Women's sport suffers from lack of visibility

Let us dispel some myths firstly:
Womens sport does not lack talent
Women sporters do not train less hard than the men - they push their bodies to the limit too
Womens sport is not less interesting to watch - in fact in some sports it is more exciting to watch as the rallies are shorter.
Yes less women play sports than men, but this gap is decreasing and in the last Olympics the split was 50:50.

Women's sport suffers from lack of visibility. The media coverage ratio between male and female professional sports in the developed world is 10:1. The fan base is a lot smaller too, in fact world championships for some women's individual sports don't exceed more than 200 spectators. Men don't want to watch the women and women neither it appears. The sports spectator culture among women hasn’t kept pace with the participatory one.

Some believe the only way to increase the visibility of women's sport, is for women to compete in the mens competitions, but due to the physiology of men versus women, it would be impossible for women to compete at that level. If you compare the top 10 women tennis players they would find it hard to compete against men in the top 1000 rankings. In squash the top 10 women on the national arena, find it difficult beating men ranked 600 nationally. This is not a solution for those sports which require physical exertion.

Now if you compare one sport where the women get as much publicity and have just as many fans as the men, it is tennis. The game is easy to understand and follow for non-players of the sport. Remember understanding of the game is necessary to enjoy it and to want to follow it. During the breaks, the analysis helps to understand the game, the key moments and the decisive decisions, and ultimately builds up the excitement and enjoyment.

The tennis tour has a number of women "personalities" including the likes of Serena Williams who in fact has far more twitter followers than Roger Federa. Women in tennis has benefited from part of the women's ATP tournaments being played at the same time as the men's. So the media and the fans are already there, so they get the visibility. Equally tennis benefits from a lot of women role models, including the likes of Sue Barker the tennis commentator.

Another example of women getting a lot of visibility in their sport, is when they compete at the Olympics. In part this can be explained by the fact that they compete at the same venues and times as the men and therefore the press and fans/audience are already present. Patriotism plays a role here too, we will all cheer for a women from our country if it means another gold medal for the medal table.

Technology and scoring/rule systems have a huge role to play in increasing the interest in following certain sports, look at what the rule changes did for the game of rugby and the use of technology to help analyze football games at half time and checking refereeing decisions in tennis. However for some sports, like squash even changing the scoring for the women's game to match the mens scoring system has not managed to increase the fan base of the women's game.

The huge gap between opportunities, funding and media exposure given to males and females in the sporting world persists. However major inroads have been made in pay equity for international sporting competitions. In tennis, the French Open and Wimbledon joined ranks with the Australian and US Opens by offering both men and women competitors equal prize money. Also, the 2005 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon paid winners of men's and women's categories equal prize money. But these sports are in the minority. For instance, according to the US National Committee on Pay Equity, the average salary in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is only 2 per cent of the all-male National Basketball Association's (NBA) average.

There are many lessons to be learned from tennis, in the stride to increase the visibility of the womens sports:

- Combine the men and women's pro events as much as possible
- Ensure the audience understands the sport
- Use technology to make the sport more understandable & exciting
- Make women personalities and role models accessible

Sports world champions using twitter

Twitter is one of the best ways for sports stars to stay in touch with their fans and keep their fans engaged with their progress. Of course Lance Armstrong is the best example of a sporter using twitter to stay in touch with fans and well wishers. But I wondered how many WOMEN world champions/number 1's are actually using twitter to this end.

