GlobalSport Matters with Kenneth Shropshire

Nancy Hogshead-Makar sat down with GlobalSport Matters executive editor Kathy Kudravi recently to discuss how to hold universities responsible for Title IX compliance, how the U.S. Center for Safesport can help keep athletes safe and how Team Integrity is working to restore integrity to the U.S. Olympic movement.

When she took the mic for Amazon Prime Video's Thursday night broadcasts of the NFL in 2018, Pro Football Hall of Famer Andrea Kremer continued her reinvention in sports media. Along with ESPN's Hannah Storm, Kremer became the first woman to call an NFL game. This was just one of the many firsts for Kremer, who has been a witness to sports history.

In this edition of GlobalSport Matters with Kenneth Shropshire, Dr. Victoria Jackson, a former elite professional runner who was sponsored by Nike, discusses how sponsors were forced to change their stance after Alysia Montaño's video went viral.

Former Birmingham City youth player Jack Rutter suffered a brain injury when he was attacked outside a night club in 2009. His traumatic brain injury ended his goal of a professional career.

But Rutter wasn't done with football. He was able to transition to parafootball, playing for the East Midlands Cerebral Palsy team, a team that has players with neurological conditions.

In 2016, his skill and enthusiastic leadership earned him the captaincy of the Paralympics GB (Great Britain) side at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.

Rutter recently spoke with Dr. Scott Brooks, the Global Sport Institute's director of research on the process of being signed to a pro academy, which can happen as young as age 4.

Rutter, who is now a coach of para athletes, also delved into the para athlete competition.  He is now a coach of para athletes but is getting the global coaching certifications to coach able bodied football.

For athletes who participate in sports heavy on cutting, changing speed and maneuvering among bodies, leg injuries like ACL tears and other ligament and muscle tears are more common.

In this episode of Why Sports Matters with Kenneth Shropshire and reporter Brendon Kleen, senior journalism student at Arizona State University, discuss such injuries with two young athletes, Morgan McGarry and Claire Jarema, who suffered ACL tears early in their amateur careers and contextualizes these stories with Dr. Anikhar Chhabra, an orthopedic surgeon at Arizona's Mayo Clinic.

The guests use their anecdotal evidence to get to the bottom of one question: Are leg injuries in soccer, lacrosse and basketball the latest comparison for Tommy John surgeries in baseball players' arms?

The intersection of Islam and women's athletics, particularly in France, can be a study in the complicated relationship between a place and a culture. Dr. Scott Brooks examines this issue with Haifa Tlili, a professor at Paris Descartes University.

They discuss how a place and a cultural or familial background can cause conflict around body image and a desire to be athletic.

After two thrilling 2019 NCAA Tournament final games, what's next for the men and women completing their collegiate athletic careers? How do they make that transition from regimented and structured life of an athlete to the "real world?"

Kenneth Shropshire is joined by Dr. Scott Brooks to examine this issue. Both were collegiate athletes themselves and had to make that transition too.

We learn many lessons from sport and two events jump out of March Madness that many of us can learn from. What does Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo yelling and gesturing at Aaron Henry say about coaching today? How much is getting in a player’s face is too much for a coach?

And for those parents in the unique situation of coaching their children, what is the right approach to take. How should we coach our kids? Legendary player Johnny Dawkins is now coaching his son. Should parents coach our own kids and if so, how should we do it?

Kenneth Shropshire is joined by Global Sport Institute's director of research Scott Brooks as they shoot from way downtown and take you into the Sweet 16.

Three legal stories this week all collide in the sports arena after the U.S. women's national soccer team filed suit against the sport's governing body for gender discrimination, a judge rules the NCAA can't limit student compensation when it comes to education and the government indicts some rich and famous families for using fake sports scholarships to get their children into prestigious universities. Kenneth Shropshire and his guest, Arizona State University sports historian Victoria Jackson examine how these stories can have far reaching impacts.

On March 8, the U.S. women's national soccer team filed a class action lawsuit against US Soccer, the governing body, alleging "institutionalized gender discrimination" in pay, treatment and coaching.

In this week's Why Sport Matters with Kenneth Shropshire, Shropshire examines the importance of filing the suit on International Women's Day, how the near boycott of the world championships by the U.S. women's hockey team set a precedent and why lawyer Jeffrey Kessler could be a key to the lawsuit.