It’s a good day to be a women’s sports fan.
Today, Just Women’s Sports is launching a creative refresh and website overhaul that makes it easier than ever to follow your favorite leagues, teams and athletes in women’s sports. Together, these changes represent the most significant creative and technical investments made by JWS since its inception three years ago.
What can you expect from the new and improved website experience?
We have a new look. The company’s new identity includes a redesigned logo, color palette, and typography system meant to mirror the bold, energetic spirit that embodies the JWS brand. The design is woven into the fabric of the website and is built to adapt across JWS content, merch, events and more.
We have an upgraded homepage. Catch up on breaking news and the biggest stories in women’s sports with one click; move seamlessly between top leagues, teams and tournaments; and create your own adventure with new reading and discovery features.
We have statistics. Finding the stats of your favorite women’s sports just got a whole lot easier. Follow season stat leaders in real time, review historical stat lines, and compare player and team performances all in one place.
We have schedules and standings. Keep up with the game times and playoff races of your favorite leagues through sports-specific homepages.
Plus so much more. Our featured sports now include women’s college basketball, international soccer and the Women’s World Cup. Read the latest news and analysis, and watch games through live links on our schedule pages.
We know women’s sports fans have long been waiting for it, and here it is: the most comprehensive media platform ever dedicated to the leagues, teams and athletes we all love.
There’s never been a better time to be a women’s sports fan.
And we’re still just getting started.
The third season of Snacks has arrived, with Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams discussing everything from their journey to Kansas City, to the injuries that have kept them sidelined so far this NWSL season.
In the first episode of the new season, Williams opens up about the season-ending hamstring injury she suffered at the start of the Challenge Cup that required surgery. After tearing her labrum in college, Williams says she has been dealing with pain in both her hip and her hamstring for the past eight years. During a preseason practice, she went to make a play when she felt a pop, tearing her hamstring.
“They said that my tendon has probably been hanging off slightly for the past couple of years and it was too much,” Williams says.
The forward went on to play 81 minutes in the Current’s Challenge Cup opener, assisting on their lone goal in a 1-1 draw with Racing Louisville FC. Over a week later, Kansas City announced Williams would miss the remainder of the season with a right leg injury.
Williams tells Mewis that she will be back and “hopefully better than ever” for the Current and the United States women’s national team, which will vie for 2023 World Cup qualification at the CONCACAF W Championship this summer.
Mewis, meanwhile, has been slow to return from her own lingering injuries. The 29-year-old midfielder underwent arthroscopic surgery on her right knee last August and has yet to play in a game for her new NWSL team. Kansas City acquired Mewis and Williams in separate trades with the North Carolina Courage during the offseason, and even without them, advanced to the semifinals of the Challenge Cup after winning the Central Division.
“It has been so fun to see the team do so well,” Mewis says. “It’s a new team, but we’ve had some success early on and it’s been awesome to be a part of.”
“Obviously we would love to be a part of the team in a different way,” Williams adds. “But I will say that it has been nice being hurt with a close friend, if I had to be hurt.”
Mewis says she has been helping Williams during her recovery, including putting on her sock and taking out her trash.
“That’s my love language,” Mewis says.
You can catch the full first episode of Snacks Season 3 here. And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.
Just Women’s Sports has officially launched “The Players’ Pod,” an expansion of the “Just Women’s Sports Podcast” hosted by two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist Kelley O’Hara.
“We are officially retiring the ‘Just Women’s Sports Podcast’ name, and in its place, we are relaunching as ‘The Players’ Pod,'” O’Hara announced on a Special Episode with Just Women’s Sports CEO and founder Haley Rosen.
O’Hara will bring her signature one-on-one, in-depth interviews to the newly minted show, adopting a similar format to JWS’ inaugural podcast.
Along with a new name, “The Players’ Pod” will also feature new guests, expanding beyond athletes to coaches, managers, investors and more in the women’s sports world, all sharing the untold stories behind their success. The podcast’s debut episode Thursday will feature San Diego Wave FC president Jill Ellis, the former head coach of the United States women’s national team.
