October 16, 2025 • 33 mins
There’s meeting the moment, and then there’s making a moment.
Last Thursday, long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall made a moment, competing in the middle of Times Square to qualify for the finals at Athlos NYC. The buzzy event caught the world’s attention, but Davis-Woodhall is no stranger to fame as a reigning Olympic and world champ. On today’s episode of The GIST of It, The GIST’s Associate Managing Editor Lauren Tuiskula chats with Davis-Woodhall about sandpits, prepping for major moments, and inspiring confidence as a partner of the Dove Body Confident Sport Program. Enjoy.
Thanks to Fan Duel for their support of this podcast. The buzzer may have sounded on this women’s pro hoops season, but the action never stops with FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app or head to fanduel.com to join in on the fun.
This episode was brought to you by Amazon Business, the ultimate partner for smart business buying. Amazon Business offers a one-stop shop for all of your business needs, helping companies of all shapes and sizes simplify their purchasing process. Learn more by checking out business.amazon.com today.
Show notes:
Tara Davis-Woodhall on IG
Tara Davis-Woodhall on TikTok
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Last Thursday, long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall made a moment, competing in the middle of Times Square to qualify for the finals at Athlos NYC. The buzzy event caught the world’s attention, but Davis-Woodhall is no stranger to fame as a reigning Olympic and world champ. On today’s episode of The GIST of It, The GIST’s Associate Managing Editor Lauren Tuiskula chats with Davis-Woodhall about sandpits, prepping for major moments, and inspiring confidence as a partner of the Dove Body Confident Sport Program. Enjoy.
Thanks to Fan Duel for their support of this podcast. The buzzer may have sounded on this women’s pro hoops season, but the action never stops with FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app or head to fanduel.com to join in on the fun.
This episode was brought to you by Amazon Business, the ultimate partner for smart business buying. Amazon Business offers a one-stop shop for all of your business needs, helping companies of all shapes and sizes simplify their purchasing process. Learn more by checking out business.amazon.com today.
Show notes:
Tara Davis-Woodhall on IG
Tara Davis-Woodhall on TikTok
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What's up y'all?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hope everyone had an amazing long weekend. Welcome or welcome
back to another episode of the Gist of It. Today's Thursday,
October sixteenth, and it's actually Seph's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Seph,
Hello Libra. So while Seph is off today, we're your
co hosts.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I'm Ellen Hisslab and I'm Lauren Tuscla, the associate managing
editor here at the Gist. Happy birthday, Steff. Thank you
for letting me have the gift of filling in for
you today.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Seph is just giving gifts on her own birthday. We're
so happy that she is taking the night off to
hopefully be treated to a wonderful dinner or a wonderful
just chill night by surrounded by people she loves.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yes, she deserves it, and probably wearing a gorgeous outfit.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Naturally wearing a gorgeous outfit, and maybe surrounded by her
dog Ceci as well, which is her one true love life.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
We'll be watching her Instagram for all of.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
The pictures, anxiously awaiting. So, Lauren, you are a special
guest today, but we also had another special guests join
us American Long jumper Tera Davis Woodhall, fresh off of
her Athlos NYC win, which for those of you who
aren't familiar with Athlos, we've talked about it before, I
think on the podcast and on social and newsletter. It's
(01:25):
a women's only track meet held in New York every year,
but it's very vibe, it's very culture. There's so much
money given away. The people who win each event also
get a crown made by Tiffany, which is the coolest
thing ever. So she won this year's long jump and
it was only the second time around that Athlos was
a thing.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Definitely, Yeah, it was so cool to talk with her.
We talked about that cultural moment and all the energy
and what made Athlos so unique as a track meet,
So we got into that. We also got into body confidence,
which thanks to Dove for helping us get her on
the podcast and just she exused so much confidence and
positive light and energy. So to hear her talk about
where that comes from and what she does to get
(02:05):
through her down days, it was really cool to have
her be so vulnerable and open with us.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, if you're not someone who's into track and fields
or long jumping, don't worry about it. I feel like
you did such a great job lore of just getting
to know her as an athlete, but you also might
be familiar with her, not even from long jump, but
through TikTok and social media. I feel like she really
had this rise as an athlete in Paris and then
(02:32):
has kind of continued it, especially with her husband being
a Paralympian two and just being this very dynamic couple.
I see her all over my for you page, and
I will have to say I've never followed a long
jumper ever before until her Yeah Sneak preview.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
She says to follow athletes on social media is a
great way to get to know them and keep track
and field in your feed for the off season. So
you're already doing it by following her, and we'll put
a link to her stuff in show notes and can
give her a follow.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today, Lauren,
and because of that, I'm letting you have the floor
for colin audible.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I don't know what you're going to talk about, but
I can guess yes, but you have the floor.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Thank you. For folks who are unfamiliar this new segment,
we've come up with colin audible. It's a football term,
of course, that refers to a quarterback. They change the
play on the field, they make a new one on
the fly, they call an audible in the moment, and
I get to do it, as you said, and I
will be talking about baseball where in the midst of
the Championship series. So the teams are fighting to make
(03:34):
it to the World Series right now, it's best of seven,
four teams left. It's not targeted, but I do want
to hear what you think, El, because we're recording before
Game three for the Toronto Blue Jays. They're down two
oh to the Seattle Mariners. How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Not not well, bitch? We know that reference. Anybody knows
that not well bitch.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I am really really sad about how Tron showed up,
especially having home field advantage for those first.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Two games of the series.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And unlike any other seven game series, MLB goes two
games at home, then three games away, and then two
games at home, which, now, after the Blue Jays lost
those first two games, I don't like that format at
all because I feel like now Seattle potentially has the
opportunity even if the J's are able to take one away.
