7. Breaking Barriers for Women in Sports with Brenda VanLengen
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Brenda VanLengen is an Emmy Award-winning multi-sport TV broadcaster. She’s the primary analyst for the Big 12 Conference women's basketball coverage on Fox Sports and Play-by-Play announcer for ESPN and the SEC Network Monday night games, as well as an analyst for local networks.
In today’s episode, Brenda shares how her family supported her love of sports from a young age and she eventually went on to play basketball at the University of Nebraska Kearney. Her legacy at Nebraska–Kearney includes being named one of their top 20 scorers all-time, a two-time Academic All-American, All CSIC-1st Team, and All-District 11 First team. She also helped build up the program and her team made an appearance in the NAIA National Tournament.
Though she studied education and planned on becoming a high school teacher, women’s college basketball was her biggest passion. She got her lucky break when she was asked to fill in for the color commentator at a Kansas State game. Since then, she’s been an analyst for over 1,200 women’s basketball games.
Over her 27 year career, Brenda has seen first-hand how much progress has been made in women’s college basketball. But, there’s still a lot of work to be done to support girls and women in sports. Her latest project is a documentary series titled If Not For Them, which details the epic story of the forgotten women who changed the world for the love of their sport. She wants to tell the origin story of women’s basketball and highlight all the amazing women and men who elevated the sport.
Listen to today’s episode to hear more about Brenda’s journey and the awareness she’s bringing to equality in women’s basketball.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Simplecast, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Topics Covered:
- Brenda’s favorite moments from the sidelines
- Breaking through limiting beliefs and being open to saying ‘yes’
- How Brenda brings a different perspective and voice to broadcast journalism
- Learning how to take advantage of your strengths
- Why it’s so important to explore the history of women’s basketball
- Brenda’s fundraising efforts for If Not For Them
- The intersection of Title IX and the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship
- Empowering girls and women in athletics
About our guest:
- If Not For Them Website
- If Not For Them Donation Page
- Brenda's Website
- Brenda’s Twitter
- Brenda’s Instagram
Special Offers:
- If there’s a topic or charity you want me to highlight on the podcast, DM it to me on Instagram @getbusylivin_pod
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