“I’ve always wanted to be able to bring in more than just athletes, more than just the players … I wanted to be able to bring other people in the space of women’s sports,” O’Hara says.
Rosen says the show’s original premise — to tell the often-neglected stories of women’s athletes — was designed to be adaptable. Since the podcast’s launch in 2020, the women’s sports space has changed exponentially, allowing the show to evolve with the coverage.
“I think we’ve outgrown it,” Rosen says. “This rebrand lets us go bigger, it lets us do more.”
While listeners can expect O’Hara’s typical candor and comprehensive conversations with athletes like Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East, who headlines the newest season, the show will also include interviews with the likes of Ellis. The two-time World Cup champion sits down with O’Hara to discuss her tenure at the helm of the national team and her foray into running a front office in the NWSL.
You can listen to O’Hara’s conversation with Ellis when the debut episode of “The Players’ Pod” releases at 7 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Five years ago, I was a mainstay in Washington, D.C.-area high school wrestling rooms.
I was not a wrestler but a reporter, on scene to chronicle the growing number of girls taking up the sport. There were no girls’ teams at the time, so the students were made to compete alongside their male classmates, and with their bright clothes and ponytails, they stuck out amid the hyper-masculine environment of grunts and expressionless faces.
Now girls’ wrestling is booming in the United States, with 32 states holding sanctioned championships. Much like aspiring basketball, soccer, volleyball and lacrosse players, a whole generation of aspiring female wrestlers are learning they can experience their dreams.
That’s a powerful feeling for a teenager to have, and it’s part of why I’m so excited to lead Just Women’s Sports’ new high school sports vertical, JWS Next. I’ve covered college football and basketball national championship games and MLB postseason races, but there is something special about high school sports. It’s at this level where future stars are born, and we’ll be telling the stories of these athletes before they become household names.
We’ve already started to publish stories that bring readers beyond the box scores and into the lives of the athletes at the top of their craft. Our focus will be on basketball, soccer and volleyball, but you can expect content from across the sports spectrum.
We take pride in our weekly rankings, which have already debuted for basketball and will continue with soccer and volleyball. We have our eyes on the national sports scene, reflected in our Player of the Week awards recognizing the very best across the country. And our features and profiles shed light on the lives of the athletes at the center of the high school sports world.
@justwomenssports destined for greatness @laurenbetts51 🔥 #JWSNextxUnderArmour @_nashley911 ♬ original sound - Just Women’s Sports
Our coverage extends to TikTok, where we break down some of the best players and teams in the country even further. On Instagram, we give athletes more of the spotlight they deserve.
In the coming weeks and months, you can expect more of everything as we dive deeper and deeper into the national high school sports scene. We hope you’ll follow along as we continue this journey.
Josh Needelman is the High School Sports Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JoshNeedelman.
First Episode Features In-Depth Interview with Basketball Legend Lisa Leslie
January 10, 2022 — WNBA icon, Olympian and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley has joined the podcast lineup for Just Women’s Sports (JWS), the leading multimedia platform exclusively dedicated to women’s sports, with the launch of NETLIFE, presented by Flame Bearers. The 12-episode audio offering is available every Wednesday through the NCAA basketball season, and will feature discussion on hoops, leadership, politics, and pop culture in addition to in-depth interviews with sports luminaries and trailblazers. WNBA legend Lisa Leslie joins Staley for the debut episode.
“We’re really excited to kick off 2022 with the launch of Dawn Staley’s NETLIFE podcast,” said Haley Rosen, Founder and CEO of Just Women’s Sports. “Dawn is an icon in and outside of sports, and we’re excited to work with her to share her voice and perspective.”
“I’m thrilled to be launching NETLIFE with Just Women’s Sports,” said Staley. “This team is incredibly talented and I’m looking forward to working with them to deliver meaningful interviews with individuals who have influenced my life, in hopes of inspiring listeners.”
In NETLIFE’s first episode, Staley and Leslie recount their early days playing basketball together for Team USA. They also discuss Leslie’s experience playing in the inaugural WNBA season, having children as a professional athlete, and how she’s used her platform to impact change
Alexys Feaster serves as Executive Producer of NETLIFE and Ambre Moton is Technical Producer.
