SportsTravel Podcast

From its signing in 1972, Title IX has become the backbone for which women’s sports have climbed from decades of inequity and ignorance to the spot they have today. Particularly for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement, the past decade has seen the biggest names and biggest accomplishments come from the women’s teams. Indeed, women’s professional sports teams saw record attendance and ratings this season, suggesting there has been tremendous progress at the elite level of women’s sports, especially in recent years. But there of course remains considerable work ahead.

At the recent TEAMS Conference and Expo, we assembled an impressive group of women who have accomplished some amazing feats in sports both on the field and off. Our discussion included:

Hilary Knight, an Olympic gold medalist, three-time Olympic silver medalist and eight-time world champion in in hockey, who holds the record for the most all time points and goal scored at the women’s world championships;

Amanda Kraus, the CEO of USRowing and one of the few female chief executives of an Olympic national governing body;

Linda Logan, the longtime CEO and president of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission in Ohio and a trailblazer in the sports tourism industry;

Kaleo Maclay, a three-time Paralympic medalist for TEAM USA’s sitting volleyball team, including two golds and a sliver, with 14 years competing at the elite level,

And Benita Fitzgerald Mosely, a gold medalist in the 100-meter hurdles at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles who is now president of the LeagueApps Fund Play foundation and VP of community and impact for the youth sport management technology platform.

In this discussion moderated by SportsTravel Managing Editor Matt Traub, we talk to each of these titans of sport about their own journeys and experience with Title IX and what remains to be done in the future for true equality to be achieved.

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Youth sports are a bigger industry than any professional sports league in the country and are valuable for destinations of all. With multi-sport venues continuing to be built around the country, the industry shows no signs of slowing, but challenges remain from keeping children safe at events to getting them engaged in the first place.

In a discussion that was recorded at the TEAMS Conference & Expo in Oklahoma City, we brought together a panel of leaders in the youth sports space to discuss the industry's most pressing issues, opportunities for sports organizations and destinations to work together, and the future of youth sports across the country.

The session was moderated by SportsTravel executive editor and publisher Jason Gewirtz and the panel included Ju'Riese Colon, chief executive officer of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport; Megan Ditchman, vice president of marketing and partnerships for Elite Tournaments; Sarah Dyer, senior director of operations for EventConnect; and Wayne Moss, executive director for the National Council of Youth Sports.

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The last World Cup sliding event in North America was held in 2019. All three North American tracks lost events — including world championship races in Whistler and Lake Placid — because of the pandemic, with international officials relocating those events to Europe and Asia. American and Canadian sliders spoke out about a wish for more races on home ice and how having essentially the first half of the bobsled and skeleton World Cup seasons in North America should be a boost to both programs. And now this year, that finally comes true with the World Cup season starting November 22 in Canada before going to Park City, Utah, from December 1-3 and then to Lake Placid, New York, for the world push championships and World Cup event.

[article_sidebar]Aron McGuire was a member of the USA Bobsled national team from 2003 through 2006 and after his athletic career was completed, he worked for USA Track & Field and the USOPC, eventually becoming the senior director of Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers. He was named USA Bobsled and Skeleton chief executive officer in January 2020 and has since steered the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, a successful Olympic Winter Games performance in Beijing with new stars on the world scene and the return of international competition to North America. He also describes the process of how to become part of the USA Bobsled and Skelton national team and what they look for in an athlete.

In this conversation, SportsTravel Managing Editor Matt Traub sits down with McGuire to talk about the upcoming events, how he has helped grow the sport, how athletes can become part of the bobsled or skeleton national teams and much more.

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When the COVID-19 pandemic began, mass participation races were some of the first to shut down. And when events started to return, they were some of the last to come back by nature of their key element: bringing large amounts of people together to experience a similar event. But mass participation events — running races, triathlons, cycling tours, obstacle races, to name a few — remain some of the biggest potential economic drivers for cities. Perhaps more importantly, they remain tremendous ways to improve the quality of life of residents in a city or for participants who travel to compete.

For years, Chris Robb has been following trends in the space. Robb is the founder of Mass Participation World, which includes an annual business conference in the space, and is a leading advocate for the industry. During the pandemic, he leaned into his specialty of trying to unite a disparate industry, launching podcasts and webinars to help organizers get back on their feet and supporting research to show the potential impact these kinds of sporting events can have on communities no matter where in the world they are located.

In this conversation, SportsTravel Executive Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz sits down with Robb to discuss why mass participation races are struggling to get back on track, the root causes for what has been a slow return, the "mass participation ripple effect" and what role destinations can and should be playing to help the industry recover to its fullest.

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Wayne Moss began his career in professional sports, working for the Detroit Lions and the Baltimore Orioles before taking the call to service and joining the recreation divisions in his hometown of Cleveland and later Dekalb County in Georgia. He then worked 15 years at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, where he led program planning and assessment efforts. In 2018, he was appointed the executive director of the National Council of Youth Sports, whose members serve an estimated 60 million registered participants in organized youth sports programs.

The NCYS works to promote the essential role of youth sports in America, with a goal of enhancing the experience of all participants by reducing barriers and creating safe environments. And that’s no small task. With issues such as ensuring athlete safety, increasing participation rates, finding enough qualified coaches and volunteers, and providing adequate access to organized sports, the youth sports landscape has challenges left and right. And yet there remain opportunities thanks to the work of the National Council of Youth Sports and others in the space. As part of its advocacy efforts, the council will promote National Youth Sports Week, October 24–29, with an emphasis on all the things the organization stands for in its efforts to get more kids involved in sports and to provide them a safe atmosphere in which to do so.