Well not that many as it turns out. I did a quick check of 13 individual sports and their current world number 1 (as of 7 Oct 09). So in order of popularity (most number of followers on twitter as of 7 Oct 09):

- Serena Williams (tennis) - 1,207,513
- Lindsey Vonn (downhill skiing) - 1,288
- Nicol David (squash) - 590

The following world number 1's do not yet have a twitter account:

- Wang Lin (badminton)
- Yue Guo (table tennis)
- Jeter Carmelita (100m sprint athletics)
- Britta STEFFEN (50m freestyle swimming)
- Mariane Vos (road cycling)
- Elisabeth OSL (mountain biking cross country)
- Lorena Ochoa (golf)
- Emma Moffat (triathlon)
- Ana BRANZA (fencing)
- Veronica Blackmann (boxing heavyweight)

Vicious circle - financial support for topsporters

Over the last few days I have been at the Forexx Women's world squash championships in Amsterdam, voluntarily doing video interviews for a fellow website www.squashstars.com run by Nicol David number one in the world. You can view the videos on their YouTube channel www.youtube.com/squashstars

During the course of my chats and interviews, it has come to my attention that there is a viscious circle created in the financing of topsporters in Holland by the NOC NSF Olypmics association, which is not wholly supportive of the players that actually need the most help.

The current situation means that you can only get NOC NSF/topsporter status if you fall into the top 4 or 8 in the world. This excludes the rising stars. However if you earn too much money over a certain threshold, you are also excluded from the financial support of the NOC NSF. So if you are top in the world, you are winning tournaments so you may actually earn over the threshold and therefore by being too good, you dequalify yourself from the right to have financial support from the Olympics association.

Effectively they have created a viscious circle, you have to be very good, but not too good to get support. What about all those that fall into the most needed category, not quite in the top 10 in the world, but could be with more time to practice and more support could make it. Effectively unless that category have financial support from other means, ie from friends, family, or if they are lucky a sponsor, they have little chance of reaching the top 10. Should financial support from the NOC NSF be means tested like with university grants?

So again, it boils down to the topsporter needing the right support network, beyond the support or lack of support of their national olympics association to succeed. This was one of the many reasons I created www.e-sporters.com to aid sporters with developing a sport network.

5 reasons why sporters really don't need a sports agent

1. They take a larger % of earnings in comparison to the actual work and benefit they deliver to the sporter and they lock you into long contract.
2. The only tasks they really do is use their network and relationships and check contracts, which a lawyer could do and a network is something the sporter him/herself can build.
3. They take the control in terms of time and attention away from the sporter, the sporter becomes a puppet and loses control of their agenda and sporters need to decide their own agenda.
4. They do not have the sporters long term best interests at heart, they focus on what will deliver the most return in the shortest space of time and therefore the largest cut.
5. They do not help the sporter to create a network around them, therefore once the agent is gone the network and relationships are gone too.

Sporters need to cut out the middle man and start building their own network of relationships, being a sporter is a business, in business, relationships matter, and creating this network will stand the sporter in good sted for when they retire from competitive sports. Start building your network for free on http://www.e-sporters.com.

GB athletes hit by funding cuts - support for winners only

20% of top athletes in the UK have just lost their funding to help them achieve their sporting goals. Now only 33 athletes in the UK recieve lottery funding.

Funding of athletes (sporters) can hardly be described as huge sums of money:

• top level of funding of £25,383 per year


• 2nd tier funding £19,000 per year


• 3rd tier of funding which is £12,600 per year

But enough to ensure that the top sporters can enter international events and climb the international rankings even further. It is a blow when this is taken away.


The selection was made on those athletes who are more likely to deliver success in the world championships and then the London2012 games. Effectively only supporting those sporters who are guaranteed success. Like the saying goes "you need money to make money", "you only get support if you are good enough", which leaves the less well off and the current lower achievers out in the dark, it does not then take into consideration the potential achievements of those current lower achievers ie. upcoming talent. If talent then goes without funding and support, this group will find it more difficult to make it to the top, therefore this short term strategy of only backing the sure winners is only going to pay divends in the short term not the long term.


For those athletes that do not fall into the top 3 tiers they have to find other means of funding their sporting ambitions and goals - this is why sponsors and a support network are so important to these sporters.

www.e-sporters.com offers sporters the opportunity to form virtual multidisciplinary teams of individual sporters, and promote themselves to potential sponsors. Forming virtual multicisciplinary teams can make individual sporters more attractive to potential sponsors. It is free to register, create your team and invite your team members. Sponsors can also register for free and check out the teams who are promoting themselves.