JWS Audio Network Expansion
NETLIFE is the fourth offering in a JWS audio lineup focused on discussion and opinion on topics in and around the game. In 2021, JWS posted a +106% increase in composite downloads of its four podcasts dedicated to women’s sports. The industry-leading audio network includes the Just Women’s Sports podcast hosted by USWNT star Kelley O’Hara, which launched at #1 in Sports on Apple podcasts, Snacks, a podcast co-hosted by USWNT stars Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams, which debuted at #5 in Sports on Apple, and is home to Tea with A & Phee, the popular podcast hosted by 2020 WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year Napheesa Collier.
MEDIA CONTACT
Rachel Zuckerman, 610-724-5078, [email protected]
About Just Women’s Sports Inc.
Established in 2020, Just Women’s Sports Inc. is the leading multimedia platform exclusively dedicated to women’s sports. Through daily content including podcasts, newsletters, online content and social media, Just Women’s Sports brings you everything you need to see and know in the world of women’s sports. Find Just Women’s Sports online, subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
About Dawn Staley
As a player, Staley brought home three Olympic gold medals and returned from Tokyo this past summer with her fourth as she coached Team USA to its seventh consecutive win. Staley’s storied career began in North Philadelphia, where she grew up, before playing collegiately at the University of Virginia and then professionally in both the ABL and the WNBA. In the WNBA, Staley played for the Charlotte Sting and Houston Comets, making five All Star appearances. In 2015, she was recognized by the WNBA in their ‘Top 15’ list of most influential players in the league’s history.
Her coaching career began at Temple in 2000, while she was still playing in the WNBA. In 2008, she was named the head coach at South Carolina, and in 2017, she led the Gamecocks to the program’s first-ever national championship. Staley’s many accolades include being the first player to earn both the Naismith Player of the Year award and the Naismith Coach of the Year award. As a coach, she has twice been named the National Coach of the Year, in 2014 and 2020. Staley was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
About Flame Bearers
Flame Bearers celebrates the journeys of unsung female Olympians & Paralympians on their paths to the Games. Flame Bearers spotlights the people, sharing athletes’ often unheard stories and provides a microphone for women who are true masters of resiliency. Through storytelling, Flame Bearers uses sport as a vehicle to discuss issues such as racial justice, disability bias, and pay equity. This podcast addresses hope and the belief that we are not alone by sharing inspiring stories of athletes who have overcome countless obstacles to reach their goals. Listen to Flame Bearers wherever you get your podcasts.
“The Warm Up” on TikTok LIVE to be co-hosted by former USWNT stars Leslie Osborne and Angela Hucles on-site in Louisville
November 16, 2021 — Just Women’s Sports will produce a live preview show exclusively on TikTok LIVE ahead of the NWSL Championship Game. The Warm Up, co-hosted by former U.S. Women’s National Team stars Leslie Osborne and Angela Hucles, will begin at 10:45 am ET on Saturday, November 20.
In addition, JWS will partner with Nike to provide comprehensive NWSL coverage and analysis in the lead-up to the Championship, which fans can find exclusively on JWS channels. Throughout the playoffs, Osborne has served as Just Women’s Sports’ NWSL playoffs correspondent and analyst, breaking down pre-game expectations, in-game play, and post-game reaction via Instagram Live.
Osborne and Hucles will be on the ground at Lynn Family Stadium to co-host The Warm Up, providing fans with crucial insights and analysis before the Chicago Red Stars and the Washington Spirit take to the field. Osborne, an entrepreneur and soccer analyst, and Hucles, the Vice President of Player Development and Operations for Angel City FC and soccer analyst, were both key members of the USWNT, contributing to a combined two World Cups and two Olympic games and at the club level, played critical roles in establishing the NWSL.
Beyond The Warm Up, JWS, in partnership with Nike, will deliver full comprehensive coverage of the Championship game, dispatching a cross-channel team to cover the match on-site including live reporting and social media coverage exclusively on JWS’s properties. On-air coverage will continue after the match on Instagram Live with Osborne’s post-game commentary hosted by Just Women’s Sports.
