Sabrina Ionescu named Chief Athlete Officer for Oregon-focused NIL company
Sabrina Ionescu has been tapped as the Chief Athlete Officer for Division Street, a venture spearheaded by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and other prominent Oregon alumni that will support name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities for college athletes.
So honored to be involved with Division Street! Call me Chief Athlete Officer from now onđ Go Ducks! https://t.co/87qWMv4LoC
âAs an athlete navigating the world of brand and partnerships myself, I see a real opportunity to provide todayâs college players more professional counsel as they grapple with the new NIL landscape,â Ionescu said. âIâm also very passionate about ensuring diversity in gender and sport, and that will be part of my focus in this new role.â
As a part of her position with Division Street, the New York Liberty star will host quarterly seminars with Oregon student-athletes on her experience as a high-profile basketball player and provide mentorship around potential partnerships.
Ionescu, who recorded the most triple-doubles in NCAA history (menâs and womenâs) during her four-year career, just missed the opportunity to capitalize on NIL rights herself. The guard graduated from Oregon in 2020, a year before the NCAA adopted an interim policy allowing student-athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness.
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WNBA Fan’s Sky-Lynx Livestream Gets 400K Viewers After League Pass Balk
A WNBA League Pass error left fans scrambling to watch Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso make their preseason debuts for the Chicago Sky in Minneapolis on Friday.Â
Despite indicating streaming availability via YouTube before tip-off, the eveningâs game was later removed from the leagueâs platform. With no streaming options â along with no live TV broadcast â WNBA fan Alli Schneider began livestreaming the game on X from her seat inside Target Center. As many as 400,000 people logged on to watch the game live, and by Saturday, the resulting two-hour video had amassed over 2 million total views.Â
In the lead-up to the preseason showdown, fans on both sides voiced frustrations over the WNBA's error. The league apologized in response, saying their app was "incorrectly showing that every preseason game (including CHI vs MIN) is available on League Pass."
"The growth is happening so fast, itâs so accelerated. Business as usual isnât going to work anymore, youâre going to get left behind," Reeve said of the blunder. "This is an example... We have to capitalize on those things."
Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon echoed Reeve's sentiments, calling it "awesome" that so many fans followed along via Schneider's DIY livestream.
"We would love for us to be on and for everyone to take a look, especially for this team, you have a great group of young women who are exciting to watch play," said Weatherspoon. "Tonight we had an opportunity to kind of get a feel for where we are and what we need to do. Itâs awesome to know that a lot of people really tuned in."
On the court, Reese had a near double-double in her first professional outing, notching 13 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes. A viral pass inside to set up fellow rookie Cardoso's bucket served as the icing on the cake. The Sky ultimately lost to the Lynx 92-81, despite Minnesota newcomer Alissa Pili netting just two points and one rebound in 13 minutes of playing time.
Due to overwhelming fan demand, the WNBA confirmed today that it will indeed stream the Sky's next preseason game against the New York Liberty on League Pass. The two teams square off on Tuesday, May 7th at 8 PM ET.
Emma Hruby
May 6, 2024
Caitlin Clark Headlines Promising Rookie Class in WNBA Preseason Action
The Caitlin Clark WNBA era has officially begun, with the star-studded rookie making her preseason debut with the Indiana Fever on Friday.Â
Clark scored a team-leading 21 points â including five threes â and recorded a game-high 16 points at the half. But it was Arike Ogunbowale who got the last word for Dallas, knocking down a splashy buzzer-beating three-pointer in front of the sold-out crowd to deliver the Wings the 79-76 win.
"I think there's gonna be a lot to go back and look at and learn from, because a lot of it is kind of different from college," Clark said shortly after the Fever's loss. "Just from, you know, a technique standpoint or you know, scheme standpoint, and what we do is not always always going to be the same. So I think those are the biggest things, but I think overall, I just played really hard and that's always something to be proud of."
For Clark, the biggest transition challenges lie in WNBA's physicality and talent levels.Â
"No matter who steps into the game, you can never really relax, because thatâs how competitive the league is," she added.
