Vivianne Miedema is on a hot streak, scoring four times in four games to help move Arsenal into second place in the Women’s Super League standings.

In Sunday’s game against Aston Villa, Miedema scored the team’s second goal in a 4-1 win. Arsenal has 24 points on the season, three behind first-place Chelsea.

The Dutch forward also helped Arsenal beat Juventus last Wednesday, scoring the lone goal of the game. That victory moved Arsenal into first place in Group C of the Champions League standings and one win closer to the knockout rounds of the WCL.

Miedema credits her recent barrage to the extended break she took from the sport in November, which included a trip to Australia. Before her sojourn, she had lost her starting spot to teammate Frida Maanum and hadn’t scored in six appearances.

Since her return, the 26-year-old has been vocal about the need for rest — for herself and for all athletes.

Last Tuesday, Miedema spoke once again about her recovery from COVID-19, which kept her out of several matches at this summer’s Euros tournament and in bed for 10 days with a high fever. She returned for the Netherlands’ final game, playing the full 120 minutes.

After the Euros, training for the WSL season began almost immediately. For Miedema, the schedule meant little rest or recovery.

She spent the beginning of the season “almost on autopilot,” she said, before missing the October international window with an illness.

“I just didn’t feel mentally and physically ready to actually play,” she said ahead of Arsenal’s game against Juventus. “I think you could see that in the way that I was playing. I didn’t enjoy my football at that moment. And I think the moment you start not enjoying it, and start waking up in the morning not wanting to go in, I think that’s the moment that you need to make a switch.”

🗣️ “I just didn’t feel mentally and physically ready to play. I didn’t enjoy my football at that moment.”

Vivianne Miedema on why she took an extended break away from football recently. 🇳🇱

pic.twitter.com/1N8fVYZ0mR

— TheAFCnewsroom (@TheAFCnewsroom) December 6, 2022

While in Australia, Miedema was able to get herself fit – something she had been unable to do ahead of the season as she recovered from her bout with COVID-19, she said. The game has once again become “easy” for her, she added.

“I feel physically a lot fitter now, and you have seen that in the recent games,” she said.

Miedema hopes that, by prioritizing her health, she can help encourage other players to take breaks. The recent women’s soccer schedule has not allowed for much time off. And an increase in player injuries – particularly torn ACLs – has been a point of concern for many.

Miedema called the injuries a “worrying pattern” in a column for Dutch newspaper AD. Both Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza have just returned from injuries for Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Miedema said in her column that her Arsenal teammate and partner Beth Mead likely will miss next summer’s World Cup for England with a torn ACL. Others who have suffered torn ACLs in 2022 include Alexia Putellas, Christen Press and Catarina Macario.

An increase in the number of international windows, leaving club teams with a limited number of players, also has increased player workloads, Miedema said. Women’s national teams have six international windows, while men’s teams play just four.

“As a player you want to play in the big tournaments, the biggest difference is we have more international windows than the men have,” Miedema said. “We also play the Olympics with our A team instead of the U23s. I think that’s something FIFA and UEFA need to start looking at.

“In women’s football, we also don’t have the same sorts of numbers within a squad. Man City’s men’s team probably has 22, 23 full-time, amazing players. This year, I think we’ve got 18,19 players that are capable of being in the squad for us.”

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall also has spoken about the issue.

“There is always the balance between freshness and having continuity in the training and playing,” he said in November. “We need to strike that balance.”

The rise in popularity of the women’s game has also shed light on the lack of depth in the player pool. More needs to be done to develop talent and increasing the number of “very good football players,” Eidevall said, including the development of better player academies.

“We cannot only focus on the top of the pyramid,” he continued. “We can have more players that are able to play more games and have a better foundation when they step up to be a professional to handle the demands.”

Zimbabwean swimming legend Kirsty Coventry made history on Thursday, when she became both the first woman and first African ever elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At 41-years-old, Coventry will also be the youngest president in the organization's 131-year history and the 10th individual to ever hold the office.

