Discover Sports Tech: Creating Impact for High School Students in Partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal
San Francisco - July 18, 2023: Women in Sports Tech (WiST) has developed and launched a new series Discover Sports Tech: How To Go Pro. This engaging original on-demand video series introduces high school students and young professionals to the wide array of exciting careers in sports tech. The videos feature professional role models working in impactful and interesting careers in the sports tech industry. Viewers will meet a shoe designer, a NBA/WNBA game DJ, an expert in XR (mixed realities), an Esports professional and others doing exciting work in the industry. They will discover mentors, learn what skills are needed to succeed and how to find more information about each industry category, as well as how to start preparing for a career of their own.
WiST Corporate Partner Comcast NBCU is celebrating the video series in Philadelphia with Telemundo as part of its campaign to kick off the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Comcast is hosting a ‘Women in Sports Tech Career’ panel on July 18th at the Lift Labs in the Comcast Technology Center for junior and high school students affiliated with the Philadelphia Chapter of the Boys & Girls Club. The goal of the panel is to inspire students to think about interesting careers in the sports tech industry and encourage students to keep up their STEM studies and participation in sports tech. As a parting gift, Comcast will surprise the students with free laptops.
The career panel is a partnership between Comcast, Telemundo, and the nonprofit Women in Sports Technology.
“We are thrilled to share this inspiring and educational content with young women as they are transitioning from high school into postsecondary studies and beyond. Each video in the series shares a different perspective on how to pursue your own unique career in sports tech,” says Marilou McFarlane, CEO + Founder of WiST. “The talented professionals sharing their stories are incredible mentors for the next generation, who need to ‘See It To Be It.’ Through this on-demand series, we are able to positively scale our impact in pursuit of our mission to keep young women participating in their STEM studies and also playing the sports they love. These students are our industry’s talent pipeline of the future.”
Anecdotes, advice, and personal stories from industry leaders reinforce that sports tech is accessible to all types of women with different interests and aptitudes. “Basketball is my favorite sport. I love basketball. Can I play it well? No. So I feel blessed that I get to DJ for two wonderful basketball teams,” explains DJ Heat for the Washington Mystics and Washington Wizards on how her love for sport led to a career she couldn’t have imagined in high school. “I think it's just something I always wanted to do because I loved sports so much, and I knew I wanted to work in sports in some type of capacity.”
“Early in my career, I thought I had to be like men in order to get to be a CEO or to advance my career. And that's just not the case. You can be who you are and achieve those things,” shares Kendall Tyson, Senior Vice President of Finance & Business Intelligence at the Seattle Kraken and WiST Board member.
“We are delighted that Comcast’s Internet Essentials is a distribution partner for the Discover Sports Tech series that is accessible to Comcast Lift Zones across the country,” says Jenna Kurath, Vice President of Startup Partnerships, Head of Comcast NBCU SportsTech. “This provides unique content that we know will have a powerful impact on viewers in the after-school setting. Featuring women in such exciting careers, who offer such wonderful support and advice, is consistent with our mission to keep education accessible, inspiring, and fun!”
The Discover Sports Tech: How To Go Pro series can be viewed here. WiST plans to expand the series throughout 2023, providing additional inspiration and perspectives on careers in sports tech.
###
Contacts:
Alison Skidmore, alison@womeninsportstech.org
About WiST
Women in Sports Tech (WiST) is a nonprofit organization that drives transformative growth opportunities for women and employers in sports tech and innovation at all stages of their careers, from the classroom to the boardroom. WiST develops and delivers innovative programs, original content and a global community that provide tangible value for women and employers alike.
Its flagship initiative, the WiST Fellowship program, provides internship experiences and grants for highly motivated college and graduate school students to pursue summer projects in sports technology. Additional WiST programs include the WiST Next Gen Resource Hub “Discover Sports Tech” for high school students, the original content series WiST Presents, and the WiST NETWORK career hub, the single source for diverse hiring in the sports tech industry.
WiST is supported by donations from numerous corporations and organizations, including Australian Sports Technologies Network, Catapult Sports, Comcast NBCU, DICK’S Game Changer, FEVO, HOKA, IBM Sports, the NBA, Next League, Nike, Perch, PointsBet, Shorewind Capital, Sports Reference, SRAM, Stats Perform, Tempus Ex, Titleist, the USOPC, Zoomph and more. WiST has provided an array of diverse panelists for learning experiences at Hashtag Sports, CES, SIGA, SXSW, the Stanford GSB Sports Innovation Conference, and more. For more information, please visit womeninsportstech.org.