(04:26):
They still have the opportunity to win on their home diamond,
which I'm not obsessed with, but I think that there's
a lot of work to be done on the Blue
Jay side of things, especially when it comes to their
decision making with how long they leave in their starters,
some decisions with the bullpen, and I feel like, unfortunately
lowere some of the at bats feel like the old
(04:49):
Blue Jays when they were just really trying to go
for home run every single time as opposed to just
trying to get on base every time. And so I
would love to see the comeback of what we saw
I feel like at the end of September with the
Blue Jays, of their coming to the plate in order
to get on base as opposed to round the basis
(05:10):
is what I would love to see, at least for
one game in Seattle so they could take two in Seattle.
I'd be so thrilled to make sure that we had
an additional game in Toronto next Sunday.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, they really when they were on that run in September,
it was like put the ball in play, that's what
they were doing, so much better than their batting average
was super high. So it was really better than any
team I were recording. Of course, before Game three, I
think they'll take one tonight. They have a really good
record in Seattle this regular season, so road Dogs, maybe
they'll get it done. Chaine Bieber's pitching tonight. I just
(05:41):
want to watch more baseball, so I will be rooting
for seven game series and then the Dodgers, of course,
on the flip side, on the NLCS side are up
to over the Brewers, which defending champion Dodgers. They are
in the playoffs all the time. I think it's like
thirteen straight season. So I just want more baseball so
we can't have sweeps. I don't I want to watch more.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's not even fair at the point. With the Dodgers.
They are so good, and I feel like too. I
know you're gonna hate to hear this, Loure, but I
find the Dodgers team so lovable. There are objectively or
I guess subjectively in my case, but I want to
think that it's objectively. There's objectively fun people and good
(06:19):
people on the Dodgers that not only make for good baseball,
but that also make for really fun social content where
I just can't help myself, but fall in love with
some of those players.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It's true, I want to be a hater. Like the
Red Talks beat the Dodgers in the twenty eighteen World Series.
That was the peak. That was awesome. Hang on, baby, Yes,
and I agree. They do have a lot of characters
where I'm like, I want to hate this team because
they keep winning, but they have a lot of guys
that are super fun to watch. So it's good for
the game.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Always the La Dodgers over the New York Yankees. That's
what I'm going to say.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
We can both agree on that.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
We can both agree on that.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I will say I don't I think that the Dodgers
going to the World Series is good for baseball because
I do think there is this global fandom around the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
How great and only West Coast World Series would be
if it does end up being the Dodgers in Seattle,
which baseball is a statistics game, and when we look
purely at statistics, the likelihood of it being Seattle and
the Dodgers is exceptionally high.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
With cal Riley, potential MVP, the Big Dumper, potential new
kind of face of baseball here and show hey Otani
being in the mix.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But I don't know like having two West Coast teams.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I do think alienates the East Coast, which is a
very baseball forward area of North America.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, it was such a comparison to last year to
where it was New York, LA and we had the
coasts and both sides. I guess there will be one
fun storyline if it is the Mariners. They've never played
in a World Series ever before, so compelling and going
up against the juggernaut Dodgers. I know we're written for
the day is still were you are, but that's a
compelling storyline to me too. But you're right about the
timing in the West Coast, so we'll see a lot
(07:57):
of baseball left to be played, at least two games
on each side.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Compelling storylines be damned.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
This episode of The Gist of It is brought to
you by Amazon Business. When you're in a business like ours,
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And today we are dropping the confetti because the Las
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(08:48):
That's right, it's time to give a shout out to
the winners of the Just Women's Pro Basketball Challenge. In
case you missed it, we ran two bracket challenges simultaneously,
one for our Canadian audience that was powered by our
friends at FanDuel and one for our American pals, and
today we're giving all six deserving winners their flowers. On
the Canadian side, we're giving a big shout out to
(09:10):
Russell Jay. On the American side, we're giving a shout
out to Adam B who are at the pinnacle of
their sport and one each of the challenges respectively, So
shout out to those two. And hot on their heels
were Robin C and Amanda A, who stormed into second place,
while Daisy C and Cindy c rounded out the podium.
(09:31):
Congrats to all six of these folks for your well
earned bragging rights and for all of the prizes that
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a team effort, but SODA's running the Gist Pro Women's
Basketball Challenge and we couldn't have done it without FanDuel.
Thanks so much to FanDuel again for sponsoring today's podcast
as well as our bracket challenge.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Okay, now we are going to kick it to our
one Big Story, which was my conversation earlier with Tara
Davis Woodhall. It was really such a treat to talk
with her, and one thing I really enjoyed that I
think everyone will find interesting from this podcast is where
the origin of the long jump came from and jumping
in Times Square. We really got into kind of the
backstory of her dreaming big and being able to put
(10:22):
field in center there. So it was kind of cool,
just a women's sports narrative of what we talked about
this all the time, women's sports finally getting their flowers
and getting the rightful recognition. And it was really born
out of an idea she had that she brought to
Alexis o'hannian. So that was a super cool backstory. There's
so many nuggets in there that we got to talk about.
