Dick’s, If You’re Listening: Women Like to Play and Read About Sports

By Susie Orman Schnall

With the announcement that Dick’s Sporting Goods, the largest U.S. sporting-goods chain is reorienting its retail focus toward female buyers, everyone but women are realizing the spending power controlled by women, our love of sports, and our desire to sometimes buy running shoes, yoga pants, and soccer balls that aren’t pink.

According to Bloomberg, Dick’s is leaning in to women’s sports with an ad campaign celebrating women in sports, a $5 million grant to the U.S. Soccer Foundation, support of USA Softball, and expanded in-store offerings for women and girls.

While some women, this writer included, may find it a bit laughable that a company has to put out a press release to announce its support of 50% of the population, a population that statistics show is playing sports in record numbers, we sometimes have to take progress when it’s offered. 

These days, there’s plenty in women’s sports to rally behind: the U.S. women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay, the fact that the leading all-time scorer in soccer worldwide is a woman (shout-out to Abby Wambach for her graceful Instagram post conceding her title to Canada’s Christine Sinclair), Serena Williams’ record as the leading singles winner of any tennis player man or woman, and the appearance of Katie Sowers as the first female football coach in Super Bowl history. 

Dick’s, if you’re listening, might I suggest that you start stocking books about women in sports too? Not only do women like playing sports and watching sports, we also like reading (and writing!) about inspiring female athletes. Here are a few recommendations to get you started:

FAST GIRLS by Elise Hooper. Historical fiction about three trailblazing women runners who made history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

WOLFPACK: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game by Abby Wambach. Based on her viral 2018 Barnard commencement speech, two-time Olympic soccer gold medalist Wambach delivers an empowering rally cry for women.

FIND A WAY by Diana Nyad. The swimmer’s passionate story of her 111-mile swim from Cuba to Florida.

OUT AND BACK: A Runner’s Story of Survival and Recovery Against All Odds by Hillary Allen. Allen’s memoir about a dramatic accident she lived through and her journey back.

DUST BOWL GIRLS by Lydia Reeder. The story about the formidable Cardinals, a female basketball team in the 1930s.

WOMEN IN SPORTS: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky. An illustrated book showcasing fifty notable female athletes from the 1800s to today along with infographics about women in sports.

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Susie Orman Schnall is the award-winning author of four novels. Her latest, We Came Here to Shine, is historical fiction about two ambitious women—one of whom is a swimmer—and their summer working at the 1939 NY World’s Fair. 

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/susieschnall

Find out more about her on her website: https://susieschnall.com/

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WE CAME HERE TO SHINE

Set during the iconic 1939 New York World’s Fair, two intrepid young women–an aspiring journalist and a down-on-her-luck actress–form an unlikely friendship as they navigate a world of endless possibility, stand down adversity, and find out what they are truly made of during the glorious summer of spectacle and opportunity…

“An ode to female friendship that pulses with momentum and left me breathless.” –Fiona Davis, national bestselling author of The Chelsea Girls

“A remarkable novel about the challenges women face and the courage they must summon in order to lead the lives they deserve.” –Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of The Two-Family House

Vivi Holden is closer than she’s ever been to living her dream as a lead actress in sun-dappled L.A., but an unfair turn of events sends her back to New York, a place she worked so hard to escape from. She has one last chance to get back to Hollywood–by performing well as the star of the heralded Aquacade synchronized swimming spectacular at the World’s Fair. Everything seems to be working against her, but her summer in New York will lead to her biggest opportunity to find her own way, on her own terms…

Maxine Roth wants nothing more than to be a serious journalist at the iconic New York Times, but her professor has other plans. Instead, she’s landed a post at the pop-up publication dedicated to covering the World’s Fair–and even then, her big ideas are continually overlooked by her male counterparts. Max didn’t work this hard to be the only–and an unheard one at that–woman in the room.

When Max and Vivi’s worlds collide, they forge an enduring friendship. One that shows them to be the daring, bold women they are, and one that teaches them to never stop holding on to what matters most, in the most meaningful summer of their lives.

PRAISE FOR THE SUBWAY GIRLS
“Feels perfect for fans of Beatriz Williams and Liza Klaussmann.” –Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones and The Six
“Feminist at heart …Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Camille Di Maio will adore this book.” –Jennifer S. Brown, bestselling author of Modern Girls
“Perfect for fans of Fiona Davis’s The Dollhouse, this engrossing tale highlights the role that ambition, sexism, and true love will forever play in women’s lives.” –Amy Poeppel, author of Small Admissions

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips