The NCAA continues to drop the ball on women’s sports.
As if the fiasco with the women’s basketball tournament wasn’t enough of a nightmare, apparently the women’s volleyball tournament is also having issues with providing athletes a decent competitive experience.
According to Twitter posts from Big Ten Network analyst Emily Ehman, the women will be without commentators and broadcast crews for the first two rounds of the tournament. Also, Ehman explained that coaches were informed that there would be no locker rooms for teams and players would have to change on the bench.
It’s a disturbing pattern from the NCAA to see the continuous lack of regard for female athletes. The disrespect is not okay and shouldn’t be tolerated.
Social media has opened up the door for injustices like these to be called out and scrutinized. There is no hiding anymore for NCAA President Mark Emmert and his staff. The women’s tournament became the catalyst for the most recent equity push when players used their platforms to hold the NCAA’s feet to the fire.
With the attention these women’s sports are getting, the NCAA will finally be forced to do its due diligence in giving these athletes a fair competition experience.
If they don’t, they’ll continue to catch the backlash.