So it's such an honor to get to speak with her.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So amazing with Athlo saying that they're athlete forward and
then hearing a story like that, knowing that they are
truly athlete. For Laura, you always wonder what that means,
And I mean you have to listen to an Olympic
and World champion.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yes, And another tease her premut ritual. I think everyone's
going in enjoy and might want to adopt that for
any big moments in their life. So a little tease.
We'll kick it over to the interview now. Tara Davis
will thank you so much for joining us today. We're
so pumped to chat with you today.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, thanks for giving up your time. It's been a
busy stretch and I want to start with Athlos. We
fresh off this meat, this incredible meat in New York City.
I was walking from home and I could feel the
energy through my laptop screen. It was just you electric.
Can you just tell us about your experience in New
York City and your experience at Aplos.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Yeah, I am still recovering from Athos.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
I feel like it was incredible. It was insane. It
was every idea that we had spoke about in such
a higher level. It succeeded my expectations, which is honestly
so cool for it to have done that. I don't know.
It was really just one of the best track meets
(11:59):
I've ever been too. Girls are running fast and jupping far,
but also being celebrated as women in sport, and I
think that's just like the coolest thing in the w world.
So it's just a real track meet, but a party
at the same time.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
That's how it felt, with like the walk out songs
and the energy and Sierra and just all this this
stuff happening. And I know you worked really hard to
make Field center stage at Athlos as well. It's usually
track and field like secondary in the name, but you
wanted Field to be center stage. How did it come
to be? Let's start with just time square and long
jump in times square? How what's the origin story? How
(12:35):
did we get there? We'refield was really center stage.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah, so Alexis had reached out and that invited had
turned I to go to Athlos and they were only
doing track events, and so I was.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Like, no, how rude to forget field. And we said, like,
the only way that I'm going to be going to
ask there that we're going to go to Athos is
fun competing. And Alexis was like, oh my gosh, You're
(13:09):
so right. And you know, a couple of months go by,
I get a call in January. My new Athos was
in October and it was Kayla, Alexis and Gritit Sorry
on the phone and they're like, we want to have field.
How to do this? Where did we start?
Speaker 4 (13:29):
What's your dream of like seeing long jump in action?
And I told him I was like, I want to
see it in bright lights.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
I want to see it. I love street meets. I
love watching long jump in the streets. It's a it's.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Not a traditional thing in track and field, but it
is a thing in track. So Time Square was the
street to be in New York City and just throwing
them ideas off the board and seeing how it all lands,
and changing the format of the the long jump with
the four jumps one one day and then the two jumps.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Plus one on the next day. So there are a
lot of ideas being thrown out. There was a lot
of absolutely not being thrown out. I'm like, Snus has
a very wild mind, but I was like, this is
still dragging field. So yeah, I mean it was. It
was super fun to be in the conversation of seeing
(14:26):
something grow and having my hand in the pot of
I don't know, just seeing women's sports just excel.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Definitely. It was so cool where women's sports were really
in the spotlight and the pictures were amazing. I feel
like I just keep seeing new pictures come out. It
was just so cool to see you through there like that.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
They had some really good photographers videographers out there.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
I mean the cinematic like captured moments of track and
field I've just never got to see before they have.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Track and field is just one of the most beautiful
sports I've ever watched. And I don't know, just athos
the way it was captured this time around, it was
it was a movie for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Definitely. And if you're talking about big moments, big stages,
obviously time Square is a big stage, but you're no
stranger to the big stage at the Olympics, World Championships,
massive moments that you've competed in. What's your mantra. How
do you get prepared and get your mindset right before
those massive moments?
Speaker 5 (15:29):
I think how it starts at practice. I feel like
what you're practicing is what you're performing, and so I
feel like I build a lot of confidence with what
I'm doing at practice and with Hundert, my coach. We're
going over technically all these things, but like just being
so confident in what we're doing to know that when
(15:51):
we do show up on race day or on jump day,
like there's no question that we're doing the right thing.
So I feel like the mantra is just like you've
known you put all the work in, so like why
stress now? And it's just reminding yourself like these are
the moments that you've prayed for and hoped for, and
(16:11):
like this is it. This is stuff that's fun.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Nice. I love that you're put in the work and
you earn that moment for sure. Do you have any
premium rituals, Like what's your routine before you go out there?
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Both it starts the night before. I have to have
like apasta and at least two lasses of red wine
Petera Noir.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I have.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Whatever whatever there's there, whatever they're serving this's whatever pasta's
on the menu. And I have to wear long socks.
I have to keep the sand out of there. Uh
day up. Music, music has to be on all right.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
So pasta and wine, Peter success that anyone out there
a big moment. Drink the wine before that is.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Drink the line. Drink the line.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I love that. And you were discussing confidence earlier and
really building that confidence it's earned in practice. And I
know you're working with Dove on a body confidence campaign
and really tackling that. Sadly one and two girls are
dropping out of sports because of body image issues. So
is that something you've dealt with in your career? How
have you kind of overcome that as you've competed in
(17:25):
track and field.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Of course, I feel like as a woman and maybe
even as a man, but our body confidence, we can
say we're confident in it all day long.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
You can work so hard on it all day long.
