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A guide to the Just Women’s Sports podcast (so far)

The Just Women’s Sports podcast has featured plenty of stars since its July 2020 debut, with host Kelley O’Hara of the USWNT talking to some of the world’s biggest athletes about the secrets behind their success.

Season four of the Just Women’s Sports podcast launches this week, making now a good time to catch up on the highlights from the first 32 episodes. While every episode has its share of behind-the-scenes moments and unexpected revelations, below is a guide to some of the most compelling moments on the Just Women’s Sports podcast so far:

Best behind the scenes scoop: Nneka Ogwumike talks WNBA bubble

Nneka Ogwumike stopped by the Just Women’s Sports podcast back in December 2020, giving listeners a behind-the-scenes look into how the WNBA bubble came to fruition. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t easy.

As the WNBA Players Association President, Ogwumike was a part of every conversation. Only months after signing a historic CBA, Ogwumike had to help re-configure a season on the fly.

“It was a hot mess,” she tells O’Hara, “and I mean that in the most respectful way.”

As the country was still adapting to its new normal amidst Covid, “No one knew what they were doing,” Ogwumike remembers. The WNBA star says trying to forecast the trajectory of the pandemic while also planning for a safe season was one of the most challenging things she has ever been a part of.

“Professionally speaking, that’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Ogwumike concedes. “We were able to piece it together however we could.”

The players had two objectives going into the bubble: the first was to be compensated fairly, and the second was to harness their platform for social advocacy work in the wake of both George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s murders.

“Going in, a non-negotiable for us was amplifying our voices,” Ogwumike says. “We knew we wanted to dedicate the season to Breonna Taylor.”

Ogwumike said conversations with Michelle Obama, Tamika Palmer, Stacey Abrams and Rev. Warnock allowed the players to focus on their mission while still playing basketball. The season ended up being one of the most successful of the quarantine era among all sports, with the WNBA being heralded for its display of unity and purpose.

“Us being able to do all that on the fly while playing games was remarkable, and I am really proud of everybody.”

Biggest Game-changing moment: Allyson Felix’s fight for athlete moms

Motherhood in sport is starting to be more widely discussed, acknowledged, and understood, thanks in large part to the likes of Allyson Felix.

Felix made waves in 2018 when she took her fight for maternity coverage with then sponsor, Nike, public. The move shifted how motherhood and pregnancy are adapted and accounted for in sports.

The track star stopped by the JWS podcast in October 2020 to talk about her preeclampsia diagnosis and giving birth to daughter Camryn one month early via emergency C-section.

“I knew statistics about Black women giving birth and having far greater complications,” said Felix, “I just never saw myself in that position.”

“My mind wasn’t prepared for everything that I went through”

Her daughter, Camryn was in the NICU for the first month of her life; Felix remembers being by her side 24/7 during that period. According to Felix, getting back on the track left her mind, and all that mattered was her daughter’s survival.

During her pregnancy, Felix was also re-negotiating her contract with Nike. Her then-sponsor was proposing a significant, 70% pay cut. But what ultimately inspired Felix to speak out was Nike’s refusal to provide her with maternity coverage. If she couldn’t have it written into her contract as one of the world’s most decorated track athletes, who could?

“The piece that I wasn’t willing to budge on was around maternal protection in contracts,” said Felix. “It wasn’t enough for them just for them to put it in for me — this needed to happen for everyone.”

Felix eventually left Nike for the company’s failure to include protections for mothers and moved to Athleta, where she says she now has a seat at the table. Supporting her role as a mother, advocate and athlete, Felix calls her partnership with Athleta an “authentic fit.”

Sweetest friendship story: Nastia Liukin on competing and re-uniting with Shawn Johnson East

Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson captured national attention during the 2008 Summer Olympics as two of the most promising gymnasts the U.S. had seen in years. Both teens were at the top of their game, but there could only be one all-around champion. Liukin came out on top, capturing individual gold in the sport’s most coveted event, spurring a media storm that pitted the two teammates against each other.

“We went 1, 2 and that was the first the U.S. had ever done that,” Liukin explained to O’Hara. To make matters worse, after capturing gold and silver, Liukin and Johnson still had to compete against each other in individual events and were bunking together in the Olympic village.

“We were fine being roommates — we were actually really good friends just that happened to have the same exact goal.” That all changed after Liukin took all-around gold in Beijing.