Fever coach Christie Sides also commented on's Clark on-court adjustment in her postgame remarks. Noting that the team will have to take steps to protect their star as she navigates the W's upgraded athleticism, Sides shared that at one point in the game, Clark was "completely gassed" and called for a sub.Â
"We have to do better, we can't let her get to that point," Sides said. "She just won't be able to last and the way people are guarding her â I mean, she's seeing a double team, she's seeing hard hedges, they're being real physical with her. That's how it's going to be for her. And so we've got to make sure we're doing what we can to protect her so she's able to go into fourth at the same level she is in the first."
Clark wasn't the only rookie making their pro debut in Dallas that night. Ohio State ace Jacy Sheldon racked up six points and one rebound in her 13 minutes on the court (plus an unfortunate viral moment), but the breakout performance of the night went to Jaelyn Brown, a Cal grad who went undrafted in 2020 and spent the last few years playing overseas. On Friday, she carried the Wings to the finish line with 21 points in 29 minutes on 7-of-15 shooting.
After the game, Brown attested that she's "ready to compete" in an atmosphere that she "belongs in."
"I just try and treat it as any other game," she continued. "The crowd was amazing, itâs a little different from overseas, a little bit, but itâs the same game. I just [came] out there with a calm composure and did what I can do."
Meredith Heil
May 3, 2024
Decorated Olympic Swimmer Katie Ledecky receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Team USA standout is the most decorated womenâs swimmer in the sportâs history. In addition to her seven Olympic golds, sheâs also won a total of 21 gold medals at the World Championships, the most of any swimmer regardless of gender.
The esteemed award recognizes those who have "made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors," according to a White House press briefing.
Ledecky is one of 19 medal recipients chosen by the Biden administration this year. She joins a class that spans the worlds of politics, sports, film, human rights, religion, and science. Her fellow 2024 awardees include Everything Everywhere All at Once actress Michelle Yeoh, pioneering Hispanic astronaut Dr. Ellen Ochoa, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, plus posthumous winners Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the US, and assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers.Â
"I'm surrounded by so many extraordinary people in so many different fields," Ledecky told Just Women's Sports on Friday. "I feel like I've made a lot of friends today among that group, and their families and their friends."
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe were among 2022âs class of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients. Biles and Rapinoe were the fifth and sixth women athletes to be given the honor, making Ledecky the seventh.
Ledecky said she was surprised to learn how recent it has been that athletes in women's sports have been considered for the honor. Billie Jean King was the first to receive the award in 2009. "That kind of blew my mind that it was that recent," she said.
"There are so many great female athletes that I've looked up to for so many years," she continued. "And I know we're just going to keep pushing ahead, and doing our best to continue to get a seat at every table."
Like Biles, Ledecky receives the Medal of Freedom while she's still actively competing in her sport, a fact not lost on the 27-year-old. "My goals in the pool are to continue to push forward and swim good times, hopefully win some more medals. And then secondly to continue to do good things out of the pool, whether that's inspiring young kids to learn how to swim, get into the sport, set big goals in whatever pursuits they're interested in."
"I've recognized I've had a long career now, and it's important to reflect every now and then. But at the same time, I'm still competing and still working hard into the future."
Claire Watkins
May 2, 2024
Exclusive: Kelley O’Hara announces retirement at end of 2024 NWSL season
After an illustrious career for both club and country, Gotham FC and U.S. Womenâs National Team defender Kelley OâHara announced today via Kelley on the Streetthat she will be retiring from professional soccer at the end of this year, making the 2024 NWSL season her last.
"I have always said I would play under two conditions: that I still love playing soccer, and if my body would let me do it the way I wanted to," OâHara told Just Womenâs Sports in the lead-up to her retirement announcement. "I realized a while back that I was always going to love it, so it was the physical piece that was going to be the deciding factor."
The 35-year-old will retire as a two-time World Cup champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and at least a two-time NWSL champion, depending on where Gotham finishes this season. Her legacy as a player is hard to fully encapsulate, and will forever run through some of the biggest snapshots in USWNT and NWSL history.
