{"id":21245,"date":"2024-06-04T17:25:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T01:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=21245"},"modified":"2024-06-04T17:27:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T01:27:15","slug":"brainstorming-for-wnba-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/brainstorming-for-wnba-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Brainstorming for WNBA success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Liberty Miller | Lifestyle Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past year alone, an exponential increase has been observed in media attention for women\u2019s collegiate basketball, prompted by athletes such as Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese. The nature of Division One college sports ensures that major sports will always have a sizable fanbase, funding and resources at the program\u2019s disposal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The situation for the majority of National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes has traditionally been to play for four to five years, either retire from the sport or attempt to pursue professional play, either in the U.S. or overseas. While many athletes have accomplished this feat, major discrepancies have been noticed in funding and fanbase potential for women\u2019s professional sports, particularly basketball.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One factor that many people may overlook is the dedication being contributed, not towards basketball but towards volleyball. In the past two to three years, the U.S. has launched three new professional volleyball leagues \u2014 the Pro Volleyball Federation, Athletes Unlimited Volleyball and League One Volleyball, which will begin its inaugural season in January 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of promotion and social media, the Pro Volleyball Federation has made the most progress in establishing professional volleyball leagues in the U.S. Similar to this year\u2019s WNBA draft, all three volleyball leagues have brought in Olympic veterans, freshly minted star collegiate drafts and a lot of fresh talent to their rosters.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I believe the WNBA has had similar strategic attempts to garner support for the league, they have notably had to rely on the NBA to garner funding and have become somewhat encompassed in negative and lackluster media attention throughout the years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A disproportionate amount of the negative public opinion surrounding women\u2019s basketball, unsurprisingly, stems from sexist ideology and a lack of support for women’s sports in general. Hateful discourse includes the facts that the WNBA is consistently underfunded, relying on the men\u2019s league funds to survive, and claims of unexciting gameplay and WNBA vets that \u201coverstay their welcome.\u201d The reasons behind the WNBA struggling to stay afloat are numerous, which makes it a complex and potentially difficult subject to discuss.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A multifaceted approach must be taken in order to make sustained progress for the WNBA. The recent boom in popularity due to high-profile newcomers may not be enough to simply \u201cfix\u201d the issues the WNBA has been facing for the last 28 or so years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Female athletes are well used to the misogynistic rhetoric that discredits accomplishments and athletic ability \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t mean we can place all of the blame on that rhetoric. There are things that must be done and changed by the association, public relations, event managers and even the players themselves to secure the future of the WNBA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing that I believe must be done is lowering the rim of the women\u2019s net to nine feet. The rim is currently set at 10 feet, the same height as the men\u2019s rim for the NBA. This is a highly controversial idea and was met with a lot of pushback when pitched by Shaquille O\u2019Neal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about it, WNBA player, Diana Tuarasi, even stated that they \u201c…might as well put us in skirts and back in the kitchen.\u201d The idea, admittedly, would make any elite athlete feel somewhat inferior, especially when constantly compared to their male counterparts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In my opinion, that feeling of inferiority is rooted in ego. As a volleyball player of 11 years, women\u2019s nets have always been lower, and yes, it is irritating \u2014 but we need to recognize that we aren\u2019t \u201cmaking the game easier\u201d by lowering the rim. We are actually creating a game situation that is proportionately fair for physical capabilities. Think of it this way: women have to put in twice the amount of effort and training in order to match their capabilities with male counterparts. So, setting the same standard, perhaps a 10-foot rim, and expecting the same type of athleticism from men and women would put women at an extreme disadvantage. That\u2019s not to say women aren\u2019t capable or that they cannot put in the work. It means that establishing the playing field as equitable, rather than equal, will allow women to showcase their athleticism more. Lowering the rim would allow for WNBA athletes to make explosive, more dynamic plays and to dunk as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many arguments against lowering the rim, with an author from ESPN calling it a \u201cquick fix\u201d and attributing the hateful rhetoric solely to \u201cyears of social conditioning.\u201d Many would argue that the WNBA would get the same amount of hate if they did lower the rims. That may be true \u2014 but currently, we are limiting the amount of plays that female basketball players can make.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An example of how countless shows of athleticism are lost can be seen in the 37 dunks made in the entirety of WNBA history, 26 of which were made by Britney Griner. Additionally, it\u2019s not just the athleticism that the public is missing out on. The lack of exciting gameplay creates a lack of media attention, even more negative public opinion and a lack of support, which, guess what? It means that 50% of the WNBA is owned by the NBA, which has to bail them out of bankruptcy every season. The fact that the NBA financially supports the WNBA is then just another piece of bait for misogynistic haters to grab onto.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of what teams can do in the WNBA to gain public support \u2014 once again, they could invest in more strategic movies for exciting gameplay. The NBA has famously publicized many feuds throughout the years, making the games not just another scoreboard but a story to be told.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I talked to Jen Spicher, the CEO for the Pro Volleyball Federation, she told me that the people wanted a story to be told for the game. What I\u2019ve learned throughout the years is that viewers want inspiration, drama and pure passion turned into athleticism when they watch a game. This is the reason Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese have gained so much attention last year during the NCAA championships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a female athlete, I have always been an intense and competitive player and have had coaches who prefer for female athletes to be controlled, calm and somewhat docile. Angel Reese is an example of what the media and public can do to a woman who isn\u2019t complicit in toning herself down to seem more womanly on the court, and in my opinion, we need about 20 more of her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not advocating for fights or conflict for media bait, but coaches need to recruit and promote players who tell their stories and who hone in on that passion and make it evident throughout the game. The game doesn\u2019t exist without the players, and the players control the narrative, pace of the game and how they want to tell their story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the coach’s job to recruit and coach the game in the best way possible, but it is the team manager, public relations specialists and social media creators for the WNBA who are responsible for telling the stories of these athletes and making marketing decisions that showcase the most fierce, competitive and show-stopping parts of the WNBA that the majority of the public has yet to witness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I, like many others, believe that the WNBA has limitless potential to become great, as well as financially independent. By allowing female athletes to make more plays by lowering the rim, raising the quality of the PR and social media outreach and realizing that the means to profit is demanding positive public attention from great plays and storytelling, the WNBA could eventually become an independent entity.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1791],"tags":[1964,1512,3388,3390,3389,2673,3391,2104,2517,3394,3392,3393],"class_list":["post-21245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion-special","tag-angel-reese","tag-basketball","tag-britney-griner","tag-caitlyn-clark","tag-nba","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-professional-basketball","tag-sexism-in-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-controversy","tag-wnba-draft","tag-wnba-funding"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}