylor University who discussed the process of developing a team culture using Dr. Bruce Tuckman's "Developmental Sequence of Team Development" model.  She uses boundaries, clearly defined expectations, and consequences paired alongside coaching staff congruency to make sure her team functions as a program.  I liked her discussion of how a coach can't really choose the culture of their team, the culture is what the team thinks it is and the coach can impact that culture with how they lead.  Then I had to miss some of the Summit, but it's going to be available in recorded form and I guarantee I'll catch up and watch WNBA All Star playing for the Connecticut Sun, Layshia Clarendon (Twitter @LayshiaC) because she's an awesome human being and I was bummed that I missed it today.

Betsy Butterick

Following mental health came physical health.  I made it to the gym in time to catch my old pal Betsy Butterick, The Coaches' Coach and Communication Specialist. (Twitter @BetsyButterick) with her presentation. What could be more motivating on the treadmill than watching Betsy demonstrating how easy it is to tangle up communications as she was instructed to make a PB&J sandwich.  Something so simple went horribly wrong in a memorable visual presentation.  I first met Betsy in 2007 when I worked for the Connecticut Sun and she worked for the Seattle Storm.  We were both doing laundry for our teams and there was a small group of us around the WNBA at that time who were around the same age, all hoping to find our paths in women's sports. She's paving the road for many behind her and elevating so many coaches with her work, doing amazing things.  We both participated in the Women's Basketball Summit which I wrote about here, and you can check out her latest work here!

I missed the next presentation and a half because I needed amped up music to deadlift, but then saw the second half of the data on women in coaching presented by Dr. Nicole Lavoi (Twitter @DrSportPsych).  Dr. Lavoi is the Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, but what I did hear was a combination of optimistic room for growth and disbelief at the current status of the NCAA.  It made me sad to hear how few women hold higher up roles in NCAA Intercollegiate Athletics as well as coaching women's teams around the country.  Women in higher ranks will ultimately help women get the jobs in sports they aspire to have, so the future will hopefully have room for more female athletic directors. There are report cards grading athletic departments based on their gender hiring practices.  UConn doesn't look good with their D, but the shining light was seeing my college professor, Dr. Laura Burton, on the Tucker Center staff.  She was always pushing for improved gender opportunities 15 years ago.  I didn't know the Tucker Center existed, but I can't wait to read through some of their research in the upcoming weeks and finish watching her presentation.

LaChina and Holly Warlick

By now I had made it home for a late lunch... I'm sure you're wondering... chicken salad in corn tortillas, taco style. I was able to finish watching the last interview with former Tennessee Lady Vols Women's Basketball Head Coach Holly Warlick, who spoke highly of legendary Women's Basketball Coach Pat Summitt.  Holly's top quote was "You meet the same people on the way up that you do on the way back down, so treat people with respect."  She also gave the advice to young coaches that they really need to love what they're doing.  Coaching is a huge time commitment that requires you to sacrifice time away from your family, so loving it and having family support are essential.

Then I went to Target.

Overall, a pretty awesome day.  I really enjoyed the parts of the Summit I was able to watch and can't wait to fill in the gaps soon.  Hopefully they'll do a repeat next year.  What did you do ttoday?

Megan Rapinoe Used to Hoop, too!

Summer is here!  The barbecues are starting, fireworks and mini American flags are on sale everywhere, and the sun is finally shining in Seattle with WNBA basketball under way.  I've taken the kayak out already and saw some seals and I've lost and found my sunglasses at least three times with the bipolar nature of the weather in Seattle. I've been working on a blog post about sport specialization for a while, and it has been  moving too slowly for me - primarily because I've been spending a lot less time at my computer and a lot more time in the sunshine when it comes out, but also because other topics just keep popping up that I want to write about. And then I decided I really wanted to write about the United States Women's Soccer Team this week, but... that's what everyone else has been doing.  And so, I decided to combine the two.


First,  I'll start with a definition.  In 2002, Jayanthi et al defined sport specialization as "intensive, year-round training in a single sport at the exclusion of other sports."  This came along with: “The American academy of pediatrics and the American medical society for sports medicine have both discouraged sport specialization before adolescence but acknowledge that this recommendation is largely based on expert opinion...” What does it mean?  It means that medical professionals are supporting playing multiple sports, moving in multiple different ways, participating in unorganized play that isn't a sport at all - just like playing games of tag or riding bikes around the neighborhood, or climbing a tree - so that the body moves in different ways.  

