BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Princeton University’s Maisie McPherson (So., Dana Point, Calif./Mater Dei) did not have much of a freshman season for the Tigers with 11 games prior to the 2020 season being shutdown by the COVID-19 outbreak.
However, the Tiger is making her mark via Voice In Sport following a season in which she posted four goals, five assists, 11 steals and a pair of field blocks in 11 contests.
Founded by Stef Strack, a former Nike executive and former Chief Executive Officer of Rag & Bone, a clothing manufacturer, Voice in Sport was created by Strack, “to get back to being involved in the athlete community, and she also saw problems she wanted to fix. She saw that girls at age 14 drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys—and dropout rates pick up again for girls at age 17. One key reason is the lack of visibility of role models, and studies have found that body image, confidence, and overall societal pressures are part of the reason for a higher dropout rate for girls in sport. Also, only 3.2% of sports media coverage is dedicated to female sports, and professional female athletes generally receive 15% to 100% less pay than their male counterparts in prize money and salaries.”
The company launched on August 24 with a team of almost 150 women working to provide female athletes between the ages of 13 and 22 a trusted network where they can have access to the tools they need to help navigate their teen and collegiate years as female athletes.
Earlier in the summer at the start of quarantine McPherson was looking for non-water polo activities to participate in and a friend reached out about Voice In Sport.
“He texted me asking if I would be interested in helping mentor young female athletes, which is something I’m very passionate about because the dropout rate for female athletes is (much) higher for girls than boys, and I realized I could truly make a difference with young female athletes.”
An initial goal for the company was to build name recognition.
“One part of my job was advocacy and learning about intersection in sport and why it’s significant and how we need to improve inequalities in sport. It’s something I didn’t really pay attention to before, and I’m grateful that I know now.”
Following the organization’s initial launch, McPherson shifted over to recruiting people to the company’s message.
“I don’t think mental health is talked about enough in sports, which is something Voice In Sport does—and is something I focus on in my mentoring. Taking time to realize that certain things are hard for us mentally, especially when you are stressed. I found my stress mostly was from recruiting, so learning how to acknowledge that and how to deal with that in a healthy manner was important. I also think people can benefit from the advocacy and content that Voice In Sport has. I think it’s good for girls to see that there are a lot of other girls freaking out about what’s going on in women’s sports.”
A free platform, Voice in Sport includes a network of female athletes for 1-on-1 or group mentorship sessions from the 90+ VIS League team members along with exclusive content from VIS CreatorsTM and VIS ExpertsTM to arm each athlete with better a knowledge about their mind and body. Further, it includes tools on how to advocate and champion the voice of female athletes to change the narrative for girls and women in sport.
To aid the cause, Voice in Sport also has launched a podcast to to explore the journey of female athletes by sharing untold stories on topics such as mental health, body image, sexual orientation, and female-specific sports science and nutrition. The podcast is available by CLICKING HERE.
The platform can be accessed at www.voiceinsport.com with additional content Instagram (@voiceinsport) and TikTok (@voiceinsport).
