Experiment 3: Female empowerment in sports podcast
Introduction
Growing up as a dancer in a largely female dominated sport, I certainly found it difficult to relate to my friends who played soccer, softball, and lacrosse. I enjoyed my dance studio and the friends I made, but I was always jealous of those high schools that offered a varsity dance team. I always knew that the struggles I faced as a dancer were quite different from my female friends whose sports teams had male counterparts. Though I experienced my fair share of injuries and criticism about dance “not being a sport”, some of the struggles more common to soccer or lacrosse or basketball were rather foreign to me. I vividly remember my friend Sara’s varsity softball team disagreeing with the athletic department about facility use and other policies that were disproportionally enforced for softball but not baseball. I remember my friend Tara’s varsity lacrosse team being barred from traveling far for tournaments when the men’s team flew to Florida that same year.
And as we approach the postponed 2020 Olympic Games, held this summer in Tokyo, it becomes even more pressing to recognize gender inequality in sports. The ongoing NCAA March Madness tournament is a prime example of this gender inequality; while the men’s teams were presented with an elaborate weight room and an extensive goodie bag, the women’s teams were given a few yoga mats and hand weights. And although professional sports leagues today are committing themselves to hiring and placing more women in leadership positions, it’s just as important to recognize the unwavering talent of female athletes everywhere. In evaluating how women in general are portrayed in the media, I am driven to share the stories of female athletes. I believe it is fitting to start in my own backyard given that a school like the University of Michigan has such a presence in NCAA sports.
When most people consider the University of Michigan, they immediately call to mind Michigan Football, Jim Harbaugh, Michigan Basketball, and Juwan Howard; but the University of Michigan’s Athletic Department is so much more. It’s softball coach Carol Hutchins – the winningest coach in University of Michigan history. It’s Naz Hilmon – who set the University of Michigan’s single-game basketball scoring record. Women in sports are too often overlooked despite their success.
It is my hope that by giving female athletes a chance to share their experiences, a younger generation of female athletes will feel empowered in their sport. When Coach Carol Hutchins spoke to my female empowerment in sports organization via Zoom last semester, she told us that the best way for women to support female athletes is to support women’s sports. Beyond just young athletes, I hope that drawing attention to the talented Michigan athletes will inspire all women and sports fans more broadly to support women’s sports as spectators and fans.
Sketch
Should this experiment become a fully realized project, I will record three podcast episodes, each including an interview with a different female athlete from a University of Michigan athletic team. Each of the three podcast episodes will follow the same format, as described below:
Introduction music:
The episode begins with a short clip of energetic music. This will be the same snippet of music for each episode.
Introduction of the female Michigan athlete:
I will briefly give some background on the guest I’ll be interviewing in that episode. This includes the athlete’s name, their sport, major, and any relevant athletic achievements.
Short interview with the athlete:
I will ask each athlete the same series of five questions, but I will tailor each question to the sport. This is meant to be more of a conversation than an interview, so the questions are written rather generally to stimulate conversation.
1. Could you tell me a little bit about your background? How long have you been playing [insert sport], and what drew you to the Michigan [insert women’s sports team]?
2. What is the most common reaction you get when you tell someone you’re on the Michigan [insert sports team], and how do you think it’s different than if a male, for example, were to tell someone he plays for [insert male counterpart sport]?
3. How do you think the athletic department treats you differently than [insert male counterpart sport]?
4. How do you feel empowered as a women in sports? How does your team contribute to this feeling of empowerment?
5. What piece of advice would you give to your younger athlete self?
How to support the team:
Since one of my objectives is to inspire others to support female athletes, I’ll include some information about the athletic team in which the athlete is a member of. This will likely be information about upcoming games and tournaments and how to follow the team in person or via television.
Outro music:
The episode will end with the same short clip of music from the introduction. I intend for each episode to lead into one another with the continuation of the same music.
Sample
On Sunday, March 14th, 2021 I interviewed Lindsey K. – a sophomore on the University of Michigan dance team. Lindsey shed some light on her experience as a member of the dance team along with the some of her own insight as a female athlete. A big thank you to Lindsey for taking the time to speak with me on a Sunday afternoon during midterm season!
Transcript:
LA – Lindsey Aprahamian, interviewer
LK – Lindsey K, interviewee: Michigan Dance Team member
LA: So, could you tell me a little bit about your background, how long you’ve been dancing, and what drew you to the Michigan dance team?