There are considerable benefits to playing sports.  Health benefits, of course, including improved heart rate and blood pressure, cardiovascular endurance, and muscular strength.  There are also mental health benefits, particularly with team sports - but also with individual sports - like community interactions, competitive spirit, sportsmanship, and having a support system.  But there are also risks.  That same article from Jayanthi also found that youth athletes with a higher socioeconomic status were more likely to sport specialize and were also more likely to experience more serious overuse injuries than lower socioeconomic status athletes.  It was also found that those youth athletes who participated in team sports tended to have less frequent overuse injuries than individual sports.

Myer et al provides some interesting statistics about the success from sport specialization: Approximately 30% of American kids specialize in one sport with the goal of earning a scholarship and reaching the professional level in that sport, but only .2-.5% make it to the elite levels. Many parents and, more dangerously, coaches believe that focusing on one sport is the way to reaching this goal.  But using the same patterns over and over again may not help develop resiliency and strength in other movement patterns. 

Some quotes from that paper:

"Single-sport specialization was first reported in Eastern Europe with athletes involved in individual sports such as gymnastics, swimming, diving, and figure skating."

"Vaeyens and colleagues59 reviewed the training history of 2004 Olympians and found that the mean age of sport initiation was 11.5 years."

"At the collegiate level, a study of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 athletes at one university found that 70% did not specialize in their sport until at least age 12 years, and 88% had participated in more than one sport."

Since I had already been doing research for a blog post on sports specialization, I looked into the roster of the USWNT and all the other sports those athletes played - other than soccer.  Here's what I've found.

Morgan Brian played varsity basketball through her senior year of high school before specializing in soccer.
Adrianna Franch was an all star high school basketball player.
Ashlyn Harris liked to surf and skateboard with her brother.
Tobin Heath reportedly likes tennis and surfing.
Jessica McDonald played four years of high school basketball and was a state champion and record holder in the 400m in track, also participating in the same three sports for two years of junior college before heading to North Carolina where she specialized.  The USWNT has a really long list of Tar Heels and a few Penn State Nittany Lions and Stanford Cardinal grads...I guess those would be the college power houses for women's soccer the way UConn is for women's basketball. 
Alex Morgan is listed as a multi-sport athlete.  As one of the most recognized athletes on the team, I think it's important to note that she tore her ACL when she was 17 and recovered to the extremely high level of play that she currently is at. In this chat, she says she started playing soccer around age 7 or 8, but played volleyball, basketball, and softball as well and didn't start playing club soccer until she was 14 years old.
Alyssa Naeher, my fellow Connecticut native, also played basketball in high school. 
Christen Press, (who I was insanely lucky to sit next to on a flight from Hartford to Chicago last summer in which the entire USWNT was on the plane and Sam Mewis sat behind us) played tennis and ran track before heading to Stanford for college. 
Megan Rapinoe played basketball and ran track.  
Becky Sauerbrunn also played basketball and volleyball. 

Megan Rapinoe celebrating the Storm Championship

Abby Dahlkemper, Tierna Davidson, Crystal Dunn, Julie Ertz, Lindsey Horan, Ali Krieger (did you know Krieger is German for warrior?!), Rose Lavelle, Carli Lloyd, Allie Long, Sam Mewis, Kelley O'Hara, Mallory Pugh, and Emily Sonnett - are not listed to play another sport on wikipedia, though that doesn't mean they didn't or haven't.  It most likely just means they didn't play another sport in high school and specialized before then, perhaps even playing something else through middle school.  Having ten out of 23 players noting what other sports they played until about age 18 has to help demonstrate the value in playing multiple sports!

So, what should we do about it?  We need to advocate for kids to play, to have recess, to move more, and to support participation in more than one sport.  My mentor from PT School, Lindsay DiStefano refers to this as Sport Sampling.  (I'm not sure if she coined this term, but it's the first place I ever heard it, and I like the idea - sample different activiites, find the ones you like, and move more!)  "Parents and educators should help provide opportunities for free unstructured play to improve motor skill development and youth should be encouraged to participate in a variety of sports during their growing years to influence the development of diverse motor skills" again Myer et al. 

And so, it's summer time.  Let your kids go out and play.  Run at the beach, play tag, kick a ball around, throw a frisbee, swim!  Don't let them play the same sports all year round.  And watch other sports too... like basketball, because now it's game time, and I'm off to go watch the Seattle Storm in action, hopefully with soccer star Megan Rapinoe in attendance!

Warm Up Like You Mean It

Photo Credit: Seattle Pediatric Sports Medicine
I'm front-right, and I need to work on my landing.

High school and college basketball season is here!!!!!! (YAY!) I'm so fortunate to have many friends who coach or work in high school and intercollegiate athletics.  This post is for all of you.  It's tinted towards basketball, but it could apply to any sport. 

Working in pediatric sports medicine, I notice clusters of injuries which coincide with the change in sports seasons.  This is, of course, a generalization, but it seems that there are patterns. Some examples: shoulder overuse injuries in swim and baseball season, concussions as football gets underway, "shin splints" in cross country runners who may have ramped up too quickly, and ankle sprains with soccer and basketball.

So now that the sports seasons are changing and I'm expecting to start seeing basketball players in the clinic, I thought it was time to hop on my soap box suggesting the use of a dynamic warm-up as an injury prevention tool. It has recently come to my attention that some of the local high schools are so overbooked on their gym time that the athletes are expected to warm-up on their own before they're allowed access to the court.  The team does not warm up together unless the captain organizes the group beforehand.  To me, that means it isn't mandatory.  It isn't a priority.  If teams only get 2 hours of on-court time per day, they'll use the time to focus on sport-specific activities, no time wasted on preparing their bodies.  I get it, but I don't approve.  I think you might end up with a team that knows a few extra plays, but you also might have a few more injured players on the bench.  Is it worth it?  There's quite a lot of research on the benefit of ACL injury prevention programs, including the 2018 National Athletic Trainer's Association Position Statement written by an awesome group including my mentor, Dr. Lindsay DiStefano, which can be found here.  (That paper includes the components you should include in your injury prevention program... no worries ... they're going to be briefly summarized below.)

I've previously mentioned that an injury prevention program is the same thing as a performance enhancement program here.  Most of these programs are targeting prevention of ACL injuries, but there is no reason to believe they couldn't help prevent other injuries, as well.  The Seattle Pediatric Sports Medicine Group's ACL Injury Prevention Program and the FIFA 11+ programs were both designed to be used as a dynamic warm-up.  Note that I'm using three different names for the same thing: Dynamic warm-up, if used properly, is the same thing as an injury prevention program, which is the same thing as performance enhancement.  (There are many other programs out there, but these are the two I'm most familiar with and have seen teams use most frequently. Ignore that they're set on a soccer field... it doesn't matter!). 

Let's back up for a moment.  What is a dynamic warm-up?  A dynamic warm-up is a progressive increase in the intensity of exercise placed at the beginning of a training session to prepare the body for the work it will do.  It targets increasing the cardiovascular system and getting the blood flowing as well as progressively increasing the use of the musculo-skeletal system and the nervous system to optimize the body for movement.  There are numerous publications that recommend doing this for a variety of reasons.  Like this article for injury prevention, and this one to optimize power. You've probably learned that you shouldn't skip meals leading up to Thanksgiving Dinner (though many people wrongly think this means more room for extra desserts, you're better off having some breakfast earlier in the day and regular eating the day before.  You're welcome.)  Why would you go from sitting in school all day long to sprinting up and down the basketball court without preparing your body?

Great, so now that we've determined that you're going to include a warm-up in your teams' practices and before games, why not decide how to design the warm-up for optimal performance?  This really can't be just about going through the motions.  It needs to be intentional.  It needs to be focused.  This is a great opportunity to develop a plan that team captains can lead early in the season so you can help teach individuals who might need more help with some of the movement patterns.

