What You Missed This Week in WoSo Social Media
Women’s soccer social media pumps out some great content. From funny to informative and thought provoking to “huh, I didn’t know that,” the content gives a glimpse into the latest happenings around the women’s soccer world. Did you miss any of these social posts over the last two weeks?
Missing the NWSL? Relive it with a Behind-the-Scenes Look
The NWSL Challenge Cup may have just ended, but who already misses it? No worries. Sky Blue’s Nicole Baxter helps us take a trip down memory lane with her behind-the-scenes look at the Bubble in Utah. What’s even cooler is she used a disposable camera. Remember those days of not knowing how your photos turned out until you got them back? Adds to the fun.
Pew, Pew, Pew
In our last social media roundup, we shared a post from Beast Mode Soccer featuring Alex Morgan back on the pitch getting some work in after giving birth to her daughter. This time, it’s Mal Pugh putting in the work. Pugh missed the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup with an injury so it’s great to see her back out on the field training.
COVID-19 Strikes Again
While some conferences (SEC and ACC) have announced they will play a shortened fall schedule, several conferences have said they will not play NCAA Division I fall sports because of COVID-19 – not too surprising but not any less crushing to women’s soccer teams and other fall sports. The Mountain West, Big Ten, MAC, WCC and Pac-12 are among the conferences that have announced there will be no fall season in its traditional form due to COVID-19. Two of those conferences, the Big Ten and Pac-12, had a combined nine teams finish in the top 25 by RPI last season, including the national champion, Stanford. The NCAA also announced there will be no fall championships.
Eye-Opening BBC Sport Survey
BBC Sport recently published the findings of its largest women’s sports study. For those who are connected to and closely follow women’s sports, the results might (sadly) not be too surprising. But sometimes when you see things in print with numbers, stats and data, it can bring about a range of emotions. For example, the survey showed that almost a third of athletes said they have received social media abuse. And 65% of respondents have faced sexism in their sport, but only 10% felt comfortable reporting it. The survey was made up of responses from 360 British sportswomen. This Tweet leads to a thread of the survey responses. It’s an eye-opener and has many saying, “how is all of this still a thing?”
Scurry Book Announced
While some of the details haven’t been shared, 1999 World Cup hero Briana Scurry has announced a book that promises to share her story “both at the top-of-the-world and deepest of darkness.” The forward is written by Robin Roberts, which would indicate we are in for a good read from cover to cover.
Hanging With the Boys
We’ve all heard stories of now-famous women’s soccer players saying they played with boys growing up. Now, the Dutch Football Association has given the OK for 19-year-old Ellen Fokkema to join a men’s team in the country's ninth tier, in the hope of greater women’s participation in the men's game in the future. As you can imagine, the social media comments have come in all shapes and sizes and serve as a reminder to re-read the fourth post in the story from the BBC Sport study about the number of women who are subject to abuse on social media.