Siren #142: The Olympics, of course! Plus Tracey Holmes, Fast Five with Megan Maurice, Sharon Finnan-White, and the Siren archives
A Women in Sport Collective
We have a bumper issue of the newsletter for y’all this month!
Firstly, happy Olympic Games to all who celebrate! We are so excited to share a piece by award winning journalist Tracey Holmes on the women at the Games who are making it the most gender equal in history.
We also have the amazing Megan Maurice featured in our Siren Fast Five where we catch up with women and non-binary people in sports media and ask them about their work, their career highlights and their advice for emerging sports media content creators.
This month we’re also sharing the voice of Australian Netball Diamond #105, Sharon Finnan-White who has provided some advice and reflections for those looking to create more culturally safe spaces for First Nations people in sport. Sharon works tirelessly in this space and we appreciate her generosity in bringing us along on her journey.
We’re also thrilled to have Athena Sports Nutrition as our sponsor for this edition! Welcome Athena!
A message from Athena Sports Nutrition and a special offer
Athena Sports nutrition is changing the sports nutrition game.
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Athena is backed by science, endorsed by athletes and the range tastes absolutely delicious.
Siren subscribers get an exclusive 30% off Athena products!
Use the code SIREN30 when shopping the range here.
Change Our Game Women in Sports Media Program
Applications for the 2023-24 Change Our Game Women in Sports Media Program Advancing Career Round close at 5 pm AEST, Monday 5 August 2024.
This round is open to grads of the Program or those who can demonstrate exceptional relevant experience in sports media and/or sport industry knowledge. If that’s you and you live in Victoria, apply!
Delivered by industry experts and friends of Siren, Emma Race and Lucy Race from Making The Call, the Advancing Career program designed for individuals seeking to progress career goals and skills in sports media to the next level.
Paris 2024: a celebration of women
Award winning journalist Tracey Holmes writes on the women who will make the 2024 Paris Games the most gender equitable yet, and one special woman in particular.
Fast Five with Megan Maurice
Fast Five is where we catch up with women and non-binary people in sports media and ask them about their work, their career highlights and their advice for emerging sports media content creators.
This month we caught up with award-winning journalist and author Megan Maurice. Megan has some great advice on unconventional pathways and pushing through when the imposter syndrome hits.
Megan recently published her third book, Life Goes On, stories of survival, support, hopes and fears. Find more info and get yourself a copy at your local bookstore.
How Sharon Finnnan-White is creating culturally safe spaces in netball
Sharon Finnan-White is the second First Nations woman to pull on the Australian Diamonds dress. She’s now working to drive more Indigenous representation in netball.
The latest from the Siren Sport X ABC Sport Partnership
ICYMI: the latest story published via our partnership with ABC Sport is a fantastic read from Jacinta Govind about how basketballer Mary Goulding overcame a near-fatal car crash to star in the NBL1.
MIFF sports movies
One of our fave newsletters, SportsMovies82, shared some sporty movie highlights from the Melbourne International Film Festival program on socials last week and we were running to book our tickets.
Here are some you might want to have on your radar:
Think the global surge in interest in women’s football is a relatively recent occurrence? This eye-opening documentary asks you to think again.
Did you know that there was an unofficial Women’s World Cup tournament held in Mexico way back in 1971? It was a mammoth success, capturing hearts and minds worldwide, introducing fans to new heroes. And then FIFA swung in to shut it down, erasing their glory from the record.
Executive-produced by Venus and Serena Williams – the latter of whom also acts as narrator – this invigorating documentary features not just the women who competed there (such as Carol Wilson) but also their successors today (including Brandi Chastain and Alex Morgan), writing their voices back into history.
From the Tiwi Islands to Melbourne and back again, four young women who seek to make it in elite sport must face uncertain futures.
Although Rina, Freda, Juliana and Jess hail from the Tiwi Islands – at the opposite end of Australia’s sporting capital, Melbourne – they all dream of playing professional footy in the AFLW. But while dreaming is one thing, achieving it is another.
This coming-of-age documentary shot in the Northern Territory and Victoria is the feature debut of Sal Balharrie and Luritja and Warumungu filmmaker Danielle MacLean. Confronting the universal themes of family, ambition and sacrifice through the specific lens of sport, Like My Brother is an inspiring film that will open viewers’ eyes not just to the realities of life in the Tiwi Islands but also to the resilience required to find success as an outsider.
Three Australian girls seek the ultimate success in the world of competitive skateboarding while sliding into an adolescence without handrails.