"As an nine-year-old girl, I never thought I would be standing up here one day getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours," the five-time Olympian said in her remarks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

An extensive Olympic resume, in and out of the pool

The Auburn University grad and seven-time Olympic medal-winner — including back-to-back golds in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games — retired from competition after the 2016 Rio Olympics.

At that time, Coventry was already three years into her IOC membership, after initially joining as part of the governing body's Athletes' Commission. She joined the Executive Committee in 2023.

"I will make all of you very, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have taken," Coventry said to her fellow members in her acceptance speech. "Now we have got some work together."

That work that awaits Coventry in her eight-year mandate will include navigating the 2028 LA Games and selecting a host for the 2036 Summer Games.

Her first Olympic Games at the helm, however, will be the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, giving her less than a year to prepare before the Opening Ceremony kicks off.

Coventry to continue IOC efforts to promote gender equity

Coventry will have a few months to adjust before assuming her new office on June 23rd, when she will succeed her mentor, 71-year-old Thomas Bach.

Bach will have served the IOC's maximum 12-year tenure in the role when he steps down, having led the governing body to stage the first-ever Olympic Games with equal numbers of women and men competing — a mark captured at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

With gender equity as a driving force in his leadership, Bach also increased the number women serving as both IOC members and in the organization's leadership roles, with women comprising seven of the body's 15-person executive board.

Coventry is one of those seven women, and Bach specifically hand-picked her as his successor.

The legacy she inherits isn't lost on Coventry, both in the efforts of Bach and in the women who paved the way — perhaps none more directly than IOC member Anita DeFrantz, a 1976 Olympic bronze medal-winning rower for Team USA and the only other woman to ever run for IOC president.

Recognizing the election's historic significance, 72-year-old DeFrantz overcame significant health issues to travel to Greece in order to vote for Coventry — with her ballot securing the exact number of votes Coventry needed to win.

"I was really proud that I could make her proud," an emotional Coventry said.

The NCAA is leveling the playing field, with Women’s March Madness teams in line to receive their first-ever prize payouts based on tournament performance — a mechanism the men’s tournament has enjoyed since 1991.

Sparked by 2021's landmark NCAA gender equity review, the NCAA will distribute a total of approximately $15 million to individual conferences based on how many games their teams play, with each March Madness performance "unit" worth about $113,000.

This year's inaugural $15 million purse represents 26% of the competition's $65 million media rights valuation — putting it proportionally on par with the percentage allocated to the men's fund.

That overall prize pool will jump to $20 million in 2026 and $25 million in 2027, before switching to a successive 2.9% increase per year.

"We are all playing in the same March Madness," said UNC Greensboro head coach Trina Patterson, whose No. 16-seed Spartans will face No. 1-seed USC in the first round on Saturday. "The treatment for the men and women should be equal. We get a unit!"

March Madness teams get additional NCAA tournament perks

While the performance payouts are new this year, women's March Madness teams also receive perks like charter flights throughout the tournament, which can make all the difference for smaller programs eyeing an upset.

"Everyone is so excited about the experience. Going from the bus directly to the plane, everyone was so happy," March Madness debutante William & Mary head coach Erin Dickerson Davis told ESPN ahead of her No. 16-seed team’s First Four victory on Thursday.

Columbia junior Perri Page, whose No. 11-seed Lions defeated Washington in their own First Four matchup on Thursday, echoed Davis' sentiment, saying, "It was cool going to the charter, and we've been taking it all in."

"We've been enjoying the whole season," the forward added, noting "It's great we can make money for the school now."

"It should have always been that way. Women's basketball has been fighting for equality for a very long time," said Davis. "I've been in this business for many, many years. I played college basketball. It's a long time coming."

"You got to start somewhere, and I think we've been so far behind," added Columbia head coach Megan Griffith.

"This is more like the whipped cream. I think the cherry on top is going to keep coming — but it's really good so far."