Finding sponsorship - sporters resources

Finding sponsorship can be quite daunting for sporters who do not have a support network to help them find sponsors - but there are many resouces which can help. Here you will find some basic do's and dont's when approaching sponsors in the first place, maintaining the relationship requires other skills.

The main thing about sponsorship is to remember it should be a win-win for both parties. So understanding what both sides what to get out of the relationship, discussing fair compromises and forging an agreement around this premis will result in successful long term relationships for both parties. Sponsorship agreements entered into for hope of a quick return are doomed for failure.

Don't kid yourself, securing a sponsorship deal will take a lot of work, but their are tools and websites which can help you in this endevour.

Do's When approaching potential sponsors…..
Do your homework, try to pick companies that are relevant to you and your sport
Avoid approaching companies from the same industry sector as any existing sponsors you may have
View all social and formal gatherings as potential networking opportunities
Make use of all potential contacts – friends, relatives, friends of friends, promote yourself on business network websites like http://www.e-sporters.com and http://www.linkedin.com
Most companies receive many sponsorship requests so try to make sure your letter/email stands out from the others, this requires personalizing the message as much as possible, this requires research
If you are offered the chance to meet in person, make sure you are fully prepared. Plan meticulously
Take a carefully prepared presentation with you to any meetings. This shows initiative and professionalism
Always carry business cards with you. It will make you look professional
Take time to determine exactly what it is you can offer a sponsor
Be confident. Remember that you have much to offer a sponsor. Sponsorship is not a one-way relationship
Prepare an annual budget, calculating all your outgoings. This will help you to determine the level of support you should ask for and to clarify the areas in which you need the most help
Check with your National Governing Body before committing to display sponsor branding on your kit. Rules vary from sport to sport and event to event
Try to develop a relationship with your local paper. Building your profile locally will put you in the ‘shop window’ for local businesses. Press coverage also gives you the opportunity to actively promote your sponsor
Don’t be afraid to ask. Many companies will be keen to help – they just won’t know how!

Dont's When approaching potential sponsors……
Don’t view sponsorship support as cash alone – there are many ways that a sponsor can help you
Don’t ask small companies for a large amount of cash – they will most likely say no, be realistic
When writing to potential sponsors, do not state how much money or product you want – leave that for the face-to-face meeting
Don’t over promise. Make sure you can deliver on your sponsor commitments
Don’t commit to anything that you think may cause conflict with your sport’s Governing Body or its sponsors. Check first with your lifestyle adviser or NGB

This site provides more detailed information: http://sponsorship.uksport.gov.uk/

Register for free on http://www.e-sporters.com - create your sporters profile, with your YouTube promo video, enter your experience, achievements, photos and what you are looking for and check the box "looking for sponsor".

A great example of using a top sporter to promote a brand

This picture appeared on the front and back covers of The Edge (business magazine) promoting CIMB. If you did not already know, this lady is the number 1 in the world in squash, a Malaysian woman called Nicol David.

This is a great example of using a top sporter to promote a brand and its values and its determination to ride through the current economic crisis. Nicol went on to win the Malaysian open to top it off for CIMB.

The important thing for CIMB is to ensure that it lives up to the brand values it is promoting by associating itself this this ultimate champion, ie. determination, skill, strength, durability, self belief, dependability and the ability to keep smiling in tough times too. If CIMB does not live up to those values, it will be not only disappointing its customers, but also devaluing the Nicol David brand.

This issue of sponsorship being a long term partnership between sporter and sponsor in terms of brand building, is something I am trying to encourage on the sports community site I built www.e-sporters.com. Through the site, sponsors and sporters/teams alike can check each other out, network, build relationships and create a win win for both parties. If you are either a sporter or from an organisation which supports sporters in achieving their goals - you should register at the site (it is free to register).