Florida State University’s (FSU) women’s sports are arguably one of the greatest athletic programs in the nation, with a soccer team that has made 23 NCAA Tournaments and has won three straight ACC Women’s Soccer Championships just this past year. FSU also has a beach volleyball team that is currently ranked number two in the country, a basketball team that has won two ACC titles with a current rank of number four in the ACC and a softball team that has earned 17 ACC championships, currently ranked number five in the ACC. On top of that, FSU’s women’s track and field have also won four indoor conference championships, four indoor national championships and nine outdoor conference championships. FSU’s women’s lacrosse team was even ranked 11th nationally last year for the first time ever. FSU women’s sports dominate our athletic program, so why is no one talking about it?
Her Campus has the inside scoop with Sophia Villalonga, FSU’s lacrosse team president, and USA Lacrosse WCLA Division 1 second-team All-American, to give insight on why no one is talking about FSU women’s sports.
Her Campus (HC): FSU women’s sports are absolutely dominating our athletic program, so why do you think no one is talking about it?
Sophia Villalonga (SV): I feel like no one is talking about it because it has never been the focus, both at our college and nationally. FSU is known as a football school. The focus and even financial focus is typically on football. Most of the money, media coverage and even FSU’s merchandise is focused on football. This is partially valid as we have a strong football team, which is a big part of the culture here. But, there is absolutely no equivalence of support for any women’s sport. The women’s soccer team continues to dominate nationally and even plays professional teams and wins. Yet, not nearly enough focus is on them when they are playing at a level higher than collegiate. Even with their facilities, nothing compares to football. Even in the spring season, when football is not even in season, men’s basketball just becomes the next focus.
Many of our women’s sports teams dominate, but there is such little media coverage or anything across campus for it. On a club level, we have issues with the leagues. So we are part of the WCLA. The men’s club is MCLA. We are both under WCLA, and the men have a much greater media focus. Their league’s social media has a much more active presence than ours; their national tournament has more benefits. Their games were streamed at nationals, and ours were not. Even down to the merchandise offered at the men’s national tournament, ours was meager in comparison. Ultimately, we are still winning and producing amazing athletes, but the focus, attention and effort always seem to lack with women’s sports. The fight for gender equality continues in our quest to get FSU’s women’s sports more recognition. FSU Men’s sports, to this day, still receive more exposure, recognition and media coverage than women’s sports do, despite FSU women’s teams being just as successful if not more.
This is an ongoing issue that many don’t even recognize. Why can FSU students just show up to every women’s sports game with a simple ID card, yet the men’s sports need an online ticket request? The problem lies in media coverage and fan recognition. Most of the time, FSU students aren’t even aware that a women’s game is being played to even show up and support them until FSU posts later on of their success. FSU men’s sports are being advertised tirelessly, and the more marketing and coverage, the more people want to attend their games, and the more people that want to attend their games, the more demand for tickets which is why most of the men’s sports at FSU require a ticket request and the women’s do not.
An inside source with FSU’s Media Communications stated that “there’s this backward thinking that women’s sports aren’t worthy of more coverage because they aren’t as exciting as men’s sports, but have you seen the quality of coverage the men’s sports get versus the women’s? Of course, no one is going to think women’s sports are as exciting when women’s sports get lower camera quality, fewer camera angles, or poor commentators. Of course, it is going to be less exciting because the media puts in less effort. That is if they even get coverage at all.”
HC: So what needs to happen for FSU women’s sports to finally gain the recognition they deserve?
SV: Women’s sports need more resources and recognition. I feel like a lot of focus and resources are spent on men’s athletics, which is totally okay. Men’s athletics deserve recognition as well, as they’re making great accomplishments and putting in a lot of work, but positions need to be created specifically to promote women’s sports. If I ever hear about anything new regarding athletics, it’s something for the men’s team. Even in reference to donors and donations, men’s sports receive a lot more than women’s sports. If there’s more focus on helping the women’s teams, there will be a lot more public focus on FSU women’s sports. FSU has so many great female athletes. They deserve to be in the light more, get more recognition around campus and have equal opportunities concerning facilities and streaming. Not streaming women’s games of equivalent teams is so unfair. People always claim that not as many people want to watch women’s sports, but no one even has the opportunity to watch FSU’s sports.
It’s unreasonable that FSU women’s sports are breaking records, winning championships and doing all the things that the FSU men’s sports are doing, and yet they receive less recognition because they aren’t receiving high-level exposure or marketing to the media, students or fans.
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