Just Women’s Sports’ live programming around the playoffs and Championship game marks a pivotal expansion of the platform’s sports coverage as the rapidly growing media company continues to deliver on its mission to give these world class athletes the coverage they deserve and to make it easier for fans to find it.
“Our live NWSL Championship coverage is a significant moment for us as we continue to build an in-depth and substantial media ecosystem for women’s sports while partnering with major brands such as TikTok and Nike,” said Haley Rosen, Founder and CEO, Just Women’s Sports. “I firmly believe that for women’s sports to grow, fans need coverage that matches the hype created by these incredible athletes. The Warm Up, and all of our NWSL Championship coverage, is a significant step forward in showing that these marquee games create the same excitement as other sporting events.”
“I’m so excited to be part of the Just Women’s Sports 2021 NWSL Championship coverage. I believe so much in their mission to provide in-depth coverage of women’s sports. The NWSL continues to grow leaps and bounds with savvy fans who are looking for creative coverage, the social experience and the vibe that JWS brings as a media platform,” said Osborne. “The best part is that I get to do it alongside my former teammate, fellow broadcaster, entrepreneur, and mom, Angela Hucles.”
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to reunite with Leslie and work with Just Women’s Sports as part of their NWSL Championship coverage,” said Hucles. “I’m a big believer in JWS’ mission and am proud to be a part of their effort to create a much-needed platform for female athletes and fans alike.”
Launched in 2020 by Rosen, Just Women’s Sports provides news and analysis of women’s sports through exclusive interviews, podcasts, videos, and other media content, and has quickly grown a passionate audience of fans, followers, and listeners. In addition to its Just Women’s Sports podcast hosted by USWNT star Kelley O’Hara, JWS recently launched Snacks, a podcast co-hosted by USWNT stars Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams, and is home to Tea with A & Phee, the popular podcast hosted by 2020 WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year Napheesa Collier. JWS also features Off the Ball hosted by Olympian and NWSL star Ali Riley, and created The Soccer Show, a first-of-its-kind digital weekly highlights-driven show covering the FA Women’s Super League (FA WSL) through an exclusive premium content partnership with Ata Football.
In May, Just Women’s Sports announced it had raised $3.5 million in seed funding, led by Will Ventures with participation from Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures, Drive by DraftKings, OVO Fund, Supernode Global as well as an all-star roster of women’s sports superstars including Elena Delle Donne, Hilary Knight, Sam Mewis, Kelley O’Hara and Arike Ogunbowale.
MEDIA CONTACT
Rachel Zuckerman, 610-724-5078, [email protected]
About Just Women’s Sports Inc.
Established in 2020, Just Women’s Sports Inc. is a digital-first consumer media brand 100% dedicated to covering women’s sports. Through daily content including podcasts, newsletters, online content and social media, Just Women’s Sports brings you everything you need to see and know in the world of women’s sports. Find Just Women’s Sports online, subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
About Leslie Osborne
Leslie Osborne, is an entrepreneur and sports broadcaster, having covered the FIFA Women’s World Cups in 2015 and 2019 for Fox Sports, and was a member of the US Women’s National Team from 2004 to 2008. During the 2007 World Cup, Osborne was a central piece of the USWNT’s midfield, starting and playing a full 90-minutes in all but one of the tournament’s games. In addition to her international career, Osborne played professionally for the Boston Breakers and the Chicago Red Stars. Osborne won an NCAA title at Santa Clara University and as a senior, received the Honda Sports Award – a recognition of her stellar performance as a female college athlete.
About Angela Hucles
Angela Hucles, the Vice President of Player Development and Operations for Angel City FC and soccer analyst, was a member of the US Women’s National Team from 2002 to 2009, winning two Olympic gold medals over the span of her career as well as two third place World Cup finishes. Hucles played for the Boston Breakers and was the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s 2009 Humanitarian of the Year. Prior to her professional career, Hucles played at the University of Virginia where she still holds the record for game winning goals.
For the nearly 20 months Cindy Parlow Cone has been president of U.S. Soccer, the sport has been heading toward multiple inflection points. While the U.S. men’s national team tries to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and find stability before playing host to the 2026 tournament, the women’s national team has been in an ongoing and very public legal battle with the federation over equal pay.
All of that is hanging over negotiations with the men’s and women’s player associations for new collective bargaining agreements. For the USWNT, that deadline is approaching quickly, with their current CBA set to expire at the end of the year.
As those proceedings unfold, Wednesday provided a jolt of positivity.
U.S. Soccer announced it has reached a long-term agreement with Nike to extend its partnership that began in 1995. The deal, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023 once the current contract ends, marks the largest commercial agreement in U.S. Soccer history and one of the largest investments in soccer globally. While specific terms were not provided, a pillar of the partnership is the growth of the women’s game, an issue that is dear to Parlow Cone’s heart.
“They’re just top class in marketing and they’re a global brand, and their values and vision just align perfectly with ours here at U.S. Soccer,” Parlow Cone told Just Women’s Sports.
“The men’s game has continued to grow at a steady pace, but I feel like the women’s game is poised for exponential growth, and with that, commercial growth for the organizations as well as the players themselves. I think we’re at a point in time where we can quite literally invest in the women’s game to help change the world for the better.”
Parlow Cone played for the USWNT from 1995-2006, winning two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup with the 1999 team that helped change the trajectory of women’s soccer in the U.S.
Now 43 and years removed from the sideline, she believes her history with the program has allowed her to connect with the players in a way previous administrations might not have been able to. Carlos Cordeiro, Parlow Cone’s predecessor, resigned in March, 2020 amid intense scrutiny over U.S. Soccer’s handling of the USWNT equal pay lawsuit. In court filings, the federation argued that women “do not perform equal work” based on the physical differences between men and women.
“They know that I’m not a politician … and I get where they’re coming from,” Parlow Cone said. “And I understand that, in the end, we’re on the same team. Everyone at U.S. soccer wants the women to continue to be the best in the world and to win every day. So I think there’s a solution there, and I’m hopeful that we can come to it sooner rather than later.”
On Sept. 10, Parlow Cone penned an open letter to the unions of the men’s and women’s national teams asking them to reach an agreement that would allow the USWNT to earn the same FIFA World Cup prize money as the USMNT. Currently, the financial discrepancy between the men’s and women’s World Cups is gaping: FIFA awarded $400 million to the 32 teams at the 2018 men’s World Cup and $30 million to the 24 teams at the 2019 women’s tournament.
“We want to find a way to equalize the World Cup prize money, and we can get creative on how that happens,” Parlow Cone said. “But until FIFA actually equalizes their own prize money, I would love for the men’s team and the women’s team to come together with U.S. Soccer to find a solution.”
Since releasing her letter, Parlow Cone said the men’s and women’s teams haven’t had discussions together with U.S. Soccer. At the time, the USWNT Players Association criticized the federation’s plan to make equal contract proposals to the USWNT and USMNT, calling it one of their “PR stunts” as tensions escalated on social media.
“We continue to have discussions with both teams in parallel,” Parlow Cone said. “Our goal is still to come to one agreement, but the only way that can happen is if we all get into the same room together.”
Parlow Cone said she is hopeful that U.S. Soccer will reach new CBAs with the teams and solve the USWNT litigation outside of court by the end of the year, even as the holidays threaten to slow down negotiations.
“My ideal vision is for FIFA to equalize not only the World Cup prize money, but to equalize their investment in the women’s and girls’ game,” she said. “It’s a broader vision for me than just solving the litigation — although I would love to just solve the litigation, too. But until FIFA equalizes it, it’s up to us. And by us, I mean U.S. Soccer, the women’s team and the men’s team coming together to find a solution.”
Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.
Skylar Diggins-Smith is going public.
The Phoenix Mercury guard announced a partnership with Public on Tuesday in an effort to bring to the forefront conversations about women’s pay equity, investing and money and help level the playing field off the court.
Diggins-Smith has long been an advocate for women’s sports, speaking out about the wage gap between the WNBA and the NBA and protections for athletes who are mothers. Diggins-Smith, 31, says her experience in the WNBA has been key to her financial literacy and understanding of investing.
Now, she wants to share that insight with others.
