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The topic of women in sports is becoming more and more popular in everyday talk. Women are emerging as some of the top journalists, executives and owners in a field that is dominated by men. As a rising female in the sports industry I am finding my identity. I look back and see all of the women that have helped get us to where we are today and look forward to creating a new legacy for future generations.

Nora Princiotti from the Boston Globe and Jeanna Trotman from NBC25 in Flint, Michigan, reiterated over and over again that if it wasn’t for the women of the past, they would not be where they are today.

It hasn’t been until recent years that women really started to take over the sports world. However, one take away from this seminar that I thought was interesting was how lonely it can be as a female in sports. Both Princiotti and Trotman explained how sometimes they are one of two women in a press conference or locker room postgame. I have always been one that was friends with the guys, but sometimes I like my girl time. When Princiotti said she was excited to have a new girl in her department to talk about getting their nails done that struck me. We take talking about things like that for granted. Having been in a professional locker room before, I know the feeling of being lonely. I was the only girl in the whole room filled with men; athletes, reporters and photogs. It was intimidating… very intimidating. Especially because I was only 20 years-old. I felt out of place and uncomfortable. Something that I wish I heard from Trotman before entering those locker rooms alone was if you are uncomfortable at all make yourself comfortable by any means necessary because that will help you get what you need. And I agree! The worst feeling in the world is being uncomfortable and trying to do your job at the same time.

Another takeaway from this seminar was that it is healthy to talk about the differences women experience in the workplace, especially in sports. Princiotti brought up a good point when she said that sometimes women have a better way of connecting with the athletes than men. I tend to agree with her. I think women have more empathy when it comes to approaching someone that has had a bad game. They can read a situation and understand when to talk and when not to talk. I thought it was interesting when Princiotti said that sometimes she gets put on the tough, emotional stories because her male coworkers know that she can get the interviewee to talk.

It is all about how you ask a question. Trotman brought up this point and I think it is very important. How you ask a question will determine how good of a response you will receive. Just like Adam Himmelsbach stated in last weeks seminar never start a question by saying ‘talk about’, Trotman reiterated this point. She also said that having a professional athlete as a husband helps her in her work. This allows Trotman to understand how an athlete is feeling and what questions she needs to ask in order to get the best response out of them. This is such a key factor as to why Trotman is so good at what she does. She puts herself in the athletes position and figures out what THEY want to be asked and HOW they want it asked.

Women are becoming such an important role in the sports industry. They continue to defy the odds and break new boundaries for future females. They are able to create new opportunities and I’m excited to see what the next few years in sports journalism and the sports industry holds.

Last summer, when I would hear about women in sports – I honestly did not think much about the challenges female sports journalists faced. I knew I wanted to be in their shoes one day, and I honestly couldn’t wait for my time to come.
I was confident the industry had changed – women were more respected; becoming more common; and viewed by players, coaches and others in the media sphere as legitimate sports reporters.
Until this fall – when Cam Newton proved otherwise.
In essence, the incident involved female reporter Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer asking Newton a question about routes. It was a decent question, about a receiver who had a drastic increase in the amount of pass yards on the season. Yet, instead of answering the question, Newton chose to laugh at Rodrigue and publicly humiliated her.
This episode honestly made me scared to enter the industry. At the time, I thought to myself, “It is 2017, how can professional players still believe women cannot report on football?!”
Since I was little, my dad raised me with football. As the third girl, with no boys around, he had to teach someone about football – and that was me. Most guys I come across are shocked by my knowledge of football, and I know I can one day report on it – and ask questions about routes.
As the beat reporter for the Panthers, I am sure Rodrigue knows more about football than myself and many other reporters out there. So why did Newton jump to conclusions and laugh at her during a press conference?
Would he laugh at any male journalist asking a question about routes?
Probably not.
“It’s not the norm,” said Jeanna Trotman of NBC25 in Flint, Michigan after being asked about women in the sports media industry. “It’s definitely becoming more normal, but still not the norm.”
Between Newton and hearing about Trotman’s experience – I definitely have a better understanding that women are still a very, very small minority in the sports industry and face obstacles every day.
However, I am confident this will continue to change.
“I’m so grateful to all the women before us so I can do what I’m doing,” said Trotman who spoke about how much other women in the industry want to help each other.
The more women continue to help each other get experience in the industry, have each other’s back, and have strong work ethics – the proportion of females in sports media will increase.
Sports continue to become a bigger and bigger part of American’s past time – and I think more young girls are finding an interest in sports and then develop the desire to report on sports.
I also believe in Trotman’s point that women can use our “female demeanor” to our advantage to warm athletes up to a sensitive topic and get more information out of them.
“It is so much about how you ask questions and your demeanor,” said Trotman.
Boston Globe’s Nora Princiotti also agreed with Trotman.
“Sometimes people open up to me,” said Princiotti. “Sometimes it’s because of age – they identify more with me, but as a female it’s easier to get them to open up.”
This is how we can continue to break into the industry. Yes, we can hustle, have positive and hardworking attitudes, and strong work ethics. But by getting athletes to open up to us, we break better, heartfelt human-interest stories, which audiences like to hear.
So through our special, softer, female demeanor – we can get athletes to open up to us in new, innovative ways. And tell more stories that have yet to be told.
Watch out boys, we’re coming for you.

