{"id":1846,"date":"2023-04-30T18:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T18:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=1846"},"modified":"2025-04-17T18:57:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T18:57:33","slug":"elite-female-athletes-dominate-the-headlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2023\/04\/30\/elite-female-athletes-dominate-the-headlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Elite female athletes dominate the headlines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hey everybody, it\u2019s your homegirl CoachLeahTM<\/sup>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it just me that has noticed\u2026 Or is it, for the first time in the history of the world, that women\u2019s basketball – women\u2019s sports in general –  has been dominating media headlines not just in the sports world, but mainstream media. Women\u2019s basketball topics are everywhere I seem to look –  on network television, social media, radio, and general conversations with friends as well as complete strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From record breaking attendance and viewership of the 2023 Women\u2019s Final Four that drew an average of 9.9 million viewers, making it the most viewed NCAA women’s basketball final in television history according to ESPN, a Saturday Night Live mention of the Iowa Women\u2019s Basketball team and spoof of LSU\u2019s superstar and tournament MVP, Angel Reese, to countless interviews and hot topics by widely viewed networks – ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX , and of course, ESPN, to award winning podcasts like \u201cThe Pivot,\u201d \u201cJemelle Hill is Unbothered,\u201d  and \u201cJalen Rose Renaissance Man.\u201d<\/em> All have dedicated thought, time, and space to discuss women\u2019s basketball dominated by this newfound fascination with elite, female athletes. Even Shaquille O\u2019Neal, an LSU alum, recently proclaimed this about Angel Reese on his, \u201cThe Big Podcast.\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s probably the greatest athlete to ever come out of LSU sports. You heard it here first. Male and female,\u201d said Shaq. \u201cShe delivered. She delivered that package. See, a lot of us got the package, and we still got the package in our truck. She delivered that package.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us know that it\u2019s not a newfound \u201cphenomenon,\u201d but I will say that we\u2019re in a remarkably interesting time for women\u2019s sports. As a former female athlete that is currently career coaching and advocating for female executives in male-dominated industries and spaces, I feel like we definitely need to ride this wave \u2013 that has morphed into a tsunami \u2013 or a downpour hovering slowly like Hurricane Harvey back in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uh-hum (clearing my throat )\u2026  Now that we have your attention, let\u2019s show you the relevance of the elite, female athlete\u2019s impact lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before we do, let me take a pause right here to remind everyone that right down I-45 in Houston, there WAS a Men\u2019s NCAA Final Four Championship game played one day after the women\u2019s game. Not as well attended\u2026 record low viewership\u2026 but \u201cone shining moment,\u201d nonetheless. Congratulations to UConn men\u2019s basketball for bringing home their fifth national championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shout out to National Champion UConn alum and star point guard, North Minneapolis\u2019 own Khalid El-Amin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, just as soon as we make mention of Connecticut\u2019s win, the relevance of elite, female athlete\u2019s impact has never more evident than when the headline from that story turns the focus back to the women, \u201cCousins win NCAA Championships \u2013 Jordan Hawkins and Angel Reese.\u201d Recently, the pair even shared a surprise reunion on ABC\u2019s Good Morning America during Angel Reese\u2019s in-studio interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I like to call it a \u201ctriple threat,\u201d as a woman, and as a Black woman, and as a tall Black woman, I am a \u201ctriple minority\u201d – living my life having to dispel so many myths and biases. I am grateful for this time in the \u201cmainstream\u201d\u2026 for this opportunity for everyone \u2013 globally – to see us and to realize how absolutely amazing we are – not just as athletes, but as the overachieving, trendsetting, phenomenal, valuable, and culturally enriching members of society that we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do you think elite female athletes are garnering so much attention as of late? Email your thoughts to\u00a0CoachLeah@InsightNews.com<\/a>. For your response, your name will be entered into the Insight News \u2013 Sports\u00a0Grand Prize Drawing<\/strong>. Also, stay on the lookout for the premiere episode\u00a0of \u201cCoachLeah\u2019s After the Whistle\u201d \u2013 The Vodcast.<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey everybody, it\u2019s your homegirl CoachLeahTM! Is it just me that has noticed\u2026 Or is it, for the first time in the history of the world, that women\u2019s basketball – women\u2019s sports in general –  has been dominating media headlines not just in the sports world, but mainstream media. Women\u2019s basketball topics are everywhere I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[519,520,992],"class_list":["post-1846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-espn","tag-ncaa","tag-womens-basketball","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1847,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions\/1847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}