It’s 2016, and talented young skateboarders Hayley, Ava and Charlotte – aged 14, 13 and nine, respectively – have their sights set on one goal: to represent Australia at the Olympic Games. But this is no mere half-pipedream. Already nationally recognised as being among the best competitors in their age groups, they’re buoyed by the news that the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will be the first ever to feature competitive skateboarding – a sport where the usual rules of gravity don’t seem to apply, and where there’s no safety net to break your fall.
Shot over seven years, including the lead-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Eliza Cox’s coming-of-age documentary provides a gripping and at times devastating look into the challenges these girls must endure while navigating the complexities of growing up.
Watch the Tillies live at Fed Square and The Sydney Opera House!
Following the awesome vibes from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Federation Square in Melbourne and the Sydney Opera House will be live sites for those turning nocturnal for Paris 2024.
Entry to Fed Square will be ticketed for Tillies matches but tickets are free. All patrons must register online to secure their entry and avoid missing out. Registration is open for the Matildas matches listed below:
29 July, 3:00 am Australia vs. Zambia
1 August, 3.00 am Australia vs. United States
Additional ticketed matches for live screenings will be added to Fed Square’s website for registrations as, hopefully, our superstar Tillies progress through to finals!
For more information and other live screening head to 2024 Olympics & Paralympics LIVE Site at Fed Square
For the Sydney Opera House, it’s the same process. It’s free to attend but you need to register and there is a strict 2 ticket limit per person.
Welcome back to our Sanctum sisters!
The Outer Sanctum podcast is back for a limited season thanks to the AFLPA and we could not be more excited to have these clever, insightful, reflective, fun and friendly voices back in our lives! We’ve missed you!
And Siren co-founder Kasey Symons makes an appearance on episode two - check it out!
One of our faves, Dr Indigo Willing is doing awesome research on women skateboarders. Check out her work here on how women skateboarders are flipping the script ahead of the Olympics.
Loving following WNBA fashion? Check out this piece by the awesome Frankie de la Cretaz on how stylists are helping WNBA players elevate their drip and The Proud, Fashionable WAGs of Women's Sports.
It’s been a long road into the spotlight for women’s cycling after decades of exclusion. At last, women cyclists have the chance to race the pinnacle of cycling, the Tour de France Femmes. All episodes of the new documentary series “Second to Now” are now streaming on DocPlay to see this journey unfold.
AFLW season countdown is on! Siren co-founder Gemma Bastiani is back behind the mic for the Credit to the Girls show with Sarah Black and Lucy Watkin - subscribe! And also be sure to follow Gemma for all your AFLW news!
It’s not all fun and games at the Olympics, sport is, and has always been, political and France’s ban on the hijab is a painful reminder of that. Friend of Siren Shireen Ahmed has written this powerful piece: French hijab ban in sports called a 'shameful moment' as it prepares to host Olympics and Australian Muslim Olympic athlete, Tina Rahimi, has spoken on the issue on social media. We won’t have gender equality in sport until all women are able to participate in sport as their authentic selves. We stand with the athletes impacted and hurt by this decision.
From the Siren archives
We love the archives at Siren. Lucky for us, we have our own jam-packed archive full of gems that absolutely deserve to be re-read or read for the first time.
And because the Olympics are here we’ve pulled together some of our fave Olympics stories from the last 141 newsletters!
Sports journalist Marnie Vinall jumped in feet first when working on Australia’s official Tokyo 2020 broadcast, and shares some things she learned in the process.
Deakin University journalism student and Siren intern, Felicity Smith looks at some recent—and not so recent—commentary on women’s sports uniforms and the control over women’s bodies.
Inaugural Emerging Sports Writer Program participant Courtney Hagen makes her Siren Sport debut with her exclusive interview with Australian Women’s Bobsled Team captain, Ash Werner.
Siren’s new Deakin intern Georgia Dunne dips her toe in the water with our My Favourite Sporting Moment series, another moment from the 2016 Olympics.
The newest piece in our My Favourite Sporting Moment series tells us how Australia’s Rugby 7s gold medal inspired Brielle Quigley to return to sport.
Siren co-founder Alison Smirnoff shares her favourite sporting moment: that moment from the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Deakin University research into athletes and menstruation
This study aims to identify barriers to participation in sport and active recreation during periods (menstruation/bleeding) and strategies to overcome the barriers to participation.
If you meet the eligibility criteria and are interested in participating in the survey, learn more via the study website.
Siren is now on Patreon!
We have a Patreon! And we’ll be adding some cool things for our Patreon supporters over 2024 so if you can, sign up now!
Funds from our Patreon go towards:
commissioning and paying writers and content creators
running our Emerging Sports Writer Programs
creating opportunities for women and non-binary folk in sports media
The support of the Siren community has facilitated that work and helped support those commissions and opportunities and we can’t thank you enough.
You can become a Patron of Siren today and help us continue to challenge the status quo of sports media
