You Run Like A Girl - Edition 1

Good evening friends,

It’s December 31st, 2024.

All year I’ve been wanting to write this email. Talk about leaving it till the eleventh hour.

My name is Amita and I’m the creator of You Run Like A Girl, a media brand that gives a voice to women in sport. In this newsletter, my goal is to share the most interesting stories I read, watched or listened to about women’s sports each week.

I first launched this passion project as a podcast a few years ago. Then, I got sidetracked by my full-time tech job and my author career. But I always wanted to get back to building this.

I grew up melding my twin passions of sports and writing whenever I could, starting out as a reporter for my high school paper and then trying (and failing) to be a sports journalist in my 20s. Through career highs and lows, the desire to create a platform and brand where I could shine a light on women in the sports community never left me.

So, at the start of 2024, with my tech and author careers offering more forgiving hours for the first time in 5 years, I promised myself I would revisit this.

I spent the last 11 months fiddling around with fonts and design layouts, comparing email service providers, asking people for advice, and waiting for things to be perfect.

That’s why I’m sitting at my desk on New Year’s Eve.

Honestly, I feel like I’m back in school, frantically trying to finish a book report the night before it’s due - but the fact that I chose this over warbling Auld Lang Syne or screaming in Times Square as the ball drops says something about where I want this to go and how big I want this to be.

Why did I feel it was so important to do this now? After all, I had all year. I don’t have a big audience. No one is waiting for it.

There are two big reasons:

• The first is that I was inspired by Beehiiv co-founder Tyler Denk’s own newsletter journey (Beehiiv is the email provider software I decided to launch this newsletter with). He’s built a community by staying committed to writing and sending it every week (and that’s on top of growing a company). The idea of building in public became much less scary for me after reading his newsletter over the last few months.

• The bigger reason is that I refuse to break anymore promises to myself. While I did accomplish a lot this year (2 books written on top of a full-time job), I also disappointed myself when it came to other areas of my life. I think the worst person you can let down is yourself. I said I was going to send something and commit to building in public before the clock ticked over into 2025, and I’m doing it.

I hesitated with sharing all of the above, but being transparent is part of building in public.

So without further ado, here’s my first drop:

To say the women’s sports landscape changed dramatically in 2024 would be an understatement. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the name Caitlin Clark, the NWSL and WNBA announced expansion teams, female athletes scored big wins and even bigger followings at the Paris Olympics, and Netflix closed out the year by buying the rights to broadcast the women’s world cup of soccer in 2027 and 2031.

As a team of one, it would be impossible for me to analyze and comment on everything that transpired in 2024. But what I have always loved is reading and hearing the stories of female athletes and women who work in sports-related roles. I’ve rounded up a few of my favourites and am sharing them below.

In this edition:

• Teresa Resch is calling the shots (basketball)

• How Michele Kang became one of the biggest investors in women’s soccer (soccer)

• Inside the design of intricate, crystal-patterned U.S. Olympic gymnastics team leotards (gymnastics)

• An escape, a shot in the dark, a legacy: Here is Olympian Lilia Vu (golf)

• Sarah Nurse, one of hockey’s most marketable stars, is booked, busy and basking in it (hockey)

Ready? Let’s dive in.

Teresa Resch is calling the shots

In May, MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum, announced he’d be funding the WNBA’s first expansion team outside the U.S. The woman he picked as president? Teresa Resch. The former VP of operations for the Toronto Raptors, Resch will lead the Toronto Tempo into the 2026 season. And if the expansion is a slam dunk, it could pave the way for another Canadian team.

Read the full article here (if that link doesn’t work, try this).

How Michele Kang became one of the biggest investors in women’s soccer

It’s not often that a conversation at a Parisian cafe leads to a multimillion dollar investment. But that’s what happened with Michele Kang. In November, U.S. Soccer announced that Kang was donating $30 million to help grow women’s soccer through her global multi-sport organization, Kynisca. But as Kang shares, the road to becoming the first woman of colour to own a majority stake in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) was anything but easy.

Read the full article here (if that link doesn’t work, try this.)

Inside the design of intricate, crystal-patterned U.S. Olympic gymnastics team leotards

I loved this behind-the-scenes look at how Jeanne Douglass Diaz, design director at GK Elite Sportswear, conjured up the leotards for the U.S Olympic women’s gymnastics team. Diaz turned to the Olympic host city for inspiration, incorporating elements of haute couture and Parisian architecture throughout the eight-piece collection. The leotards, which boast over 47,000 hand-glued crystals, an innovative stretch satin material and cost up to $5,000 each, are the perfect marriage of fashion meets function.

Read the full article here (if that link doesn’t work, try this.) Diaz’s alma mater, Cornell, also ran an article about her - check it out here.

An escape, a shot in the dark, a legacy: Here is Olympian Lilia Vu

If you read nothing else, please read this. A moving true account of loss, hope, immigration and courage, this piece is a stark reminder of how the choices we make can shape us - and future generations - for years to come. This is not just a story about Olympian and pro golfer Lilia Vu - it’s the story of how her grandparents, Dinh Du and Hongyen Dao, escaped from Vietnam in the early 80’s after the fall of Saigon, and how that affected their families. This article brought tears to my eyes. My own words can’t do it justice, so I recommend carving out some time to read it.

Read the full article here (if that link doesn’t work, try this.)

Sarah Nurse, one of hockey’s most marketable stars, is booked, busy and basking in it

As one of the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s (PWHL) top players and most marketable stars, Sarah Nurse isn’t taking anything for granted. The 29 year-old from Hamilton, Ontario expertly navigates the worlds of hockey, business and activism with a grace and maturity that belie her years. With 5 World medals, 2 Olympic medals, and endorsement deals rumoured to be worth north of 7 figures, she’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Read the full article here (if that link doesn’t work, try this.)