On the Right Track: You are a cofounder of the website Women talk sports, which fills a niche with women and sports, can you explain how this founding came to be?
Ann Gaffigan: Shortly after the 2008 Trials, I happened upon a blog called "...Because I Played Sports" written by Megan Hueter. One of her posts talked about Sports Illustrated for Women, which lived a short life in the late 90's/early 00's and how disappointing it was when it stopped coming to her house. I felt the same way. We connected and casually said that one day we would make our own version of a women's sports magazine online.
I became a regular visitor of her blog. One day she posted an interview with Jane Schonberger who started Pretty Tough, a brand and media company aimed at empowering girls and supporting their athletic endeavors. Jane's two daughters were the inspiration for starting the company. There is a fantastic website, book series, and now a video series is in production based on the books.
I was fascinated with what Jane had to say. She talked about that pivotal point in a young girls' life where they are forced to choose between what everyone else is pressuring to do and what you want to do. She wanted to make it cool to be tough so that girls didn't have to make that choice. I related on so many levels - not just from my own experiences but from being a mentor to younger girls as well. I contacted Jane and asked to be a contributor to her site, covering the latest happenings in track & field.
When I moved to California a few months later (October 2008), Jane and I met for lunch and talked about Megan and the three of us working together on a women's sports website. It was Jane's idea to bring all of the sites together that already cover a women's sport or women's issues related to sports. That way we didn't have to start from scratch content-wise. And there were so many fantastic writers out there doing things on their own - what if we brought everyone together in one place, amplifying everyone's voice?
Jane, Megan and I held conference calls (Megan was in DC) and then worked on our pieces of the puzzle and launched on February 1, 2009.2.
OTRT:Oftentimes people complain that women’s sports are not as exciting as men’s sports, how does your website counter that argument?
AG: We counter the argument by covering women's sports. People don't think it's exciting because no one thinks it's worthy of putting on TV. But they don't put it on TV because they think no one cares. And the cycle continues.
We decided to take matters into our own hands. I am more of a women's sports fan every day because of this site. It's no different than men's sports except there's a lot less ego and scandal. In terms of the level of play - does it matter? Can't a high school basketball game be exciting even though NBA players are lightyears ahead of them? You're not watching them play the NBA players, they're playing other high school kids, so it can be a good game regardless of the number of dunks. A "good game" is about the competition more than anything.
Plus, with women's sports, there are so many other factors that come into play - the barriers they faced growing up and trying to find opportunities to play and practice. Taking time off to have a baby and the uphill comeback afterwards. The pressure to pose for men's magazines in order to make yourself known - and along those same lines, the pressure to prove you are "still a woman" even though you're an accomplished athlete. And the list goes on. Women's sports are complicated. The athletes are all different - there's something for everyone it seems.
OTRT: When I talk to other women, it is surprising that many do not support women’s sports and find men’s sports more entertaining, how do you specifically market towards women?
AG: Women don't see other women play sports very often. You have to dig to find it. It's easier to just watch what's in front of you instead of searching for something different.
Personally, what I do is talk about it. I've converted many a friend just by talking about it. "Hey, did you know women's ski jumping is the only sport left to only be in the Olympics for men and not women? The IOC has refused to add it for the women, even though they have a World Championships for it and the international federation has recommended it be added for years." They say "Really? Why? Tell me more." Women don't realize that our work is not done here. Until you come up against a barrier because of gender face-to-face, you don't get it because it hasn't affected you.
On our site, we market to women by working at building a community they can be a part of. If they're already women's sports fans, this is where they can go to get their fill of women's sports. If they don't really care about women's sports yet, we want them to find our site and be intrigued. Our Facebook ads target women ages 18 to 55 who are interested in sports and/or active and healthy lifestyles. A woman who doesn't watch sports but trains for and enters triathlons is going to identify with female athletes. She just might not know it yet! If she finds our site, she will find motivation, inspiration, training information and more.
More importantly, she will find a place where other women like her go. She will find support as well as a place to debate the issues around women in sport. Message boards and the comments sections in mainstream sites, especially sports ones, are notoriously hostile territories for women. They get told by the anonymous male posters to "go back to the kitchen" or something similarly condescending. It's not worth their time.
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