“My fellow players and I have thought a lot and spoken up about improving our pay equity,” she told Just Women’s Sports. “But I realized this is an important conversation to have off the court and outside of the sports world as well. Investing in the public markets can be a great way to build generational wealth, and women, and especially women of color, statistically invest less than men.”
As part of the partnership, Diggins-Smith will share her perspectives with the Public community through the company’s website, Public.com. She’ll also appear in a special edition of Public Live, the company’s live audio broadcast, to speak about her journey to the WNBA and her passion for helping women build wealth, both within and outside of the WNBA.
In conjunction with the announcement, Public is giving away free stock for fans of Diggins-Smith who start a portfolio on the platform and begin their investing journeys.
Diggins-Smith is partnering with Public partly because their community of investors is already diverse: Of the platform’s 1 million investors, 40 percent are women and 45 percent are people of color. She hopes to build on that foundation and help more women of color invest for the long term.
“It’s not about the quick financial wins. In the WNBA, we don’t make millions upfront,” she said. “I’ve been lucky to play with other inspiring women — small business owners, entrepreneurs, and women who have shared their own financial journeys and advice with me. I certainly lean on that network to continue learning and building my own financial literacy.”
In addition to her work within the Public community, Diggins-Smith will serve as an advisor to Public’s One Team, a program recently launched for NCAA student-athletes. The service brings financial literacy tools and training to student-athletes as they navigate the NCAA’s new interim policy allowing them to profit off of their name, image and likeness.
“The NIL opportunities are really exciting for student-athletes,” said Diggins-Smith, a former standout player at Notre Dame. “I wish I’d had that back in the day. I think it can be a great way for them to take ownership at a much earlier age and invest in their futures.
“The tough thing is navigating it all, but I am excited to share my own perspective as a college player who went pro through Public’s One Team program.”
Diggins-Smith’s profile and her financial literacy advice is available through Public’s app under @skylardigginssmith.
SLAM, one of the most prolific basketball storytelling brands of the past 27 years, announced Wednesday the launch of the first-ever WSLAM Magazine.
While SLAM has long told the stories of the top women’s players in the game, WSLAM will have 82 pages dedicated to the very best of women’s basketball. The magazine builds off of the success of the WSLAM vertical that launched in 2019 and now draws an online audience of 300,000 readers.
“We always had a vision of wanting to do a magazine, especially because SLAM is so cemented in the print world,” said WSLAM director Camille Buxeda. “Just in two years we were able to make that happen, so it’s been a really exciting year.”
“Our WSLAM vertical has been creating and curating amazing women’s basketball content for two years, and we’re incredibly excited to add an annual print magazine to that content slate,” Adam Figman, Chief Content Officer of SLAM, said in a release. “The magazine is filled front to back with amazing and important women’s hoops stories, and the issue is the first of a franchise that we hope continues for many years.”
SLAM’s print subscribers will receive the magazine for free. The special issue will also be available for purchase on SLAM’s ecommerce site, slamgoods.com, for $8.99. SLAM will use the same production, design and sales resources allocated to its magazine issues for WSLAM.
The goal is for WSLAM to become the one-stop shop for everything women’s basketball and culture. Buxeda has already seen a growing interest in SLAM’s women’s high school and college coverage, with many continuing to follow top recruits like Paige Bueckers as they transition to the NCAA level.
“These are superstars in the making,” Buxeda said of the high school athletes. “I think [our coverage] really allows audiences and new basketball lovers to understand who the next ones to watch are because, in the end, that’s the fandom that’s going to transfer.”
But first, the inaugural WSLAM Magazine will focus on telling the stories of players in the WNBA at the intersection of culture and basketball.
From a look into Tina Charles’ incredible season to a review of the Houston Comets paving the way for some of the best in women’s basketball, WSLAM highlights many of the most important moments in the WNBA’s 25-year history. The magazine also emphasizes stories that go beyond player statistics, including the WNBA’s role within social justice movements.
“It’s a little bit different from what I would say SLAM normally does, which is really focus on the now,” Buxeda said. “This is an homage to the past while looking to the present and future.”