But so sometimes there's something in the back of your
head that's like, oh, you don't look good. You don't
look good, you don't look this, you'll look that. It's
just like that voice has to go at some point,
like you have to realize we're human beings and to
hear and to know that like one to five girls
(17:57):
drop out and one two girls drop out where it's
just like I could have been that one, you know,
girl that drops out because I was told I looked
too strong and looked too rescular from the boys, and
I just wanted to be accepted bout boys back there
in the school. But like if I was stopped, then
I wouldn't be where I am now. So it's just
(18:19):
like I would just tell those girls, just give yourself
a chance. You're you, You're the only version of yourself,
so just be you. And I if I could scream
that across the world like I would but you know
we're doing our best, that would hear definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
And there's so many important effects of playing sport. Like
I grew up paying sports, many of our audience members
grew up playing sports, and it just has such an
impact on who you are as a person. So those
tats and I saw on your Instagram, someone commented that
that you just want to exude confidence and radiance like Taro.
I'm sure you get comments like that all the time,
and when I'm watching you, that's what you just so
(19:00):
much positivity and energy do you have days or moments
when you're feeling I'm sure you do when you're feeling down, Like,
how do you get through that? Knowing that you're putting
out such this positive persona, of course you're gonna have
dark moments, how do you overcome those those?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (19:14):
I mean, of course everyone has through bad days. It's
it's just how you how you learn from your bad days,
how you want to, like, I don't know, reflect from
that bad day. I mean, I run track. I feel
like I'm like, I'm very hard on myself. I won't
be perfect. I want my body to be perfect, to
(19:35):
show up perfect on the days that like it doesn't
feel good, and so I am hard on myself and it,
like you know, flows into other things that I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
That goes into like my relationships, it goes into work,
it goes into other things, and it's like, yeah, like
I'm human. But I feel like if you can have
nine good days and one bad day, like I feel
like that's that's good.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
I mean, I feel like you're you're it's you get.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Every day cannot be a good day and you just
had to have to accept that. I feel like I
it's like explode with joy and happiness because there was
a moment in time where I was not happy and
I know, like what it feels like to not be happy,
(20:26):
and I don't know. I just I want to choose happiness,
and I know that I can choose happiness instead of
choosing to go back into that like dark moment in
time where I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't
go to practice, I couldn't do long jump, I couldn't
do the things that I love the most. And yeah,
(20:50):
I feel like whatever is like thrown at me as
a negative way.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
I just take it with a grain of salt. I
just like, Okay, how can I control my moment? I
can that that I can control, like me being happy
or me showing up happy, Like so many things wrong
happened on meat Day, but I chose not to look
at it like that. I chose and like, you know
what this that's not normal to happen on my meat day.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
But neither was jumping in times Square, neither was running
through a stage on a long jump where music is
being glared into me.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Here that's not normal either. So it's just like I
pick and choose at this point of like when to be,
you know, upset and frustrated rather than it like all
tackling me at one point.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Mm hmm. Totally. It's all about your perspective and how
you respond to things. For sure, I love that. I
know we're running out of time, so I want to
get one more question in with you. We're we just
had this moment, massive moment with a Flow's Track and
Field center stage, and now we're kind of heading into
the off season. So people they tuned it in for
the first time, they like, I love this sport. I
want to keep following it. What's your suggestion for them
(22:05):
to keep the momentum going as we look ahead and
maybe to like LA twenty twenty eight or World Championships.
How do new fans stay engaged with track and field?
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Yeah, I would say follow college track and field. College
track and field, there's indoor seasons you get to follow
your favorite sports team. So if you went to I
don't know, K State, you can follow Kasas State track field,
dragon field. So it's just like there are opportunities for
you to follow track. You just have to find it
(22:36):
right now because the accessibility and the access to track
is very difficult. But if you can find a way,
there will be a way you can make it work.
So we have indoor track and field as a professional
level and at a collegiate level, and then we have
(22:56):
our outdoor season which is Diamond Leagues, which are follow
vice and then through all social media, follow your favorite
track and field athletes and social media, it's the same
thing you post our practices, to post where we're going
to be and what we're doing in our off season,
and you'd be surprised how many athletes you relate with.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Amazing. Well, we'll definitely put a link to your socials
and the show outs if anyone's not falling already. Thank
you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it,
and congrats on an incredible year. We can't wait to
watch what's next for you too.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
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(24:01):
for more.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Thank you again to FanDuel for supporting today's podcast. The
buzzer may have sounded on this women's Pro hoops season,
but the action never stops with FanDuel. They offer tons
of ways to get in the game all year long.
But the best part about FanDuel is that they are
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(24:23):
season and you can wager on that. With FanDuel, you
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Head to FanDuel dot com or download the FanDuel app
to join in on the fun. Now it's time for
(24:47):
our Personal training sessh and this is a segment where
we'll answer your hard hitting questions about absolutely anything in
the sports world. Nothing is off limits, so Today's Personal
Training SESSH. We're taking a question from Sammy, who reached
out to Ellen on install. Here's what Sammy had to say.
She said, quote, I did have a question as I
am attending my first NWSL game on Sunday Gotham FC,
(25:08):
and was wondering if there's anything I should know about
how the standings are playing out as we head towards
the playoffs. First of all, Sammy, thank you so much
for your question. We love when people are reaching out,
and I want to start off by saying, have an
absolute blast at the Gotham Raising Louisville game. Shout out
to you for going your first endp cell game. It's
going to be electric, and especially because the playoffs are looming,
so there's a lot at stake for the game that
(25:28):
you're going to attend.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Do you know what my first NWSL game was, Laura, No,
I was so lucky.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It was the NWSLAMPI start off big. It was like,
you know what, we're going big or we're going home.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think it was twenty twenty one or twenty twenty
two in DC when Washington Spirit made it all the way.
