Beat story

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/news/article_3ace5e32-8a6d-11e5-85e4-a3c6b007b000.html

This story is an example of localizing, bringing the tragic Paris attacks to the WSU community by doing a short update to let WSU students know how fellow students are doing in Paris after the attacks. Obviously, the attacks are the biggest news item of the week, and this ties into the attacks for our community.

More women getting involved in sports

If Kayla Rhodes had been born forty years earlier, she likely wouldn’t have had a chance to run track. She probably would not have memories of lining up against fellow students from her school district. The only way she would have heard the bang of a starting gun is from the stands.

Since the institution of Title IX, more women in the United States have the opportunity to play sports. These opportunities come at all levels of education, from elementary school through college. Participation in K-12 school sports, like track and field for Rhodes, has increased from less than 300,000 young women playing in 1972 when Title IX became law to more than 2.8 million women participating in 2001 according to the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education. That growth has continued to the present day.

Along with the growing opportunities for playing sports in school, more women are entering professional sports as leagues in soccer and hockey have developed in the last ten years. In North America, college soccer players can now join the National Women’s Soccer League, a ten-team professional league supported by the national sport federations of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In hockey, there are two options for female athletes. The five-team Canadian Women’s Hockey League, which does not pay players, or the four-team National Women’s Hockey League, which does pay players and is in its inaugural season.

Yahoo Sports writer Jen Neale covers the CWHL and NWHL on Puck Daddy, a hockey blog. Neale said in the last five years, the focus on the women’s hockey event at the Olympics has led to more exposure and coverage.

“I can’t say it’s as big as I’d like it to be,” said Neale.

Neale said the women’s leagues will need support from the men’s leagues to be successful early on, with financial backing being important.

Neale said there is a challenge to overcome the inherent thought process that women’s sports are not as popular as men’s. Recently, Stephen A. Smith of ESPN made a comment about soccer players not wanting to mess up their hair on a free kick. Neale cited this as part of the ingrained attitude that women are not as good at sports as men.

Scott Jedlicka, Ph.D., a professor teaching sport sociology at Washington State University also noted the prevailing attitude, but acknowledged the growth of opportunities in recent years.

“The greatest expansion has been at the college level in terms of opportunities and equal treatment,” said Jedlicka. “There’s a greater measure of acceptance on college campuses.”

Jedlicka said the employment status of college athletes could have a big impact on the growth of women’s sports in the near future.

“If things remain similar to how they are now, there will likely be expanded opportunities for women’s sports,” said Jedlicka. “However, if big-time college sports get reconstituted as an employment-style system, this will perhaps negatively affect women’s sport.”

Jedlicka said the coverage of women’s sports today will have to change for greater acceptance to occur.

“We need to get beyond recognizing women athletes as women first,” said Jedlicka.

For Rhodes, her athletic career ended before college, as she stopped running track on her own terms.

“I’m thankful that I got the chance to participate,” said Rhodes.

Story of the week

This week, there's a story out about the new building projects the university is going forward with over the next couple of years. The focus of the story rests on the renovations to the old Bookie at Campus and Thatuna. The story details the fees students pay to help support the costs of the projects. There are also mentions to construction on satellite campuses. I found a big hole in the story, in which there is no mention of the upcoming renovation of Troy Hall, the former creamery building located next to Fulmer Hall on College Avenue. This renovation would have more news value to students in Pullman than most anything going on in Spokane or Everett.

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/news/article_27256586-8420-11e5-9025-57587c50ef2c.html

Trend Story Pitch

Two Sentence explanation: Women's sports are becoming more common in the United States and around the world. Many young women use college to explore their sporting opportunities, through official or club teams.

Evidence: Since Title IX was passed in the 1970s, the push for equity in sports between males and females has led to more opportunities available to women to participate as athletes. The percentage of female athletes in the Olympics since 1972 has increased from 14% to 42%, with the total number of female athletes increasing four times in that same span. Recent events like the 2015 Women's World Cup, as well as the launches of the CWHL and NWHL for hockey and the NWSL in soccer have provided female athletes with professional playing opportunities, while the WNBA remains as the first stable female sports league.

Why Now: The NWHL is in their first season, and talking to collegiate female hockey players on WSU's club team would help to highlight some of the reasons why playing sports can be as valuable an experience for women as it is for men.

Interviews: Player and/or coach for WSU Women's Ice Hockey club team, writer who covers women's sports with regularity, people involved in women's sports, Dr. Scott Jedlicka, professor with a background in the sociology of sport.

Format and length: 500 words written.

Campus Life Beat Story

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/news/article_da8b1d88-7d2b-11e5-bd9b-4b5f6ae5d073.html

Here's a story that's technically on my beat, recapping Pullman City Council's recent meeting. The part of the story I'm looking at is mentioned in the headline, although somewhat oddly buried in the story. The City Council has proposed changing the name of Nevada Street to Waller Street. This was proposed because Waller Hall is no longer active after 80 years as a residence hall for the university. I think this particular story could have been done as two separate stories, since the headline says one thing and the first six paragraphs have nothing to do with the headline.