As an aspiring male sports journalist, I have never really considered a women’s role in the field. I look up to people like Bill Simmons, Chris Gasper, Michael Felger, etc., in the industry and I can easily relate to them. In fact, I even put myself in their shoes on a day-to-day basis.

But after hearing Nora Princiotti and Jeanna Trotman discuss their experiences as women in sports journalism, it opened up another side of the profession that I never envisioned because of my gender. I’ve been narrow focused.

I’ve covered BU sports for three years, spent a summer reporting on Cape Cod Baseball, and cover boy’s high school sports for the Globe, and I have never once felt “alone” or “uncomfortable” in a press conference or locker room. Sure, I’ve been nervous as hell, but I haven’t experienced what Nora or Jeanna have in a locker room with all men. If I worry during an interview, it’s about what question I’m going to ask, not if I’m out of place or if I’m feeling a sense of insecurity because I’m the only gender in the room. Nicole mentioned that she felt the same way.

After this seminar, I feel like I’ve taken this for granted and it’s eye-opening to hear a woman’s perspective of the locker room experience because as a male, I don’t know how that feels. It also gives me a lot more respect for what women like Nora and Jeanna do. It takes courage. I can’t even imagine Jeanna being the ONLY female at a news station. And before Tara Sullivan came to the Globe, Nora was the ONLY female in the ENTIRE sports department. As a male, I am never and probably will never be a minority in this field. We shouldn’t take it granted. Period.

Nora said, “This is who I am, we don’t need to make a huge deal out of it but we also don’t need to pretend that it’s not a factor”…

Perfectly said.

For the most part, I think males respect women in the field but there are instances where that isn’t true. The Cam Newton example comes to mind. Jessica Mendoza is often criticized. But I think there are a ton of women out there who cover sports and do a terrific job. The problem is that there are so few. However, when young female journalists here success stories and witness people like Nora, Jeanna, Jemele Hill, Doris Burke, and more thrive in sports journalism, I feel like the amount of women in sports will only increase.

Finally, Jeanna’s story about the Stefon Digg’s interaction in the locker room, was something I will never forget. I think any reporter who can put themselves in an athletes shoes and comfort them will get good quotes. Adam and Jayson alluded to that last week. Men in sports always try to be aggressive and act like know-it-alls but that’s not always the way to go. Jeanna’s story showed me the right way to do it, whether you’re a man or a women.

To be honest, I was expecting some type of sob story from them but both women showed perception isn’t always reality. I think Nora and Jeanna are great examples of how to succeed because they are hard-working and of course, talented. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters. Not gender. The seminar made me realize how few women there are in the field. But, I think that number will only increase as time goes on. As Jeanna said, they are role models too.

Separate but Equal response:

“There are times when you are the only girl in the room.”

I’m not going to lie, when Jeanna Trotman said this on Thursday night, it stuck to me. Why? Because being the only male while doing my job as a journalist, has literally NEVER even been a thought. I’m a proud member of WTBU Sports here on campus, and if there’s one thing we lack…it’s women. In my year of covering BU sports, I have worked with countless men, but only ever one woman: Nicole Ericson. Hearing what Trotman and Nora Princiotti had to say about being “the only girl in the room”, made me try to put myself in Nicole’s shoes. Would I be okay with it? Would I behave differently? Would I be as good of a journalist? To be honest, I think being a female in this workplace would hinder my performance.

But the more I think about it, I was surprised to hear Princiotti and Trotman respond hesitantly   when asked whether being a woman in sports journalism was a disadvantage or advantage. I expected them to both admit immediately that it was a clear disadvantage, citing “horror stories” such as those in Sophie Becker’s Female Sports Reporters, a History of Abuse (2016). Instead, they claimed that in many cases it was an advantage! Princiotti reluctantly said that she believed that people opened up to her more because of her gender (as well as her age), and let’s just be honest – most male athletes would probably prefer to spend a few minutes talking to Princiotti and Trotman over me or Dan Shaughnessy.