No more sitting in a circle stretching and chatting about last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy. Focused, purposeful movement.  There are SO MANY activities you can include if you're not able or willing to use one of the programs already designed for you due to the amount of time they may take.  I urge you to consider one of those programs, but alternatively, take the components from those programs and use them interchangeably.  If you structure your practices so you know what things you're going to work on, you can also structure your warm-ups so you know what you're going to work on in that time. What good is running a play for your shooter if they're not yet getting off the floor with their jumps?  What good is spending an hour teaching your team how to get a pass into the post if your center doesn't understand the benefit of getting low (in their squat pattern) to back down their defender and take it to the hole.  I'll say it one more time for the people in the back, injury prevention IS performance enhancement and a dynamic warm-up is an easy way to fit this into your daily routine.  If you help develop your athletes into just that - better athletes - they'll have more skills available to them to apply to whatever sport they're playing.

Components you should consider using in your warm-up.
1) mobility/flexibility (walking stretches)
2) strength (of the hips and core as well as the upper body) which can be done using:
3) movement patterns (squat, lunge)
4) jumping (plyometrics)
5) balance
6) agility (cutting/change of direction)
According to the NATA position statement, you should be using at least 3 of the above categories.  The prepared programs use all of them.

I don't have data to support this claim, but in general, I would say that most of the injured teenage girl athletes I see in the clinic do not jump or land in an "optimal fashion".  They're generally strong, but need to be stronger for the demands of the sport they're playing.  They often can't squat without falling over and I don't think I've seen any who can control a single leg squat.  As a coach, if you don't know how to teach these things to your players or why they're important, you could ask a local physical therapist to come in and screen your athletes and give you some pointers.  Or call me and we can chat about them!  Seriously... any time.  If this post prevents one high school basketball player from injury, I'll be happy.  Or if this post changes the way a coach organizes their practice to include more of the above components, I'll be elated.

As a reminder -
Every jump shot is, in fact, a jump and a landing.
Most rebounds are, in fact, a jump and a landing.
Jump-landings are, in fact, related to the squat.  If you do it on one leg, it's more related to a single-leg squat.
Defensive stance and the "triple threat" position are, in fact, related to the squat.
If you are standing on one leg for any reason - landing from a rebound, trying to save a ball from going out of bounds - you need to be able to balance.  Most teenagers can easily stand on one foot on a firm surface and balance steadily without a problem.  But if they have had an ankle sprain, it gets much more difficult.  If they're turning their head - like they would for an outlet pass or to avoid a defender - it gets much more difficult.

I'll go back to the discussion of getting the high school girls into the weight room another day, but for now, strength training could be as simple as a few sets of squats and a few lengths of the court with walking lunges and a few side planks - all with body weight - to focus on movement patterns and strengthening.  That could easily be a huge part of their warm-up before playing basketball.  (If you're preparing for a strength training workout, the dynamic warm-up should more closely mimic the motions of the exercises to be completed, but for a sports practice, there's a ton of variety available that will be relevant and beneficial). 

Last thought on these warm-ups.  Something that makes my mind go nutty is watching a team practice where they spend a good 15 minutes warming up, and then the coach has them circle up and stand still to discuss the upcoming practice, ultimately cooling them back down.  Prepare your team's mindset before the warm-up so you can transition right from the warm-up into business.  You can't avoid it during games when you substitute a player from the bench and they've been sitting for the whole first half.  That player is cold and has to use the game to warm up. Hopefully the energy of the game has kept the blood pumping a bit.  Hopefully they do some jumping up and down on the sidelines when your team makes a great play, to keep them warmer.  But on a daily practice routine, you can keep them warm and ready to go.

Any questions?  Let me know if I can help.
Here's to a great basketball season with zero injuries for your team.  And lots of offensive rebounds.  Those are my favorite.

(Go Cheshire Rams! Go UConn Huskies!)

Airplanes

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars, I could really use a wish right now..." - B.O.B.

I love to travel.  I enjoy seeing new places, eating new foods or the comfort foods of home, reconnecting with old friends and making new ones... and my family lives on the East Coast while I'm on the West Coast, so often my travels lead me to them.  Last weekend I went to the East Coast, flying through Chicago O'Hare each way... and my personal travels started the thought process for this week's blog.  And then the WNBA had a massive flight disaster...

