Tulane Aims to Engage Women Fans with New Football Clinic
As the Tulane Green Wave gain momentum heading into a season with a path to the college football playoffs, the team wants to galvanize women in the fanbase. With the arrival of new head coach Jon Sumrall, there’s been a wave of refreshing energy and community engagement amidst the offseason buzz. Thanks to his wife, Ginny Sumrall, women will get to take the field and play football too in the new Tulane Football Women’s Clinic on July 24, 2024.
The event will take place in Yulman Stadium at 5:30 pm, with tickets for $25 that can be purchased here. Without giving the full night away, it’s an unparalleled experience for women to join the game and learn from the new Tulane coaching staff. As a woman in sports media, both as the team’s radio sideline reporter and sportswriter, I’ve always wanted a way to engage fellow women. It’s an industry that can feel alienating at times for those who never took a snap.
🚨 Announcing our inaugural Tulane Football Women’s Clinic 🚨
— Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) June 12, 2024
Sign up at the link below for some fun, food and football!
📆: Wednesday July, 24th
⏰: 5:30 PM
📍: Glazer Family Club & Yulman Stadium
🔗: https://t.co/s7TVhsbg0T pic.twitter.com/uM7Afr0hHY
My secondary goal to covering the team as their sideline reporter has always been to bring pedigree to a role often deemed as fluff. I’ve been through multiple 16-week courses with the Scouting Academy, designed to teach people to scout each position at the NFL level – often going on to become scouts and coaches. After my first season, I recognized the vantage point awarded to me on the sideline, and an opportunity to sharpen my football knowledge; becoming certified to scout defensive backs and working through the defensive line.
Nothing has provided a greater sense of legitimacy in my reporting, or confidence, then the Scouting Academy. But I often find myself getting up from my chair and attempting to act out different types of blocks to get a true understanding. There’s something about taking the field, the adrenaline of which I can attest to on the sideline. With my background playing competitive soccer for 7 years, I also know what it’s like to hit people. It can be a lot of fun. The event is another instance of support by Tulane football towards women, both in and out of the program.
This summer, Tulane’s Karate Combat Football coach, Mike Storms, put on a self-defense clinic free to all women’s staff in Tulane Athletics – me included. It was a uniquely refreshing experience to be surrounded by fellow women all working towards one goal. The 2024 Football Women’s Clinic aims to offer that sense of community and belonging to those in the fanbase.
There will be a Q&A with Jon and Ginny Sumrall, to get to know the new leaders of the football program as people. Something Tulane has highlighted in its culture. Following that will be a rotation of every facet of the game. Offensive coordinator Joe Craddock and defensive coordinator Greg Gasparato will teach women how to watch film, followed by a trip to the weight room with new strength and conditioning coach, Rusty Whitt, ending in the locker room – and a photo op chance for the ages. The evening will end with real on-field drills.
As the emcee for the event, and as a woman covering Tulane’s football team, there’s no better evening for ladies of the Green Wave community. It’s a uniquely intimate opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes in all the coaches’ meeting rooms, and a peek into the perspective of the players. Rarely is football for the girls, but on July 24, the women of Tulane Athletics are ready to take the field alongside this fan base.
MADDY HUDAK