Less than two months before the season tips off on May 16th, the WNBA dropped its full 2025 national broadcast slate on Thursday, rewarding last year’s most in-demand teams with a significant uptick in screen time.

Fueled by the fan fervor around 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever will see a league-record 41 of their 44 regular-season games aired nationally this season.

That tally includes all five Fever matchups against regional rival Chicago, after the pair's June 23rd game averaged 2.3 million viewers — becoming the most-watched game of the 2024 regular season.

Just behind Indiana in earning significant national broadcast coverage are two-time WNBA champs Las Vegas, who will see 33 of their games aired across the country. As for the reigning champions New York Liberty, they trail the Aces by just one game, with 32 of their 2025 season games garnering national attention.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Record WNBA ratings spur big broadcast moves

Thanks to 2024’s monster ratings, big-name networks are increasingly recognizing the WNBA as a profitable summer product, with broadcasters expanding their coverage as the league prepares for its 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights contract to kick in next year.

With the 2025 WNBA season expanding from 40 to 44 games per team, ION is leading all broadcasters with 50 regular-season games, with ABC/ESPN, CBS Sports, NBA TV, and Amazon Prime all taking a piece of the pro women's basketball league's pie.

Broadcasters are also moving games off of their sports-specific networks and onto flagship cable channels, with a record 13 matchups — a full half of Disney Networks' 26 regular-season games — set to air on ABC, including the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game.

The league will also see its first-ever regular-season games earn primetime broadcast TV slots, with CBS Sports elevating two of its 20 games — the June 7th and August 9th battles between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever — to its flagship network, CBS.

As the WNBA shoots for an even more impactful 2025 season, broadcasters are helping to boost the charge, offering increased access to the league’s brightest stars and biggest games.

The NCAA tournament tips off in earnest with the bracket's 64-team first round on Friday, as eager March Madness fans look beyond the chalk to eye the competition's underdogs after a rollercoaster 2024/25 basketball season.

Early upsets aren’t exactly the norm in the women’s tournament. Only one lower seed won their first-round matchup in 2024, and no team below a No. 3 seed has ever gone the distance, but in a season of increased parity, a few lower-rated squads are rounding into underdog form.

Breaking down potential March Madness bracket-busters

For potential March Madness upset instigators, late-season momentum late season momentum is the name of the game — a dangerous factor in any single-elimination tournament.

Even without superstar grad Caitlin Clark, No. 6-seed Iowa capped their regular season on a high before narrowly losing to No. 4-seed Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament's quarterfinals. Should they advance past No. 11-seed Murray State in their first-round Saturday matchup, the Hawkeyes are poised to give No. 3-seed Oklahoma a run for their money in the second round on Monday.

Entering as a No. 10-seed, Ivy League tournament champs Harvard will have their hands full against No. 7-seed Michigan State on Saturday, but Crimson senior Harmoni Turner and her season-average 22.5 points per game could tilt the scales in Harvard's favor.

After edging out first-round opponent No. 11-seed Iowa State, No. 6-seed Michigan is playing like an upset contender. Now a potential second-round matchup against No. 3-seed Notre Dame — fresh off a recent losing skid — awaits the young squad. 

With the brackets locked and the teams loaded, the prospects of twists and turns make the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament especially exciting — even if this year’s frontrunners appear destined for Tampa.

How to watch Women's March Madness games this weekend

The Big Dance officially begins at 11:30 AM ET on Friday, when No. 11 Iowa State tips off against No. 6 Michigan on ESPN2.

Saturday's slate will complete the 2024/25 NCAA tournament's first round, with No. 6 Iowa beginning their Madness run against No. 11 Murray State at 12 PM ET on ESPN.

No. 10 Harvard will start dancing a few hours later, with the Crimson facing No. 7 Michigan State at 4:30 PM ET on ESPNews.

All games in the 2025 March Madness tournament will have live coverage across ESPN networks.