Number 78
Kansas City Women’s Football Player, Nana Olavuo, Shows Young Fan That Girls CAN Play
Featured Focus: Athlete-Driven Impact, Community Programs
Scope of Impact: Local
A viral TikTok video helped Elena, an 8-year old in Minnesota, witness first-hand at a Kansas City Glory game that girls can play football, after being told the opposite by boys at her school. Here’s the breakdown:
The power of social media: When Stephanie Easley made a TikTok video showing her 8-year old daughter distraught by what she heard at school, she had no idea that it would go viral and create a wave of support from female sports teams worldwide, such as the Cincinnati Cougars, PWHL Toronto, and the Black Ferns Rugby team in New Zealand.
Kansas City Glory comes through: Nana Olavuo, a female football player with the Kansas City Glory, responded to the video and invited the Easleys to their home opener so Elena could see female football players who experienced similar comments from others. "They say if she can see it, she can be it, so let's make it happen."
Long lasting impact: The out-of-state trip to the Glory’s game (which was made possible through a GoFundMe), Elena’s encounters with the players, and invitations to games from women’s football teams back home reinforced her dream, and dedication to, becoming a professional football player.
Underestimate what women can do — on OR off the field — at your own risk!
We love this story for the same emotional reasons you do. It highlights just how much representation matters. It demonstrates the power of speaking up to help change cultural perceptions. And, it brought together multiple KC teams — plus a few back in Elena’s home state of WI — to support a shared effort. The inspiring response from Nana Olavuo and the Kansas City Glory will have lasting impact on Elena and girls around the country.
But wait…there’s more. It might be an unpopular POV, but we also love this story because it reveals a critical problem about the coverage of women’s sports overall.
Let’s be honest: how many of you knew about the Women’s National Football Conference? We didn’t. And we bet that the boys at Elena Easley’s school had no idea, either. (There’s also a Women’s Football Alliance. You can learn more about both in the Resources section.)
To be clear, we’re not looking to make excuses for Elena’s classmates’ remarks. We simply want to ask, how are people supposed to know about the WFNC if no one’s talking about it? As an industry, we need to do better and drive more awareness about women’s sports beyond the major leagues, like the WNBA, NWSL, PWHL, and LPGA. It took a massive Olympic blitz around Ilana Maher to get Women’s Rugby on the map, but we can’t wait another four years for that kind of expanded coverage of other women’s sports. And, we can’t keep brushing off derogatory comments as ignorance. There’s enough media out there to make sure that everyone gets the recognition they deserve.
YOUR NEXT PLAY:
We’ll keep it short. Keep talking about, reporting on, consuming, and supporting women’s sports so we can limit and — with time — eradicate the type of negative comments and perceptions that led to this story in the first place.
The semi-pro team offers women of all sizes and all body types the opportunity to learn and play tackle football, no experience necessary.
The 24-yr old tackle football player, originally from Finland, shared her own story on Instagram to help get Elena to Kansas City.
Full coverage of how Elena’s mom’s Tiktok video went viral, and what happened next, from KansasCity.com .
The WNFC’s mission is to “accelerate equity in sports for women and girls through the power of football,” with 17 teams across the US.
Founded in 2009, the international women’s tackle football league has teams in over 60 cities worldwide.
The NFL continues to champion making girls’ flag football an official high school varsity sport throughout the country.