Today, the Las Vegas Aces WNBA team are scheduled to play the Washington Mystics in Washington, D.C.  Initially scheduled for 7PM EST, tonight, the game was moved back an hour as the Aces were not likely to arrive in town with enough time to get to the arena before playing.  (Update: ultimately the game was canceled!) They started their travels on Thursday mid-day with repeated delays shifting back their departure and arrival.  What a nightmare! They spent several hours stranded in the Dallas airport... and with a good sense of humor... posted an injury report listing every player with a sleepy emoji.

Many of these details are outlined in this article... though I was following the action on twitter, primarily through Carolyn Swords, A'ja Wilson, and the Las Vegas Aces accounts. I'm really not sure what's been going on to cause these problems... doesn't look like there are weather issues in the mid-west... but shortly after the Aces got off the ground, the Indiana Fever had their flight cancelled heading to New York to play the Liberty - that game is scheduled for 3PM EST tomorrow... who knows when they'll arrive.

Anyways... a few days ago, I was flying from Hartford to Chicago with the entire US Women's National Soccer Team.  I waved hello to superstar Megan Rapinoe who I've had the pleasure of crossing paths with a few times in Seattle, and I was seated next to Christen Press, across from goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and two rows behind Tobin Heath... they were all very pleasant, were able to avoid middle seats from what I could tell... and were happily taking photos with fans who recognized them.  Their matching travel outfits with the USWNT logo on them didn't help them stay incognito.  I wonder if the men's national team flies commercial... we all know the NBA doesn't.  I don't have the time to make this a gender issue, today.

Years ago I worked as the Travel Coordinator for the Connecticut Sun WNBA Team and had been looking into chartered flight costs thanks to the help of the UConn Women's Basketball office... the cost for a charter then was about $40,000... flying commercially, even if it's an expensive flight over $500 per person on the whole team and staff made a travel party around 25 people... total cost per flight is about $12,500.  It just isn't feasible right now for the WNBA teams to travel at this type of cost - especially since teams aren't permitted to travel together (unless league rules have changed).  Maybe the cities that have National Women's Soccer League teams and WNBA Teams could arrange travel together so the Storm and Reign could travel to places like Chicago together and split costs of charter... but you definitely need to have more people to fill a charter to make this cost effective in the WNBA.  The coaching staffs and medical staffs in the NBA make a much larger travel party than the WNBA is limited to at this point, as well.  I'd certainly love to get back on the road with the Seattle Storm along with the rest of the medical crew... but the budget can't fit all that!

Lastly... when I flew out to the East Coast last week... Seattle to Chicago... I experienced my first time when they paged over the speakers for a doctor on board.  Now... I know that I'm a physical therapist... but years ago I was an EMT and I am working towards urgent response training... so I figure if there wasn't a doctor on the plane, I'd potentially be more useful than someone without any medical training.  I walked to the back of the plane and made myself known to the flight attendant.  A nurse was sitting next to a gentleman who had experienced a seizure.  The nurse said things were under control and asked me to share my seat number in case another episode occurred and more hands were needed.  I went back to my seat.  But this got me thinking... you see this in movies and I don't actually know what the rules say about whether I'm supposed to help.  So I looked into it... and would you believe I could not find resources for physical therapists under emergency circumstances other than PTs working in an emergency department?  We're supposed to be CPR and First Aid trained - but that's all I found!

I also found this article which stated that airlines hope a physician won't be on board when this occurs because an on-board physician could require urgent landing where if there isn't a doctor available, the crew reaches out to medical crews on the ground who try to help remotely triage or treat the situation.  I noticed that the flight attendant had an oxygen tank and mask, first aid kit, and that there were some medications available to them.  Another article shared that 70% of in-flight medical emergencies are handled by the flight crew.  That paper outlines the most common medical emergencies that occur in-air, with chest pain being the number one listed outcome.  I did learn that there is a federal law that protects physicians and health care providers who assist during in-air emergencies, though you should always practice medicine with the intent to "Do No Harm" and within your training restrictions.  Doing absolutely nothing was not an option, in my opinion... but I'm certainly glad I didn't have to help with CPR on an airplane.

