A conversation moderated by and commentary from Danielle McCartan exploring
topics relating to women in sports. 'Power Players', a pun on the hockey
term, exists to assert the female perspective in sports. The intelligent,
informative, and engaging 30-minute episodes will be specific to each guest:
player, coach, broadcaster, official, or executive. Come for the guest or
host, but stay for the adversities and triumphs of Power Players in sports.
Players and coaches from 3 WNBA teams (LA Sparks, Dallas Wings, and Washington Mystics) discuss: In a new, and different style podcast than what you're used to, the athletes listed below discuss: Advantages/disadvantages of playing in the WNBA's 'Wubble' at IMG Academy in Florida What activities unstructured time The food Must-Pack items And so much more! PLAYERS Nneka Ogwumike Seimone Augustus T’ea Cooper Moriah Jefferson Chelsea Gray Nneka Bella Alarie Katie Lou Samuelson Brittney Sykes Sydney Weise Candace Parker Satou Sabally Megan Gustafson Reshanda Gray Alaina Coates COACHES Brian Agler Mike Thibault
13 Aug 2020
POWER PLAYERS 012 - Miesha Tate
“I didn’t want to be one of those people that hung around and tarnished what I had built in my career if I wasn’t all in it. I’m either 100% in or 100% out and, at that point, I knew I had to be out… because I wasn’t 100% in. 80% is not good enough.” - Miesha Tate From cupcakes to the evolution of the female talent pool in MMA and from Tacoma to Singapore: Miesha Tate like you’ve never heard her before: open, honest, and vulnerable about life in and beyond the octagon. Miesha talks about character building in her high school wrestling career- on the mat and at home, her most poignant “pick-yourself-off-the-floor” moment, and if she saw her retirement from UFC coming. Tate takes the listener inside her inside-the-Octagon cognitive awareness and discusses moments of self-reflection after retirement. There's also a Bathroom Birth: a play by play. For the FIRST time, Miesha Tate talks about how her son Daxton took stay-at-home orders to a new level…. By being born in her bathroom... followed by a deep discussion on life’s little surprises and on motherhood. There’s a transparent dialogue about, of course, Ronda Rousey. Symbiotic relationship with Ronda Rousey: who benefitted more from it? After believing that she and Ronda would enter the HOF together, what did Miesha Tate think about Rousey’s induction speech? Was it real? Communication post-MMA career Currently, what was item number one on VP Tate’s agenda for One Championship, what is the longterm scope of the league, and a discussion about how cultural norms and lifestyle compare the opportunity of female MMA fighters in Asian culture against that of Western female fighters. LISTENER QUESTIONS: Kevin in NJ: Did you ever think about joining the WWE like Lesnar and Rousey? Mike from Queens: One Championship - What’s the biggest difference between being involved in a match in Asia vs USA?
1 Aug 2020
POWER PLAYERS 011 - Venessa Hutchinson
I talked with Venessa Hutchinson, the NFL’s Senior Manager of Football Development, about a wide-range of topics relating to the NFL's diversity in hiring practices, specific to women in football. We discussed her career path- demanding respect from predominantly male coworkers and former players, learning the game of football so intricately without playing it so competitively, and the most rewarding part about being an integral piece of the NFL's league office.
1 Aug 2020
POWER PLAYERS 010 - Denise White
A young girl and her twin sister overcome a rough childhood and the foster care system- one starts her own company and becomes the most powerful athlete crisis manager in the world. It sounds like something out of a movie, right? Well that's because it WILL be. Three A-List celebrities were considered to play Denise White... and one chose her. This celebrity will not only be playing her in an upcoming movie, but has contracted a TV show, inspired by Denise's work, for her production company and Apple TV. The movie, preliminarily titled "The Fixer", is based on the life of Denise White, founder of EAG Sports Management (1996): an agency (the only one of its kind owned by a woman) that provides crisis management, philanthropic ventures, media engagements, etc. for world class athletes.
1 Aug 2020
POWER PLAYERS 009 - Amanda Kessel
Olympic gold and silver medal winning professional hockey player Amanda Kessel and Danielle McCartan have an open conversation about Amanda’s concussion-related mental health struggles and discuss a pragmatic plan to grow the women’s game efficiently and effectively. What took the NHL so long to get involved? Furthermore, we’ll contrast the way of life of NHL players (of which Amanda has intimate knowledge: her brother Phil Kessel is alternate captain of the Arizona Coyotes AND she is a New York Rangers ambassador) to that of professional women’s league. Amanda outlines the impetus behind the 200+ player boycott of the NWHL and USA Hockey.
