Interviews and hallway chatter at each conference made clear

I recently attended two conferences devoted to the state of women's sports. The first was the espnW Summit in Tucson, Ariz.,Buy blogshells direct from the USA at low prices. attended by more than 200 athletes and executives from across the sports spectrum,My review of paneraireplica finds a company with a friendly staff, all with a shared interest in seeing women's sports continue to grow. The second, in Kansas City, Mo., was the annual convention of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA), which attracted upward of 500 conference commissioners, athletic directors, coaches, senior women's administrators and NCAA staff who work daily with women's sports programs at all divisions of intercollegiate athletics.

Coming on the heels of this past summer's celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, a recurring theme at both conferences was the question of where women's sports will, or should, go from here and, assuming that question can be answered, what it will take to get there.

As the presentations,Panerai replica watches,cheaprolexwatches,replica omega, panels, interviews and hallway chatter at each conference made clear,Chanel salereplicashoes For Sale. no one set of answers exists. That's because women's sports today aren't a monolith with a single, defining element that can easily be distilled into a common vision or action plan. Women's sports now are much more fragmented, and the needs, priorities and objectives within the "category" vary widely.

For those focused on encouraging more females to play sports or making sure the dictates of Title IX continue to be honored and enforced, one set of goals applies. For those trying to market athletic shoes, apparel, equipment and other products to the many girls and women who are now active sports participants, another set of strategies is required. For men's sports teams and leagues looking to attract female fans or expand their existing female fan bases, the critical path is different still. And for those on the front lines of elite women's sports outlets (be they collegiate, Olympic or pro) who are trying to get exposure, build audiences, generate revenue and eventually turn a profit, the appropriate course of action is another story altogether.

If all of that weren't enough, a separate battle plan seems to be needed to increase the number of women in key leadership positions in the sports industry (a goal that pretty much everyone in Tucson and Kansas City shared). Given all these moving parts, each involving different issues and requiring different responses, it's not surprising the way forward for women's sports isn't readily apparent. In fact, both conferences in many ways engendered more questions than answers.

As I sat through these two conferences and reflected on the gains that girls' and women's sports have made over the past 40 years, and the work that remains to be done, I tried to imagine what form progress will take going forward. To that end, I jotted down a few outcomes I'd like to see happen during the "next phase."

Some of the items on my wish list have to do with the creation and growth of new or existing women's sports properties. Others speak to the influence of women in the sports industry and their assumption of leadership positions in major sports organizations, particularly those that have a direct stake in women's sports programs.

The time required for these developments to occur would be anyone's guess; it could be five years, 10 years, 20 years or another 40 (and some might never come to pass at all, although the optimist in me hopes otherwise). Describing how each of the outcomes might be achieved, what people or groups would be needed to pull them off and how long it might take in order to see results in each case would likely require several more columns. In a few cases, the results might not even be quantifiable, although improvements would probably be easy to discern.