Author Archives: Alida Shanks

This week the ATP, the association for men’s tennis, decided not to support the WTA, their women’s counterparts, who have cancelled all tours in China in protest after the disappearance of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. The ATP said their remit also includes grassroots tennis and they did not want to “punish a billion people” by cancelling the men’sContinue reading “Women’s tennis on their own, more commercial deals, and welfare and wellbeing of women in sports at the forefront, again”

I’ve spent the last three days at the Sport Management Association of Australia and NZ conference online, which was hugely inspiring – there is so much exciting research taking place. I look forward to sharing these findings as they are published. One publication that you really need to bookmark for when it comes out is the newContinue reading “Exciting new book chapter on women’s sport, our first pro women’s football team kicks off, and analysing research”

First, the good news! The International Olympic Committee have announced that they are supporting the 8th International Working Group in Women and Sport conference, happening in Tāmaki Makaurau in May 2022. In addition to bringing the IOC’s mana to this event, this support comes in the form of investment as well as experts presenting at theContinue reading “IOC support IWG women & girls conference, new commercial partners for women’s sport, more allegations of bullying & sexual harassment”

The biggest news this week was the International Olympic Committee have finally released their decision on the inclusion of transgender athletes, and as expected they are leaving it with individual sports. However, to help with that decision making, the IOC has released a 10-principle approach framework based on extensive research, including consultation with 250 athletes, medical and human rights experts,Continue reading “IOC include transgender athletes, Sport NZ’s mediation hotline runs red hot, gender pay gap, & and it’s International Toilet Day”

It was a tough week for the Black Ferns with a second loss against England. I’ve noticed that when the All Blacks play there is a lot of analysis of the game and the players, we are treated to “power rankings” of each player and how well or poorly they played, we hear all about keyContinue reading “Black Ferns lack of analysis – expectations or patronising? Plus pay equity for the Maroons, turning off trackers and inclusive gyms”

Last week I shared how the Wellington Phoenix are struggling to secure a sponsor, any sponsor, for their women’s team. This seems unbelievable at a time when women’s sport is smashing it. This week Michael Long at Sports Pro Media shared an in-depth look into both commercial partnerships and digital content of women’s sport. As Michael poetically describes, “ifContinue reading “Innovation in commercial and content of women’s sport and uniforms”

There were some big stories this week! First, after Rebecca Sowden’s, it turns out timely, blog last week about the silence in the commercial world in regards to women’s sport, it was revealed this week that despite promising noises in the lead up to their launch and approaching all the key businesses, the Wellington Phoenix haven’t been able to sign aContinue reading “Further silence in the commercial world for women’s sport, coverage opportunity missed, and important lesson in body self image”

With only five months until the Cricket World Cup, a year until the Rugby World Cup, the FIFA World Cup imminent (and the IWG conference in May 2022), Rebecca Sowden has written an excellent exposé on the silence in the commercial and marketing world on these high profile events. The opening line is the most critical, 1 billionContinue reading “Silence in the commercial world for women’s sport, another lesson on how not to handle sexual harassment allegations and HPSNZ release women in coaching stats”

There were some big announcements in women’s sport this week. First up, Gemma Lewis and Natalie Lawrence were announced as head and assistant coaches of the Wellington Phoenix’s women’s team, just the second club after Canberra United to have women in both the head coach and assistant positions. NZ Football also announced the team that will be takingContinue reading “All women coaching team for the WPX, women’s media coverage up 2 points, and refs deserve better”

During my PhD I have come across a number of tools that have helped make my PhD journey a little less painful. A lot of these I have either come across accidentally on Twitter (shoutout to #AcademicChatter), or I used in my previous life in my career in communication, marketing and project management. Below isContinue reading “Tools to tackle your PhD (or any project)”