Overall - there's a lot going on up in the skies.  Back to B.O.B. ... "I could use a dream or a genie or a wish to go back to a place much simpler than this..." I'm sure the Las Vegas Aces are really looking forward to flying to Connecticut tomorrow after the disaster they faced today.  Let's hope they stay healthy through their game and get some good rest... and that no doctors are needed on their flight requiring them to land mid-route.

Professional Women's Soccer - The Seattle Reign

Hello March Madness!   My brackets for the men's NCAA basketball tournament are hanging on by a thread and UConn Women's Basketball is on a roll!  There have been so many awesome basketball games and there's still a week left to go! I openly admit that I love basketball, but soccer has started to steal a tiny place in my heart.  I think it has something to do with the fact that it's played outside and the weather is starting to get nicer. And soccer players are insanely athletic!

Last night I attended the Seattle Reign season opener versus the Washington Spirit.  For those of you who don't know, the Seattle Reign is a member of the National Women's Soccer League.  This is professional women's soccer.  The Reign play at Memorial Stadium which sits in the shadow of the Space Needle, just a stone's throw away from Key Arena where the Seattle Storm plays.  Last month it was announced that the ownership group for the Seattle Storm - Force 10 Sports Management - would be adding management responsibilities for the Seattle Reign to their ever growing portfolio.  Having been around the WNBA for the past decade, I've learned a lot about how the league operates and I know a little bit about the teams and some of their ownership groups.  Over the past few years, I have attended a handful of Reign matches, but, prior to now, hadn't given much thought to how little I knew about the team, their players, the ownership, or the league.   So I did some digging.

The league: The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) was launched in 2012 - so 2018 is their 6th season with competition between their nine teams.  It is the longest running professional women's soccer league as the (several) leagues that came before it only lasted up to three seasons.  In 2017, the league averaged about 5,000 tickets sold per game with the Portland Thorns leading the way averaging 17,000.  Interestingly, on the men's side, Major League Soccer games averaged about 21,000 tickets sold per game in 2016 with the Seattle Sounders averaging over 40,000 per game.  Seattle is just a huge sports city!  In the WNBA, ticket sales for the league and the Seattle Storm averaged 7,700 tickets per game.  When looking at salaries, this 2016 article listed limits to NWSL salaries as $37,800 per season.  That's the limit!  WNBA minimum salaries are $35,000 and NWSL minimum salaries, according to this article, were $15,000!  In comparison, the average (men's) MLS salary of $300,000 (median $100,000) is a liveable wage.  The gender discrepancy is appalling.  The best way I can try to help combat this is to attend games and buy an occasional ticket to show my support.

The team: The Seattle Reign is owned by Bill and Teresa Predmore.  Bill Predmore founded the company POP in 1996 - they're a digital marketing solutions company whose website looks like they're doing some really cool stuff.  Fun fact about Mr. Predmore, though, is that from 1993 - 1996, he was Assistant Director/Assistant Editor for the Bill Nye Show.  His wife, Teresa Predmore, played college soccer at Oregon State and a quick google search brought up her twitter account which looks like she does some work with Water 1st which is a super cool organization that helps provide clean water and sanitation to communities who would otherwise not have access to it. (They also look to empower women and help communities own their water works once the system is implemented.)

The players: You can find the Seattle Reign roster here, but a few quick notes worthy of mention.  In last nights season opener, which the Reign won 2-1,  Megan Rapinoe scored in the 7th minute and Jodie Taylor in the 35th.  Megan is a US Women's National Team player and Olympic Gold Medalist and Jodie, born in England, plays for their national team which won a Bronze at the 2015 World Cup.  The team underwent a major overhaul with 12 new players since last season and a coaching change.  In addition to the ones I've already mentioned, the team is full of athletes who have played for numerous national teams including: Allie Long - USA including the 2016 Olympic Games, Nahomi Kawasumi Olympic Bronze medalist for Japan, Rumi Utsugi former Japanese national team member, Theresa Nielson for the Denmark national team, Jess Fishlock plays for the Welsh National Team and Elizabeth Addo plays for Ghana.  I haven't even mentioned how many of their players are on US teams that are U-23!  So much talent.

Who wants to join me for a game?!