In 2012, OâHara played every minute of the USWNTâs Olympic gold medal run, after having recently converted into a defender. Her soaring goal off the bench in the 2015 World Cup semifinal is the stuff of legend. And her return from lingering injury to play in every knockout match of the national teamâs 2019 World Cup win cemented a storybook international career.
It was OâHara who scored the overtime goal in 2021 to earn the Washington Spirit their first-ever NWSL championship, and OâHara who returned to help see Gotham earn a title in 2023 after years spent in the trenches with the clubâs previous iteration, Sky Blue. Her 15-year career spanned two professional womenâs soccer leagues in the U.S. (she earned her first professional title in 2010 with WPSâs FC Gold Pride), as well as sweeping changes to the sport both on and off the pitch.
On the field, OâHara has always been known for a motor that never quits, making the right flank her domain in attacking possession and defensive transition. In recent years, sheâs also been celebrated for a competitive fire that raises the level of her teammates, whether sheâs in the starting XI or supporting from the bench.
But injuries take a toll, a reality not always seen by the fans watching from home. "I've never taken anything for granted, and I feel like I've never coasted either," OâHara said of her late-career success in the NWSL despite battling injuries. "I've always been like, 'I gotta put my best foot forward every single day I step on this field' â which is honestly probably half the reason why I'm having to retire now as opposed to getting a couple more years out of it. I've just grinded hard."
Recently, OâHara has been sidelined at Gotham with ankle and knee injuries, and the situation motivated her to really prioritize listening to her body. "To get injured and come back, and get injured and come back, and just keep doing it, it really takes a toll on you.
"People don't see the doubt that's associated with injury,â she continued. "As athletes we feel a certain way, we perform a certain way, our body feels a certain way, we're very in tune with our bodies. And there's always so much doubt surrounding injury. Itâs like, 'Can I feel the way I felt before?' The reality is sometimes you don't."
OâHara didnât arrive at the decision to move on from her playing career lightly. But once she began seriously considering making 2024 her final year during the last NWSL offseason, it felt right. "Once I was like, 'Alright, you know what, this will be my last year,' I have had a lot of peace with it," she said. "Truly the only thing I felt was gratitude for everything that my career has been, all the things I've been able to do and the people I've been able to do it with."
She said sheâll miss daily interactions with her teammates and all the amazing memories theyâve created, though she feels lucky to have formed relationships that go beyond sharing a locker room. "You're basically getting to hang out and just shoot the shit with your best friends every day," she reflected. "Which is so unheard of, and I just feel very lucky to do it for so long."
The Stanford graduate also mentioned that the NWSLâs suspension of regular season play in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic made her realize how much playing allowed her the space to simply be creative every day. The tactical elements of soccer provided OâHara an outlet for problem solving and made use of her naturally competitive edge.
Sheâs now gearing up to channel her on-field intensity into her post-playing career full time, which is a new chapter sheâs excited to begin. "I don't know if the world's ready for it, like the fact that I'm not going to be putting all of my energy into football all the time," she said with a laugh.
"I just feel like I have a lot of passions, and things that excite me," she says. "And I do want to stay as close as I can to the game, because I feel a responsibility â and I'm not sure in what capacity â to continue to grow it."
A sense of responsibility to grow the game has been a consistent refrain for the USWNT and NWSL players of OâHaraâs era, who ushered in a new age of equal pay for the national team and collectively bargained protections for those in the league. The landscape for new players looks different than it did 14 years ago, in large part due to this pivotal generation.
"I feel an immense sense of pride around that, because I don't know if any of us knew that was gonna happen," she said. "We kind of, as things unfolded, took the next step towards changing what women's football looks like in this country and around the world.
"I'm really grateful to have been part of this era with the players that I was [with], not backing down and pushing and knowing that was the right thing to do."
Whatever the future holds, OâHara is going ahead full throttle. Itâs a piece of advice sheâd also give to the next generation of professionals looking to make their own impact.
"Whatever you do in life, do it because you love it, and the chips will fall in place," she said. "If you love something, you're willing to do what it takes. You're willing to make the sacrifices, you're willing to handle the roller coaster.
"To me, it's simple. Don't do it for any other reason but that, and I think you'll be alright."