LK: Yeah, so I’ve been dancing since I was two. I grew up at a studio and then I did my high school dance team and that kind of spiraled like everything about dance team for me; and I always kind of knew that if I ever went to Michigan, I would join their dance team because my high school coach actually choreographs for us at Michigan; and so one year I went in with her and I assisted her choreographing. So, if I ever came here, I always knew that I would join.
LA: That’s awesome. So, it feels like there’s a little bit of home here at Michigan?
LK: Yeah, definitely.
LA: So, what would you say is the most common reaction you get when you tell somebody you’re on the Michigan dance team, and how do you think it’s different than if a male, for example, were to tell someone he plays Michigan football or another male dominated sport?
LK: It’s definitely different. People don’t really consider dance a sport and so they always kind of question that we’re under athletics. Not all the time, but that definitely happens. Some people don’t even know that dance team is a thing at this school. Like I’ve gotten a few times people asking, ‘what is that?’. They don’t even know. They think that we’re cheer, but yeah definitely different than if it was a guy. People would probably freak out if it was a football player. But not quite – not the biggest reaction I’d say when people ask about dance team.
LA: I can definitely see how it would be different. And also, I know that the dance team is so instrumental to fostering the game day atmosphere that everybody knows and loves. And seeing as though dance is female dominated, how do you think the athletic department treats you guys differently than football or something like baseball, a male dominated sport?
LK: Yeah, we definitely we don’t get the most love from athletics. Yeah, we don’t get our own facilities. We barely get facilities even during our practice time. Football is so catered to and also football – oh my gosh – we heard that they still get meals and stuff all of this COVID year and all of that for us got taken away. And they, they got so many new clothes and stuff, and those are just material things, but if they were still receiving those and [athletics] couldn’t even pay for our tests this year . . .
LA: That’s crazy to me. Because as a spectator for football games, I love the dance team and I love the cheer team; and I feel like that kind of makes the whole experience. And to hear that it’s so different – like the football male players and the dance team and even I guess the cheer team too – that’s crazy to hear.
LK: Yeah, they, they get a lot. I get that they bring in the most money for the school, but still, it’s insane.
LA: So how do you feel empowered as a women in sports? How does your team or your coach kind of contribute to this feeling of empowerment?
LK: I feel like, well, it kind of helps that we’re all mostly women. We all identify as women. Besides Brendan, and Brendan he is like “power to you guys”. But yeah, I feel empowered at practice. Like everyone has their own voice. And like nobody is more dominating than the other if that makes sense.
LA: It seems like you all kind of uplift each other.
LK: Yes, oh one hundred percent. We all – especially like when we do the dances and stuff – we all cheer each other on. We’re all are always rooting for each other. No one’s ever, ever putting anyone down.
LA: Yeah, I know that growing up in a dance studio too it was always so much love between everybody and you just kind of want to see everybody succeed. So, I can imagine how at a school this big it would feel intensified even so.
LK: Yeah, sometimes it is. It gets a little competitive when – because only 16 people can compete for nationals and we have 27 on our team – so it’s a little bit of tooth and nail to get into the dances; but even if, even if you’re not, everyone is still super supportive of each other.
LA: When is nationals this year?
LK: Um, we’re doing it virtually. Michigan isn’t letting us go. Oh, that’s another thing that athletics isn’t letting us do. Every other team. I have a friend on Ohio State; they get to go. But I think it’s end of April. But we’re – our last filming day – for national is April 18th.
LA: And my last question – unless you wanted to add anything else – is what would be one piece of advice you would want to give your younger athlete self?
LK: That’s a – I have to think about this. I feel like I was a big worrier. On if I was – not that I wouldn’t be good enough – but if I was worried that I wouldn’t get the stuff I want or make the team and stuff. And I feel like I could calm down a little bit. I mean some of the worrying did contribute to me working harder and trying to get better, but I think I could just let my mind be at ease a little bit more. I’d say that I was always super worked up in my head about stuff.
LA: Yeah, I think that even goes for academics too. I look back and think ‘why did I worry so much about that class’ or something, and I can see how in athletics it would be so much more intense – especially with all the competition.
LK: Yeah, because it’s a Big Ten school. Like the Big Ten dance team. It’s huge. So, it’s really scary.