31 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 008 - Kara Goucher
World Championship (now) silver medal winner and 2x Olympic distance runner Kara Goucher and Danielle discuss ethics at the highest level of sport. Against the background of ESPN’s newest 30 for 30: “Lance”, Kara shares her experience at the now infamous Nike Oregon Project. She defines, for the listening audience, popular doping practices (EPO, AndroGel, IV treatments) and their effects on the body and individual competition. She describes the institutional grooming process that athletes (including herself) are subjected to, and the David and Goliath lawsuit she is still fighting, against her former Nike Oregon Project head coach and father figure Alberto Salazaar. Kara exposes a dark side of Nike: these testosterone experiments were performed on the Nike campus, in their labs, and CEO Mark Parker know about them. For the baseball fan, we extrapolated her experiences in running to determine the psychology behind and monetary/popularity windfall following the HR chase between dirty Mark McGuire and dirty Sammy Sosa. Didn’t the dirty Nike Oregon Project achieve that same goal for USA running? What is the difference between 'banned' and 'unethical'? Kara also opens up about how her former teammate and brother-in-law secretly developed a Nike shoe that single-handedly kept her from competing in her 3rd Olympic Games.
31 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 007 - Rachel Balkovec
Rachel and Danielle discuss surprisingly similar childhood aspirations, deliver a message to "old school" baseball fans, and compare and contrast the pitch sequencing and mechanics of the highest level of baseball and softball. Two Master's degrees later, Rachel discusses her "baseball nerd" mentality, how it brought her to Amsterdam to study under the leading researchers in baseball analytics to Driveline, the most well-respected American advanced metrics company. Now, as a hitting coach for the New York Yankees, Rachel reflects on a time where she had $0 in her bank account, pushed it "all on red", and took a gamble on herself.
31 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 006 - Laura Okmin
Laura goes "5 levels deep" into conversation with Danielle about feelings of her loneliness on the road, family planning sacrifices due to her profession, and the personal and professional impact of losing her mother to cancer at a young age (for both of them). During her third decade in the field, Laura also opens up about the impact of saying "no", how her perspective of "The Top" changed, and why, a ceiling crasher, she turned down the position of first 'female NFL insider'.
31 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 005 - Monica Abbott
A discussion with an Olympic Athlete about the delay, staying prepared, advice to young softball players, and about the radioactivity in Japan ahead of the games
31 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 004 - Courtney Banghart
After having accumulated, in her twelve years as head coach of Princeton University's women's basketball program, seven Ivy League titles, eight NCAA Tournament births, and a Naismith National Coach of the Year award, Courtney Banghart packed up her family and headed south on I-95 to Chapel Hill. After inking that chapter in the story of her life, Banghart, a year ago, began to write a new one as head coach of the University of North Carolina's women's basketball team. We'll discuss the build-up to that difficult decision and her professional growth because of it. Through a coach's lens, we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on collegiate and professional basketball.
29 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 003 - Danita Johnson
A meteoric rise over 14 years in basketball to the office of president and COO of a major market professional organization, Danita offers a valuable, front-office perspective on a wide variety of pertinent topics in sports: the USWNT's fight for Equal Pay, the new WNBA CBA, the Sparks as a ‘multi-dimensional company', how revenue streams differ from her experience in an NBA front office to a WNBA front office, ways to increase the visibility of the game, and ways to increase star player marketability.
29 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 002 - Danielle McCartan... MY story!
“I never wanted to always wonder: ‘what if?’ - Danielle McCartan
How does a three sport high school athlete turned high school teacher and coach end up hosting a weekly show on our nation's original all-sports radio station? Well, I can tell you that I didn't go to school for this!
Here is the story of my journey... from the classroom at a small college in northern New Jersey to the studio at WFAN radio in Manhattan... and all of the stops in between. I'll talk about the importance of: networking, "knowing your stuff", and investing in yourself.
You'll learn of the people who have served as signs on my highway: pointing me in the direction of a destination unknown.
Some acting as yellow cautionary signs
Some acting as red stop signs (I name four athletes that have ever tuned me down for an interview!)
Some acting as green lights, pushing me to keep my foot on the gas.
Some names you'll recognize, while others have been purposefully kept anonymous. Like Suzyn Waldman’s… my journey is far from over, and I’m excited to see where this road will take me!
LISTENER QUESTIONS:
Erika from New Jersey
Kevin from New Jersey
My life motto: “My confidence comes from my work ethic” - Hope Solo
29 Jul 2020
POWER PLAYERS 001 - Suzyn Waldman
Receiving feces in the mail, getting bullied out of a clubhouse, receiving death threats... oh my! Suzyn Waldman discusses her beginning in sports media in New York City: from being the first voice heard on the first all-sports station in the country to splicing together her own highlight reel.
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