Video: Women’s Sports Gain Momentum

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Football, baseball, men’s basketball, Those are just a few of the most popular men’s sports.

But recently, there has been a shift.

More attention is put towards women’s sports.

This weekend thousands of fans are showing their support at the NCAA Women’s Tournament in Starkville.

The Mississippi State women’s team not only had a successful season on the court but they also had record breaking attendance for the games.

Supporting women’s sports hasn’t always been popular but now, we are seeing a positive change.

< The Mississippi State Women’s basketball team record is 26-7.

The team made it to the NCAA women’s tournament and advances to the next round on Sunday.

But women’s sports hasn’t always had a strong fan base.

” Candidly, there’s probably a time in the past where you had women’s sports because federal law required it or it’s something you had to do, but I think a lot of schools but especially Mississippi State, we’ve taken the approach that we want to be real successful in everything we do, and we want those young ladies to have an unbelievable experience.”
Scott Stricklin is the Athletic Director at Mississippi State.

He says he has witnessed the trend of supporting female sports, from softball to tennis, gain momentum.

“Our women’s basketball team has had a lot of success. We had over 10,000 people at their games against South Carolina earlier this year, it’s the fourth largest crowd for any game,men’s or women’s ever at The Hump. So that shows you there is legitimate interest,” said Stricklin.

Improving athletic facilities also brings in the fans.

Stricklin says not only has he seen a fan base grow but also more women participating in athletics.

“There is more and more women participating, and its fun to see the growth, not only in the number of people participating but in the quality. Women’s basketball is a sport that the quality of play has increased dramatically over the last couple of decades, and the same can be said for softball, and soccer. 20 years ago, Mississippi State was just starting a softball program, just starting a soccer program, so these programs don’t have the long history that some of our men’s sports do,” said Stricklin.

Jim Foster is the head coach for the women’s basketball team at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

He says it takes time to grow a sport, he too has seen a shift in women’s athletics.

“More people are invested in it, more schools are investing in it . But it takes time. I don’t think men’s basketball, in the era of John Wooten, if we say this is the era of Geno Oriamo was thriving. I think Dave Gavett and ESPN happening at the same time, took the men’s game to another place,” said Foster.

A place that some women’s sports are soon to be arriving.

 

Categories: Local News, Local Sports

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