“You gotta start somewhere,” Chicago Sky guard Diamond DeShields said. “I think that we do a very good job of paying homage to those that came before us. I wish that they would’ve gotten to experience this, and then I’m sure the next generation is gonna look at us and be like, ‘Dang, I wish they would’ve gotten to experience what we have.’ It’s just about the role they played, being the first.”
While the magazine may focus on the WNBA’s past, its cover features three present and future stars: DeShields, Arike Ogunbowale and Betnijah Laney.
“They really represent the faces of the next 25 years,” Buxeda said.
The players also recognize the importance of honoring those who came before them.
“They definitely paved the way for us,” Laney said. “To find ways to pay homage any way that we can … I think as we continue to evolve, we want to make sure that everybody knows what they did for the game, what we’ll do for the game and what that will mean to the players in the future to keep having the league evolve.”
Just as today’s WNBA players build on the past, Buxeda hopes that WSLAM’s print edition will inspire the next generation of women’s basketball stars.
“I think it connects people a little bit more than just reading it on a screen,” she said. “It’s a physical copy and representation that young girls can really put on their walls and say, ‘I want to be on the cover of WSLAM one day.’”
+244% Increase in Daily Page views Among Many Highlights
August 10, 2021 — Just Women’s Sports, the fastest growing media platform for women’s sports, delivered on its promise in a big way while covering its first Olympic Games, generating massive increases in website traffic and social media engagement.
In all, Just Women’s Sports posted nearly 400 original articles throughout the Olympic Games, including profiles, news, results, and analysis, resulting in a +244% increase in daily page views for its website. In addition, JWS saw a +218% increase in engagement on Instagram and +106% on Twitter while adding 10,000 new followers across Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook. Notably, more than 40% of the site’s traffic during the Olympics came from search engines, indicating that Just Women’s Sports was creating content for which fans were actively looking.
In addition to its news and analysis of the Olympics, Just Women’s Sports constantly kept its viewer guide updated so fans knew exactly when and where to watch the action, while also creating original video content including its Best Seat in the House series, which brought fans exclusive access inside the homes of the families of Allisha Gray, Chelsea Gray, Megan Rapinoe and A’ja Wilson as they watched their loved ones compete on the world’s biggest stage.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how our team stepped up and worked literally around the clock to cover its first Olympics. But it’s now our goal to make sure fans don’t have to wait another four years to hear about these amazing female athletes,” said Haley Rosen, CEO and Founder of Just Women’s Sports. “For us, the end of the Olympics means it’s now time to get pumped about the WNBA and NWSL playoffs, the Paralympics, the US Open and all the other great women’s sports content on the horizon. And we’re going to continue to follow all the great athletes that just became household names in Tokyo.”
Launched in 2020 by Rosen, Just Women’s Sports provides news and analysis of women’s sports through exclusive interviews, podcasts, videos, and other media content, and has quickly grown a passionate audience of fans, followers, and listeners. In addition to its Just Women’s Sports podcast hosted by USWNT star Kelley O’Hara, JWS recently launched Snacks, a podcast co-hosted by USWNT stars Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams, and is home to Tea with A & Phee, the popular podcast hosted by 2020 WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year Napheesa Collier. Earlier this year, JWS also featured Off the Ball hosted by Olympian and NWSL star Ali Riley, and also created The Soccer Show, a first-of-its-kind digital weekly highlights-driven show covering the FA Women’s Super League (FA WSL) through an exclusive premium content partnership with Ata Football.
In May, Just Women’s Sports announced it had raised $3.5 million in seed funding, led by Will Ventures with participation from Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures, Drive by DraftKings, OVO Fund, Supernode Global as well as an all-star roster of women’s sports superstars including Elena Delle Donne, Hilary Knight, Sam Mewis, Kelley O’Hara and Arike Ogunbowale.
MEDIA CONTACT
Rachel Zuckerman, 610-724-5078, [email protected]
About Just Women’s Sports Inc.
Established in 2020, Just Women’s Sports Inc. is a digital-first consumer media brand 100% dedicated to covering women’s sports. Through daily content including podcasts, newsletters, online content and social media, Just Women’s Sports brings you everything you need to see and know in the world of women’s sports. Find Just Women’s Sports online, subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.