In this discussion with SportsTravel Executive Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, we talk about the work the NCYS is doing on the ground, what more can be done and the challenges and opportunities that await.

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Max Siegel has been the chief executive officer at USA Track & Field since May 2012, making him one of the longest-tenured CEOs in the U.S. Olympic movement. During that time, USA Track & Field has remained one of the best-performing NGBs and made huge strides in the sponsorship landscape thanks to a long-term deal with Nike.

[article_sidebar]Coming off the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, the first time the event has been held in the United States, Siegel sat down with SportsTravel Managing Editor Matt Traub to discuss how the world championships went, plans to grow the sport of track and field dramatically leading up to LA28, sponsorship and branding on the NGB and individual athlete levels and so much more.

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There aren’t many kids who have the opportunity to be exposed to the Olympic version of the sports of canoeing and kayaking, but Joe Jacobi was one of them. After being exposed to the sport in a summer camp near the Washington, D.C., area where he grew up, Jacobi found himself on the path to elite competition.

Years later that led to international rankings for him and his partner Scott Stausbaugh in the two-man version of whitewater canoe slalom. By the time the 1992 Olympic Summer Games came around in Barcelona, they were poised to take a serious run at the podium. That effort, which culminated in the first U.S. gold medal ever in canoe slalom, came after years of intense preparation and training. After competing, Jacobi went on to administration at the then-governing body of the sport, USA Canoe/Kayak, which moved its headsquarters to Oklahoma City after that destination began a major investment in paddlesports.

Now, he is back living near Barcelona as a a performance coach and author, who latest book is called "Slalom: 6 River Classes About How to Confront Obstacles, Advance Amid Uncertainty and Bring Focus to What Matters Most." In this conversation, SportsTravel Executive Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz talks with Jacobi about his path to the Olympic Games, the triumph he had in Barcelona and the lessons he learned from a career in a sport whose very nature lends itself to thinking differently when obstacles are thrown into our path.

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Phil Andrews is credited with making multiple changes for the better over a decade of service at USA Weightlifting, including the past six years as CEO, and overseeing an elite team that at the Tokyo Olympics took home its first Olympic silver in women’s weightlifting. Among his challenges at the governing body was a deep debate internationally over the future of the sport, one that very well may see weightlifting removed from the Olympic program in future years over concerns about their approach, or lack thereof, to doping at the international level. Andrews was a fighter for the anti-doping cause, an effort that he pushed as he also fought to expand the sport of weightlifting to the widest audience possible in the United States.

In July, he was named CEO of USA Fencing, an organization that has had its own challenges in recent years, especially in areas surrounding SafeSport. But it’s an organization with an even larger membership than weightlifting — around 40,000 members compared to about 30,000 — and one that produces some sizable events, including its Summer Nationals, which were most recently held at the convention center in Minneapolis. Andrews will spend the next few months on a listening tour among his new constituents, but before he does, he sat down with SportsTravel Executive Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz to discuss his own history in the sport, the future of the NGB’s events, its desires to partner more with potential host cities and how in the world light sabers may fit into the equation.

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Spikeball is a beach and park game played with four people and described by some as a warped version of 2-on-2 volleyball that's heavy on spikes, drop shots, trickery, and diving around. The sport, originally created in 1989 before its modern revival in 2008, has grown not just throughout the United States but internationally.

Nora White, senior sport development manager at Spikeball, got hooked after seeing the sport while hanging out with her family and has made it into a career, helping organize events of all shapes and sizes. She joined us on the podcast to discuss her involvement in the sport, what it’s like for those who have never played the sport before, the demographics of tournaments, its spread internationally and what its growth plans are going forward. 

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At 37 years old, Travis Shumake may be new to drag racing as a driver, but he’s definitely not new to the sport. His late father, Tripp Shumake, was the winner of multiple NHRA titles and his mother, Susie Shumake, is a member of the Arizona Drag Racing Hall of Fame for her contributions to the sport. But it wasn’t until recently that Travis decided he wanted to give it a go behind the wheel. And he is doing so in full knowledge that when he hits the pavement at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka for the Menards NHRA Nationals, he will become the first openly gay driver on the circuit. It’s a milestone he doesn’t take lightly and one that he is hoping will spark new conversations among the sport's fans base, which over the years has leaned conservative. But his story isn’t the only one that may spark new conversations.

[article_sidebar]Shumake's car, a 24-foot, 4,000-horsepower nitromethane-burning, rainbow-colored drag racer, will be sponsored by and feature the branding of Visit Topeka, the city’s convention and visitors bureau. As you’ll hear from Visit Topeka president Sean Dixon, who joins the conversation, the convention bureau is looking to promote itself as open to all visitors and will be using the sponsorship to promote the upcoming and inaugural Pride Kansas, a statewide pride festival that will be held in Topeka, September 17–24. For Visit Topeka, backing Shumake isn’t just a sports sponsorship play. It’s a play for new visitors and an effort to promote the city as welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community.

In this conversation, we talk drag racing, Shumake’s journey to the circuit after being around the sport his whole life and how a convention bureau is looking to change perceptions by going all in on a sports sponsorship deal that it hopes will attract new visitors to the Kanas destination.

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