I think it was Washington and Portland and I got
to see Christine Sinclair so.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Cool, which was really cool, and Crystal Dunn play.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
But yeah, that was my first NWSL game, and so
I do have to agree with you at the first.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
NWSL experience is amazing. But I do have that championship
in my mind.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
You said the bar pretty. I've actually never been to
an NWSL game in person, because soon you will. Soon
I will because we're getting a team in Boston next year.
But yeah, they're I mean, DC is closed, Gotham's close
for me, but I've never been to a game in person,
so I've only watched on TV. So my bar is
low because I've never been. But oh my gosh, start Whip.
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I'm so excited for you for next year. And I
should also mention too, for those of you who missed it.
We did launch the Just Plus our premium community last
week where we are creating the safest space on the
Internet for you to be able to be a fan
with any type of sport that you're into, to discuss on, discord,
get extra content, get perks, all that sort of stuff.
(26:50):
Our website spells this out way more eloquently than I
am right now, but Gossam is one of our partners
for our All Stars here, so if you join up
in our All Star tier, you can get discounts on
the Gotham game and you could join Sammy this season
as well in a really affordable way. So shout out
to Gotham for being a part of the Just Plus.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yes, definitely check out the Just Plus. Has been so
fun talking there, and I'm sure everyone will be talking
about these end of Beer cell standings when it comes
down to the wire like this, So let's set up
kind of where things stand. Yes, the standings are really tight,
and that's what you want. You want it to be
interesting coming down to the wire here. Every single team
has just two regular season games left, so two match days,
and that includes Decision Day, which this year is Sunday,
(27:32):
November two, And I love Decision Day. It's something I
think stems from soccer, but it's basically final day of
the regular season. Everyone's playing at the exact same time
they did it. It's similar in baseball they do it
on the last day of regular season. It's like a
little bit of a staggered start, but it adds to
the excitement because you can't watch and say oh, this
team loss, so we're in everyone's playing at the same time,
which just adds to the drama and it's super fun.
(27:53):
You need a lot of screens to watch everything, but
it makes it more exciting.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
There's so much chaos and I can't believe that we're
about to start talking about the postseason with the NWSL.
Time has flown by so fast, but I'm so glad
that we're here right now too, lore, especially.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Because the WNBA postseason went by.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
So fast with the Las Vegas Aces sweeping that now
it's it already feels like the postseason for the NWSL
because there's those only two games left. As a reminder,
there are fourteen teams in the NWSL this season, only
the top eight teams make the playoffs. So far, three
teams have been eliminated from playoff contention, the Utah Royals, BAFC,
(28:32):
and the Chicago Stars, so sorry if you live in
any of those markets. There's also been three teams that
have clinched, so that's the top seeded Kansas City Current,
the Washington Spirit, and Orlando Pride.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And that leaves us with eight teams still fighting for
the five remaining berths, which quick math quick math GIRW
math extra interesting. What's also exciting is there's not a
wide margin between these teams, like everyone is fully in contention.
And for context, if you win a game, you get
three points in the standings, one point for a draw
or a tie, and then zero points for a loss.
(29:05):
And right now, just three points separate the number three
Orlando Pride from the number eight Racing Louisville. So wow,
really really tight if you look at the table right now,
kind of scary.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And I say this with soccer all the time. Soccer's
bed a game of moments. So Louisville could be sitting
in eight right now and literally by the time or
chatting next week, they could be in that number four
spot and feeling so different, and then the week later
they could totally feel like they're out of the playoff
mix altogether.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And that's what That's why we love sports.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Exactly, we love it, and just another layer to why
the standings are so important. Of course, there's home field
advantage here, so even if you first of all teams,
they just want to make it and be above that
number eight mark. But then if you're in the top four,
you're going to get that home field advantage. So there's
so many different gamesmanship and different impacts happening across the
standings that we can keep an eye on too.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, and home field advantage in soccer. I wouldn't say
it's as big as something like football, right lore, but
just the atmosphere and the supporters clubs and the crowd
colors and everything like that makes such a big difference.