In the case of Cam Newton’s idiotic but infamous, “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes,” was being a woman an advantage or disadvantage? Although he disrespected female reporter Jourdan Rodrique, it was Newton that came out looking like a loser. I want to take a moment to address classmate Ashleigh Shanley’s post, specifically when she recalled how the Newton incident made her scared to enter the industry. Honestly, it’s a legitimate concern. Unfortunately, Newton’s comments stemmed from the stereotype that females don’t know nearly enough about sports – try telling that to any dominant woman sports journalist. But Ashleigh, hopefully I am right when I say this, but I believe younger millennial male athletes and journalists are more understanding and accepting in terms of gender. I think the future is brighter.   

Aside from the topic of gender, both guests reiterated great advice that I am still trying to implement every day on the job. The most relevant to myself is, “don’t ‘fact state’ before the actual question”. As Professor Shorr corrected me on time and time again during “The Buzzerbeater” radio show last semester, this was a huge flaw in my interviewing process. I will proudly say I have gotten better at it. But even tonight, covering the BU women’s basketball game against American, I found myself doing the same thing while talking to Head Coach Katy Steding. It can be frustrating, but I have to trust the process, get my reps in, and get better.

At the end of the day, Princiotti and Trotman are sports journalism figures that even I look up to as role models. Sure, I don’t have to face the ups and downs of being a woman entering this field, but they will be people I can look back on when I face diversity covering sports. If Princiotti can battle a team of masculine male reporters trying to ask Bill Belichick a question, get turned down, but stay up firmly on her feet…well, maybe I can too.  

When sports broadcasting began, it was dominated by men. The idea of a woman talking about sports on TV was unheard of. But since then, a lot has changed. Women are seen on almost all sports networks including ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS, and others. But, it’s still not the norm. The idea of women having to prove themselves in the sports industry is still a standard issue.
Growing up, throughout lower, middle, and high school, I was the only girl out of all my friends that enjoyed watching, talking and engaging in sports. In P.E. class in elementary school, I would always enjoy playing whatever sport it was with the boys, and they accepted me because they knew I was “good enough” to play with them. But the thing is, I was the ONLY girl that played with them. And as I grew up, I would meet new people and explain to them how I love sports and that stupid quiz would always follow. “Oh, you love basketball. Can you name the starting five of the Miami Heat?” “How do you pronounce so and so’s name?” And that right there is just the beginning of the issue that continues to be talked about today. How come I had to prove my knowledge? If another guy said he liked sports, would he have to pass those ridiculous tests? No.
I’m used to being the only woman when it comes to sports, and I’m comfortable with it. I grew up playing a variety of sports and accepting that I was going to be the only girl playing pick-up basketball with nine other guys. I sit on my couch at home watching football with my four brothers and all their guy friends, and I fit in. But the thing that bothers me the most is the assumption. People assume the majority of women don’t know sports unless they prove themselves. But why isn’t it like that for men? Why don’t they have to show their knowledge?
As Jeanna Trotman of NBC25 said, “I never want to be caught on my heels. I always want to be prepared and want to prove myself,” and I think that has to do a lot with being a female. In a male-dominated industry, I feel as if I were to make a mistake, my knowledge of sports would be questioned. I’m hoping over the years, as more women are welcomed into this industry, that that feeling of always having to prove myself will die down.
Also, I don’t go into my internship or sports areas thinking I’m the only girl, but I do notice it. Yesterday was my first time in a professional locker room and press conference, and for the first time, I took the time to look around and see how many women were present. There were four, including myself, out of thirty people. That doesn’t bother me, I think it gives me an advantage, as Trotman and Boston Globe’s Nora Princiotti both agreed on, but it is something that should be acknowledged. “Women do have different experiences than men do in this industry and I think we always have to make sure we’re taken seriously,” said Princiotti.
Princiotti brought up a good point when she said women can connect better with athletes than grown men. “Players will tell adult men to f*** off, but not me.” Trotman agreed with saying she has a hand up when it comes to asking players questions and she also mentioned how to ask the questions properly, relating back to our previous weeks guests with Adam Himmelsbach and Jayson Tatum. She said you can determine how good of a response you will receive based on how you ask the questions. If you treat them like human beings, which they are, they’re more likely to answer your questions in a nice way. I agree with Princiotti and Trotman when they say women can connect better because I believe we have a caring and nurturing side that a lot of male reporters are missing.
The biggest thing I took away from this seminar was Trotman explaining how your brand separates you from the rest. I hadn’t really thought about my brand until she mentioned it. What would someone think of me? How do I want to come off to the rest of the world? And those are two tough questions to answer, but it all goes back to being true to yourself and showing your honest personality. And since this seminar, I’ve been really trying to figure out my brand and how I can come off as the nice sweet girl I am, but still be taken seriously in this male dominated sports industry. It’s a balance that as I mature and learn more about the industry I will have to figure out.