Editor’s Note: Let’s Go Girls

Madison is a women’s sports town. If you’re not convinced, read Digital Editor Anna Kottakis’ story from this month's issue . We’re naturally set up as a sports-centric city, being home to a Big Ten university, but the last few years’ success of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Women’s Hockey and Women’s Volleyball teams in particular has certainly shifted the spotlight.

“It’s an amazing time for women’s sports in general right now,” Kathryn Reynolds said at the announcement of the new Madison-based summer collegiate women’s fast-pitch softball team, which starts its season this month. “People act like there’s not people that are really craving women’s athletics, [but] it’s simply not true,” said Reynolds, who is the Northwoods League softball president and commissioner.

And it’s not just a Madison phenomenon. This year, the world watched the Iowa Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark finish an incredible, record-setting collegiate career to become the all-time scoring leader (among both men and women) in Division I basketball history. She’s part of the reason women’s sports viewership and revenue are breaking records in 2024. Women will also make history at this month’s Olympic Games in Paris with, for the first time, an equal number of male and female athletes.

Here in Madison, women are entering the game — at every level.

I recently sat down with Stephanie Gander, Madison’s newest USA Pickleball ambassador. She’s one of 30 Wisconsin volunteer ambassadors for the national pickleball association who are promoting and teaching the game to others and assisting with and setting up local tournaments. Gander has been playing pickleball for just over a year and says she’s an amateur at best. (She did mention she’s been an athlete since childhood and even won a silver medal at a Dallas pickleball tournament, so I’m fairly certain she’s being humble.) Competitive success aside, the game has done so much for her already, she says. She has nearly 100 contacts in her phone from people she’s met through pickleball, and the game has helped keep her active, both physically and in the community.

But here’s what struck me as an intriguing and important aspect of Gander’s pickleball participation: She’s using it as a professional networking tool. As a commercial interior designer, she’s met pickleball players who have turned into clients. She mentioned one instance when she was at a work event in Madison for architects, construction companies and engineers. “I probably knew a quarter of the room just from pickleball,” she says.

To me, that seems like power that had previously only been found within the “boys’ club” of golf. And by playing a more affordable, multigenerational, learn-in-one-day sport, Gander is making business connections while simultaneously inviting others to join her on the court.

That’s a level of inclusion that feels like a differentiating element in the rise of women’s sports that we’re seeing today. As women step onto more fields and courts, they’re keeping the door open to opportunities for other women and nonbinary people, too — and the impact goes beyond the game.

My Soft Spot for Softball

At the first news conference for Madison’s new fastpitch softball team, the Night Mares, it was mostly women in leadership roles who stepped up to the podium to speak. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Madison Mallards General Manager Samantha Rubin and others talked about a new era of women’s sports to a roomful of invested fans, media members and local youth softball players.

That announcement sent a clear message that local women’s athletics are worth investing in — that those local girls wearing softball visors are worth investing in. I used to be one of those girls — I played sports from youth programs (that’s little me above) to college softball to my current summer beer league. As I looked at those young girls and thought about their burgeoning athletic careers, I became emotional thinking about how important sports have been in my life, and how much they’ve taught me — lessons and skills I still carry with me today.

To see this kind of support and outlook for women’s athletics in the Madison area makes me so proud and excited for what’s ahead. Because this only makes our team — our community — bigger and stronger.

Andrea Behling is editor at Madison Magazine.

This article originally appeared in the July 2024 issue of Madison Magazine . Subscribe today .

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