Especially for Gotham. That crowd is rawsius. So Sammy, you're
going to have the best time ever. You did such
a great job selecting this game. Thank you so much
(30:16):
for messaging us.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And y'all. Our dms are open.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
If you want to be featured on a future episode,
call us and leave us a voicemail at one four
three seven five six four five five seven nine. That's
also linked in the show notes. You can click on
that and it will literally just call you. We love
to hear voices, your beautiful, beautiful voices. You can also
dm us on Instagram. I'm Ellen at the gist, Steph
(30:40):
is at Sephanie Rotts and dm us there and we'll
be like, yeah, actually don't know the answer to your question.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Let's get our smarter producers.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Let's see and we can chat with you about it
on the next podcast or email us at pod at
the gisports dot com, whatever's easiest for you. We love
these questions, but we also love it when you call
us out on things that we maybe said wrong, did wrong,
should be reconsidering, or a hot take er opinion. We
love those two.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Basically, send us everything and Sammy, send us photos from
your game. We want to see let us know how
it was, too. That'd be really fun to see.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
That's such a great idea.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
The only thing I don't want is a hot take
on life of a show girl.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I'm over those takes.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
That's out only sports slash, some culture, but not the
life of show girl. We have our limits.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, we all have our limits. Anyway. That marks the
end of today's episode. Laura, thank you so much for
joining me today. It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
I love that interview, and thank you all for tuning in.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yes, always fun to chat with you, al Thank you
so much. We'll be back in your feed with a
new podcast next Thursday. One week from today, we are
heading to Toronto for our just off site to spend
some time together in real life. So in the meantime,
if you enjoyed today's episode, We'd love for you to rate, review,
and subscribe.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
This episode was edited by Savannah Howel and produced by
Lisa Mintilo, Alexandra Puccio, and of course Lauren Tuscala again.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
I'm Ellen Hyslab and I'm Lauren Tescala. I'm going to
go channel tar Davis Woodhall and have a relaxing night
before a big moment, probably not long jump, but I'll
channel my inner Tarra and try to be confident, and
we will chat with you again next week
What's up y'all?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hope everyone had an amazing long weekend. Welcome or welcome
back to another episode of the Gist of It. Today's Thursday,
October sixteenth, and it's actually Seph's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Seph,
Hello Libra. So while Seph is off today, we're your
co hosts.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I'm Ellen Hisslab and I'm Lauren Tuscla, the associate managing
editor here at the Gist. Happy birthday, Steff. Thank you
for letting me have the gift of filling in for
you today.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Seph is just giving gifts on her own birthday. We're
so happy that she is taking the night off to
hopefully be treated to a wonderful dinner or a wonderful
just chill night by surrounded by people she loves.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yes, she deserves it, and probably wearing a gorgeous outfit.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Naturally wearing a gorgeous outfit, and maybe surrounded by her
dog Ceci as well, which is her one true love life.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
We'll be watching her Instagram for all of.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
The pictures, anxiously awaiting. So, Lauren, you are a special
guest today, but we also had another special guests join
us American Long jumper Tera Davis Woodhall, fresh off of
her Athlos NYC win, which for those of you who
aren't familiar with Athlos, we've talked about it before, I
think on the podcast and on social and newsletter. It's
(01:25):
a women's only track meet held in New York every year,
but it's very vibe, it's very culture. There's so much
money given away. The people who win each event also
get a crown made by Tiffany, which is the coolest
thing ever. So she won this year's long jump and
it was only the second time around that Athlos was
a thing.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Definitely, Yeah, it was so cool to talk with her.
We talked about that cultural moment and all the energy
and what made Athlos so unique as a track meet,
So we got into that. We also got into body confidence,
which thanks to Dove for helping us get her on
the podcast and just she exused so much confidence and
positive light and energy. So to hear her talk about
where that comes from and what she does to get
(02:05):
through her down days, it was really cool to have
her be so vulnerable and open with us.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, if you're not someone who's into track and fields
or long jumping, don't worry about it. I feel like
you did such a great job lore of just getting
to know her as an athlete, but you also might
be familiar with her, not even from long jump, but
through TikTok and social media. I feel like she really
had this rise as an athlete in Paris and then
(02:32):
has kind of continued it, especially with her husband being
a Paralympian two and just being this very dynamic couple.
I see her all over my for you page, and
I will have to say I've never followed a long
jumper ever before until her Yeah Sneak preview.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
She says to follow athletes on social media is a
great way to get to know them and keep track
and field in your feed for the off season. So
you're already doing it by following her, and we'll put
a link to her stuff in show notes and can
give her a follow.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today, Lauren,
and because of that, I'm letting you have the floor
for colin audible.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I don't know what you're going to talk about, but
I can guess yes, but you have the floor.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Thank you. For folks who are unfamiliar this new segment,
we've come up with colin audible. It's a football term,
of course, that refers to a quarterback. They change the
play on the field, they make a new one on
the fly, they call an audible in the moment, and
I get to do it, as you said, and I
will be talking about baseball where in the midst of
the Championship series. So the teams are fighting to make
(03:34):
it to the World Series right now, it's best of seven,
four teams left. It's not targeted, but I do want
to hear what you think, El, because we're recording before
Game three for the Toronto Blue Jays. They're down two
oh to the Seattle Mariners. How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Not not well, bitch? We know that reference. Anybody knows
that not well bitch.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I am really really sad about how Tron showed up,
especially having home field advantage for those first.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Two games of the series.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And unlike any other seven game series, MLB goes two
games at home, then three games away, and then two
games at home, which, now, after the Blue Jays lost
those first two games, I don't like that format at
all because I feel like now Seattle potentially has the
opportunity even if the J's are able to take one away.
(04:26):
They still have the opportunity to win on their home diamond,
which I'm not obsessed with, but I think that there's
a lot of work to be done on the Blue
Jay side of things, especially when it comes to their
decision making with how long they leave in their starters,
some decisions with the bullpen, and I feel like, unfortunately
lowere some of the at bats feel like the old
(04:49):
Blue Jays when they were just really trying to go
for home run every single time as opposed to just
trying to get on base every time. And so I
would love to see the comeback of what we saw
I feel like at the end of September with the
Blue Jays, of their coming to the plate in order
to get on base as opposed to round the basis
(05:10):
is what I would love to see, at least for
one game in Seattle so they could take two in Seattle.
