But, through these changes, the league's mission is clear: it is In the opening game between New York Liberty and Seattle Storm, for example, all players returned to their locker rooms during the anthem and stood for 26 seconds of silence in honour of Taylor, The WNBA and the players' union, the Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), also launched the The women addressed comments made by Sen. Kelly Loeffler, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, who, in a letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, had They seek support from sponsors, the NBA, and fans alike.
In this moment of national reckoning, WNBA players are making sports history by dedicating the WNBA’s entire 2020 season to social justice. As of Friday, April 17, Ogwumike, a 5’9” guard from Rice University, is the Minnesota Lynx’s newest draft acquisition and is about to embark on her own WNBA career.
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Save Your Favorites Now. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Join Young Leaders to Talk About Racial Injustice and Equal Rights Read Sue Bird and Nneka Ogwumike's op-ed on the WNBA's mission to fight racial injustice. Every athlete has a unique role to play in setting goals, overcoming failure, and nurturing both individual and collective progress. But none of this is new—and it has little to do with politics.When your humanity and your most basic rights are on the line every day, activism becomes a fact of life.
For instance, the United States Women’s National Basketball Team is both one of the winningest teams in Olympic history and among the most dominant in all of sports. "That's a lot more than fandom," they conclude. This explains why activism has always been part of our DNA: because, by simply existing in spaces that weren’t built for us, women athletes are doing something revolutionary.For WNBA players like us, it presents an opportunity to represent ourselves—on the world stage—as we’ve always been. "As athletes, we need organisations and team owners that respect us — and represent us — for who we are.
We are Black and brown women. By using our platform to shine a light on injustice, presenting a tangible example of strong allyship, and contributing to what’s become the largest social movement in American history, we aspire to instill change that ripples far beyond the WNBA.Every player in the league understands how competing on the basketball court—and having that effort celebrated—can break down the toxic ways in which society genders girls and women.
Even today, just four percent of sports media and less than one percent of sports sponsorship spending is devoted to women in sports—despite the fact that women so often equal or outperform men who play the same sports.
The 2020 WNBA season began on Saturday, July 25, with some changes in light of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: games would be held without fans at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, or, as the teams call it, "the bubble." We’re declaring that Black Lives Matter, wearing Breonna Taylor’s name on our jerseys, and showing up for the forgotten victims of police brutality and racial violence.It wasn’t so long ago that the simple act of a woman participating in sports was considered radical. British Gymnasts Speak Out About Physical and Emotional Abuse Within the Sport Cannabis, medi, Medi Co, Megan Rapinoe, News, Nneka Ogwumike. Birth Announcements Everyone is, of course, entitled to their own views about what this moment of reckoning means for our society. As women, we need allyship to extend beyond women with powerful platforms to include Most of all, we need fans who show up for us with intentionality—the same way the WNBA, and women in sports more broadly, have shown up for so many others over the years.If you believe in the changes that are sweeping across America in this moment, the larger movement they represent, or the importance of raising all kids to see girls as powerful, strong, and capable, our message is simple: we need your support. It’s no coincidence that 94% of female C-suite executives played sports as teenagers.
It’s feminism in action.