“We tried really hard — I would say we tried our best, we supported each other through the rest of the competition.”

However, after the athletes came back to America, the media circus that followed whipped up a rivalry between the two gymnasts that included sponsors, fan speculation, and management woes.

“It felt like the world just started pitting us against each other in every single aspect — it was 10 times worse than leading up to the Olympics.”

The two didn’t speak for eight years after the Games, with the stalemate finally ending in serendipitous fashion. Liukin remembers being in New York speaking with a New York Times reporter when he asked if she would be invited to Johnson’s upcoming wedding to Andrew East. Liukin stalled. Then, in a strange twist of fate, Liukin got a message on her phone as the interviewer briefly left the room — it was from Johnson. The two set a time to reunite, and the rest is history.

“I still remember this moment so clearly,” said Liukin, “she walked in and we both started crying.”

Liukin ended up attending Johnson’s wedding and is now a godmother to her former teammate’s child.

Most inspiring comeback story: Mal Pugh on being cut from the USWNT

Mallory Pugh’s December 2020 episode of the JWS podcast is particularly timely as the star striker formally re-enters the USWNT conversation for the team’s fall friendlies. After being left off the Tokyo Olympic roster, the 23-year-old was invited to join the U.S. camp for the squad’s international series against Paraguay.

Pugh’s meteoric rise to soccer stardom was cemented at the 2016 Olympics, when she became the youngest player in U.S. history to score at the Olympics at 18 years old. Since then, the phenom has struggled to live up to the child prodigy label bestowed on her in her early career.

The most significant hurdle came in 2020, when Pugh was left off Vlatko Andonovski’s Olympic qualifying lineup, the first time the striker had ever been excluded from a USWNT roster.

“It was pretty rough, but I am a strong, strong believer of everything happens for a reason,” Pugh told O’Hara of the ordeal. Pugh went on to say that she felt she needed the setback, calling it “the thing that’s going to light a fire.”

“I just had this deep sense like I knew I was going to be okay,” she said, adding, “I wasn’t like, ‘Oh my gosh this is the end.’ In fact, I was like, ‘No. This is the beginning.’”

Pugh’s positive outlook seems to have paid off, entering back into the USWNT fold for the Midwest fall series and ahead of the 2023 World Cup cycle.

Check out these episodes and more on the Just Women’s Sports podcast, and be sure to subscribe today!

WSL and WSL2 Clubs Vote in Favor of English League Expansion

Chelsea FC attacker Aggie Beever-Jones celebrates a goal during a 2025 WSL match.
Despite previous proposals, the expanding WSL will not forgo relegation. (Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

The Women's Super League (WSL) is growing, with the UK league's top two flights deciding in a Monday expansion vote to enlarge its top tier from 12 to 14 teams ahead of the 2026/27 season.

The number of matches played each season will also balloon from 22 to 26 games to accommodate the incoming clubs, as will established cup competitions.

Monday also saw the WSL vote down a prior proposal to temporarily suspend the relegation and promotion process to accommodate this expansion, deciding instead to adopt a "two up, one down" model for the second-tier WSL2 next season.

As such, the top two finishers of the 2025/26 WSL2 season will automatically join the higher-tier WSL, while the WSL's last-place team will battle the WSL2's third-place club in "a high-profile, high stakes match" for the final spot in the top flight.

After reaching 14 teams, both leagues will return to relegating the last-place WSL finisher while promoting the WSL2's top team for the following season.

Along with the increased investment in club infrastructure, a 14-team WSL keeps pace with the global women's game — most notably, the NWSL, which will become a 16-team league in 2026.

"Our priority was to find a route that would benefit the whole women's game pyramid, and we believe this next evolution of women's professional football will raise minimum standards, create distinction, and incentivize investment across the board," said WSL Football CEO Nikki Doucet.

WNBA Teams Offset Injuries, EuroBasket Departures with Short-Term Contracts

Golden State Valkyries rookie Kaitlyn Chen dribbles the ball up the court during a 2025 WNBA preseason game.
2025 WNBA draftee Kaitlyn Chen returned to the Golden State Valkyries to offset EuroBasket roster departures. (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

With EuroBasket set to tip off on Wednesday and injuries mounting league-wide, WNBA teams are filling out dwindling rosters with more short-term contracts — and calling back some familiar faces along the way.