I'd be so thrilled to make sure that we had
an additional game in Toronto next Sunday.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, they really when they were on that run in September,
it was like put the ball in play, that's what
they were doing, so much better than their batting average
was super high. So it was really better than any
team I were recording. Of course, before Game three, I
think they'll take one tonight. They have a really good
record in Seattle this regular season, so road Dogs, maybe
they'll get it done. Chaine Bieber's pitching tonight. I just
(05:41):
want to watch more baseball, so I will be rooting
for seven game series and then the Dodgers, of course,
on the flip side, on the NLCS side are up
to over the Brewers, which defending champion Dodgers. They are
in the playoffs all the time. I think it's like
thirteen straight season. So I just want more baseball so
we can't have sweeps. I don't I want to watch more.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's not even fair at the point. With the Dodgers.
They are so good, and I feel like too. I
know you're gonna hate to hear this, Loure, but I
find the Dodgers team so lovable. There are objectively or
I guess subjectively in my case, but I want to
think that it's objectively. There's objectively fun people and good
(06:19):
people on the Dodgers that not only make for good baseball,
but that also make for really fun social content where
I just can't help myself, but fall in love with
some of those players.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It's true, I want to be a hater. Like the
Red Talks beat the Dodgers in the twenty eighteen World Series.
That was the peak. That was awesome. Hang on, baby, Yes,
and I agree. They do have a lot of characters
where I'm like, I want to hate this team because
they keep winning, but they have a lot of guys
that are super fun to watch. So it's good for
the game.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Always the La Dodgers over the New York Yankees. That's
what I'm going to say.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
We can both agree on that.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
We can both agree on that.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I will say I don't I think that the Dodgers
going to the World Series is good for baseball because
I do think there is this global fandom around the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
How great and only West Coast World Series would be
if it does end up being the Dodgers in Seattle,
which baseball is a statistics game, and when we look
purely at statistics, the likelihood of it being Seattle and
the Dodgers is exceptionally high.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
With cal Riley, potential MVP, the Big Dumper, potential new
kind of face of baseball here and show hey Otani
being in the mix.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But I don't know like having two West Coast teams.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I do think alienates the East Coast, which is a
very baseball forward area of North America.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, it was such a comparison to last year to
where it was New York, LA and we had the
coasts and both sides. I guess there will be one
fun storyline if it is the Mariners. They've never played
in a World Series ever before, so compelling and going
up against the juggernaut Dodgers. I know we're written for
the day is still were you are, but that's a
compelling storyline to me too. But you're right about the
timing in the West Coast, so we'll see a lot
(07:57):
of baseball left to be played, at least two games
on each side.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Compelling storylines be damned.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
This episode of The Gist of It is brought to
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And today we are dropping the confetti because the Las
Vegas Aces aren't the only ones celebrating a big win.
(08:48):
That's right, it's time to give a shout out to
the winners of the Just Women's Pro Basketball Challenge. In
case you missed it, we ran two bracket challenges simultaneously,
one for our Canadian audience that was powered by our
friends at FanDuel and one for our American pals, and
today we're giving all six deserving winners their flowers. On
the Canadian side, we're giving a big shout out to
(09:10):
Russell Jay. On the American side, we're giving a shout
out to Adam B who are at the pinnacle of
their sport and one each of the challenges respectively, So
shout out to those two. And hot on their heels
were Robin C and Amanda A, who stormed into second place,
while Daisy C and Cindy c rounded out the podium.
(09:31):
Congrats to all six of these folks for your well
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Speaker 3 (10:00):
Okay, now we are going to kick it to our
one Big Story, which was my conversation earlier with Tara
Davis Woodhall. It was really such a treat to talk
with her, and one thing I really enjoyed that I
think everyone will find interesting from this podcast is where
the origin of the long jump came from and jumping
in Times Square. We really got into kind of the
backstory of her dreaming big and being able to put
(10:22):
field in center there. So it was kind of cool,
just a women's sports narrative of what we talked about
this all the time, women's sports finally getting their flowers
and getting the rightful recognition. And it was really born
out of an idea she had that she brought to
Alexis o'hannian. So that was a super cool backstory. There's
so many nuggets in there that we got to talk about.
So it's such an honor to get to speak with her.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So amazing with Athlo saying that they're athlete forward and
then hearing a story like that, knowing that they are
truly athlete. For Laura, you always wonder what that means,
And I mean you have to listen to an Olympic
and World champion.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yes, And another tease her premut ritual. I think everyone's
going in enjoy and might want to adopt that for
any big moments in their life. So a little tease.
We'll kick it over to the interview now. Tara Davis
will thank you so much for joining us today. We're
so pumped to chat with you today.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, thanks for giving up your time. It's been a
busy stretch and I want to start with Athlos. We
fresh off this meat, this incredible meat in New York City.
I was walking from home and I could feel the
energy through my laptop screen. It was just you electric.
Can you just tell us about your experience in New
York City and your experience at Aplos.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Yeah, I am still recovering from Athos.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
I feel like it was incredible. It was insane. It
was every idea that we had spoke about in such
a higher level. It succeeded my expectations, which is honestly
so cool for it to have done that. I don't know.
It was really just one of the best track meets
(11:59):
I've ever been too. Girls are running fast and jupping far,
but also being celebrated as women in sport, and I
think that's just like the coolest thing in the w world.
