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KC Bloom
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SALEM, MASS. 鈥� Youth and women鈥檚 sports are going through explosions in audience popularity, financial influence, and more. BG西游捕鱼鈥檚 sport and movement science department is here to talk about it.
Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 11 and spanning the next three months, sport and movement science is hosting an intimate two-part discussion on the growing popularity of youth and women鈥檚 sports. The series kicks off Tuesday, Feb. 11 with Jack Sweeney, a 1995 Salem State graduate who has worked in the field of youth sports for 29 years and coached hockey at the DIII and DI levels during that time. He is currently volunteering with SCORE Boston hockey, which is part of the NHL鈥檚 Hockey is for Everyone initiative.
鈥淵outh sports is a growing industry, as are women鈥檚 sports, and they鈥檙e growing at different levels for different purposes,鈥� said KC Bloom, a professor of sport and movement science who is among the faculty organizing the series. 鈥淎s not only a professor and a researcher but also a youth sports coach and board member, I鈥檝e seen the good and the bad in youth sports. There are a lot of issues with quality coaching, how parents respond to youth sports, and a number of conversations around what鈥檚 right for kids and where the emphasis is. A lot of it is based on money. Youth sports has become a huge industry with both financial and socio-emotional development implications for kids and families.鈥�
Conversations should be focusing in on other areas such as 鈥� good sportsmanship, doing things for the right reason, and other positive skills that go along with youth sports, Bloom explained. However, these intangible things are often not emphasized with a big emphasis being placed on winning and getting ahead.
鈥淚n the second part of the series, Jane McManus is coming in April. She鈥檚 a New York Times writer who has written a book on the explosion of women鈥檚 sports,鈥� Bloom said. 鈥淲omen鈥檚 sports is an expanding industry. There鈥檚 a lot of excitement and growth in that realm. We鈥檝e got the WNBA, which is currently undergoing an expansion. We鈥檝e got a women鈥檚 professional baseball league starting up. Women鈥檚 soccer is huge and seeing an expansion in the number of teams. We鈥檝e also seen a large increase in terms of support at the university level. For example, everyone knows who Caitlin Clark is and people who were her fans when she was at Iowa are now following the WNBA. There鈥檚 been more and more investment鈥� And there needs to be more investment, because the equity isn鈥檛 there.鈥�
That isn鈥檛 just highlighting the disparity between the salaries of men and women playing the same sport at a professional level, Bloom explained. The conversation will also home in on sports-related research, where the impacts of competition on women鈥檚 bodies aren鈥檛 studied nearly as much as that of men鈥檚 bodies.
The first talk in the series hosting Sweeney will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 1:40 pm, in room 214 of the O鈥橩eefe Complex.
For more information, contact Bloom at kbloom@salemstate.edu.