While some European standouts withdrew from EuroBasket consideration — including Phoenix's Satou Sabally and Seattle's Gabby Williams — others, like New York's Leonie Fiebich and Golden State's Temi Fagbenle, will join their national teams for the regional FIBA tournament through the end of June.

Due to these planned absences, WNBA teams temporarily suspend their EuroBasket players' contracts, allowing squads to add others to their rosters.

Players signed due to temporary absences are technically on rest-of-season deals, though the agreements can end whenever the missing athletes return.

In contrast, the league requires that teams release any hardship signings due to injury once squads tally enough healthy original players to satisfy the WNBA's 10-athlete roster minimum.

Featuring a lineup stacked with international talent, Golden State made the most transactions this week, temporarily suspending four regular contracts as 2025 EuroBasket stars departed for the annual competition.

To bolster their depleted bench, the Valkyries brought back 2025 WNBA Draft Cinderella pick Kaitlyn Chen and recent training camp participant Laeticia Amihere on short-term contracts, in addition to guard Aerial Powers and forward Chloe Bibby.

Elsewhere, after losing forward Maddy Siegrist to injury and temporarily suspending the contracts of centers Teaira McCowan and Luisa Geiselsöder, Dallas acquired center Li Yueru from Seattle — with the Wings possibly needing additional hardship signings in the coming days.

The Storm snagged two future draft picks in the Saturday deal — a second-round selection in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2027.

Ultimately, teams are striving to find a balance between stocking up and maintaining consistency, all while operating under the WNBA's roster constraints — with further league expansion fast approaching.

WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Conference Play Comes Down to the Wire

Seattle Storm forward Ezi Magbegor tries to defend a jump-shot from Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier during a 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup game.
Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx will advance to a second straight WNBA Commissioner's Cup final with a Tuesday win. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

The 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup will wrap up its conference play on Tuesday, as both Eastern and Western teams battle for a ticket to the in-season competition's championship game — and a cut of the $500,000 prize pool.

With 12 of the league's 13 teams facing off across Tuesday's WNBA courts, the results will set the stage by minting the two squads who will battle in the July 1st final showdown.

Reigning Commissioner's Cup champs Minnesota have the West's easiest path, as a win over the Las Vegas Aces will send the Lynx to a second straight final.

Should the Lynx fall to the Aces, however, Seattle can grab the Western Conference berth by beating the Los Angeles Sparks.

Meanwhile in the East, a surging Atlanta could land a trip to the final by topping New York, while the Liberty need both a win over the Dream plus a loss by the Indiana Fever to clinch their own return ticket to the Cup's grand finale.

If New York does take down Atlanta, the Fever could advance to the team's first-ever Commissioner's Cup final by beating the struggling Connecticut Sun.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

All of Tuesday's six WNBA games count toward the 2025 Commissioner's Cup tally.

The action begins with the Atlanta Dream tipping off against the New York Liberty while the Indiana Fever battles the Connecticut Sun at 7 PM ET, live on WNBA League Pass.

Chicago Sky Star Angel Reese Files Trademark for ‘Mebounds’ to Silence Internet Trolls

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese grabs a rebound during a 2024 WNBA game.
Chicago Sky star Angel Reese is trademarking a term often used to criticize her play. (Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese made headlines this week, with the second-year WNBA forward announcing that she has trademarked word "mebounds" — a slang term opposing fans use to describe Reese rebounding her own missed shots.

"Whoever came up with the 'mebounds' thing, y’all ate that up, because mebounds, rebounds, keybounds...anything that comes off that board, it's mine," Reese said in a TikTok video on Saturday.

"And a brand? That's six figures right there," she continued, referencing her trademark application. "The trolling — I love when y'all do it because the ideas be good!"

Currently averaging 11.9 boards per matchup, Reese is leading the WNBA in rebounds for the second straight season.

Her rookie campaign saw Reese average 13.1 boards per game, a rate that set a single-season league record. She also blasted through the WNBA's consecutive double-double record last season, claiming it with 10 straight before extending it to an impressive 15 games.

Along with the average rebounds record, Reese also broke the single-season total rebounds record previously held by retired Minnesota Lynx legend Sylvia Fowles — a mark that was later surpassed by 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson following Reese's season-ending wrist injury.

"Statistically, all the rebounds that I get aren't always just mine," Reese added in her Saturday social media post. "They're the defense's, too, or somebody else on my team."

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