So it's just a real track meet, but a party
at the same time.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
That's how it felt, with like the walk out songs
and the energy and Sierra and just all this this
stuff happening. And I know you worked really hard to
make Field center stage at Athlos as well. It's usually
track and field like secondary in the name, but you
wanted Field to be center stage. How did it come
to be? Let's start with just time square and long
jump in times square? How what's the origin story? How
(12:35):
did we get there? We'refield was really center stage.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah, so Alexis had reached out and that invited had
turned I to go to Athlos and they were only
doing track events, and so I was.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Like, no, how rude to forget field. And we said, like,
the only way that I'm going to be going to
ask there that we're going to go to Athos is
fun competing. And Alexis was like, oh my gosh, You're
(13:09):
so right. And you know, a couple of months go by,
I get a call in January. My new Athos was
in October and it was Kayla, Alexis and Gritit Sorry
on the phone and they're like, we want to have field.
How to do this? Where did we start?
Speaker 4 (13:29):
What's your dream of like seeing long jump in action?
And I told him I was like, I want to
see it in bright lights.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
I want to see it. I love street meets. I
love watching long jump in the streets. It's a it's.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Not a traditional thing in track and field, but it
is a thing in track. So Time Square was the
street to be in New York City and just throwing
them ideas off the board and seeing how it all lands,
and changing the format of the the long jump with
the four jumps one one day and then the two jumps.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Plus one on the next day. So there are a
lot of ideas being thrown out. There was a lot
of absolutely not being thrown out. I'm like, Snus has
a very wild mind, but I was like, this is
still dragging field. So yeah, I mean it was. It
was super fun to be in the conversation of seeing
(14:26):
something grow and having my hand in the pot of
I don't know, just seeing women's sports just excel.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Definitely. It was so cool where women's sports were really
in the spotlight and the pictures were amazing. I feel
like I just keep seeing new pictures come out. It
was just so cool to see you through there like that.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
They had some really good photographers videographers out there.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
I mean the cinematic like captured moments of track and
field I've just never got to see before they have.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Track and field is just one of the most beautiful
sports I've ever watched. And I don't know, just athos
the way it was captured this time around, it was
it was a movie for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Definitely. And if you're talking about big moments, big stages,
obviously time Square is a big stage, but you're no
stranger to the big stage at the Olympics, World Championships,
massive moments that you've competed in. What's your mantra. How
do you get prepared and get your mindset right before
those massive moments?
Speaker 5 (15:29):
I think how it starts at practice. I feel like
what you're practicing is what you're performing, and so I
feel like I build a lot of confidence with what
I'm doing at practice and with Hundert, my coach. We're
going over technically all these things, but like just being
so confident in what we're doing to know that when
(15:51):
we do show up on race day or on jump day,
like there's no question that we're doing the right thing.
So I feel like the mantra is just like you've
known you put all the work in, so like why
stress now? And it's just reminding yourself like these are
the moments that you've prayed for and hoped for, and
(16:11):
like this is it. This is stuff that's fun.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Nice. I love that you're put in the work and
you earn that moment for sure. Do you have any
premium rituals, Like what's your routine before you go out there?
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Both it starts the night before. I have to have
like apasta and at least two lasses of red wine
Petera Noir.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I have.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Whatever whatever there's there, whatever they're serving this's whatever pasta's
on the menu. And I have to wear long socks.
I have to keep the sand out of there. Uh
day up. Music, music has to be on all right.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
So pasta and wine, Peter success that anyone out there
a big moment. Drink the wine before that is.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Drink the line. Drink the line.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I love that. And you were discussing confidence earlier and
really building that confidence it's earned in practice. And I
know you're working with Dove on a body confidence campaign
and really tackling that. Sadly one and two girls are
dropping out of sports because of body image issues. So
is that something you've dealt with in your career? How
have you kind of overcome that as you've competed in
(17:25):
track and field.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Of course, I feel like as a woman and maybe
even as a man, but our body confidence, we can
say we're confident in it all day long.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
You can work so hard on it all day long.
But so sometimes there's something in the back of your
head that's like, oh, you don't look good. You don't
look good, you don't look this, you'll look that. It's
just like that voice has to go at some point,
like you have to realize we're human beings and to
hear and to know that like one to five girls
(17:57):
drop out and one two girls drop out where it's
just like I could have been that one, you know,
girl that drops out because I was told I looked
too strong and looked too rescular from the boys, and
I just wanted to be accepted bout boys back there
in the school. But like if I was stopped, then
I wouldn't be where I am now. So it's just
(18:19):
like I would just tell those girls, just give yourself
a chance. You're you, You're the only version of yourself,
so just be you. And I if I could scream
that across the world like I would but you know
we're doing our best, that would hear definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
And there's so many important effects of playing sport. Like
I grew up paying sports, many of our audience members
grew up playing sports, and it just has such an
impact on who you are as a person. So those
tats and I saw on your Instagram, someone commented that
that you just want to exude confidence and radiance like Taro.
I'm sure you get comments like that all the time,
and when I'm watching you, that's what you just so
(19:00):
much positivity and energy do you have days or moments
when you're feeling I'm sure you do when you're feeling down, Like,
how do you get through that? Knowing that you're putting
out such this positive persona, of course you're gonna have
dark moments, how do you overcome those those?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (19:14):
I mean, of course everyone has through bad days. It's
it's just how you how you learn from your bad days,
how you want to, like, I don't know, reflect from
that bad day. I mean, I run track. I feel
like I'm like, I'm very hard on myself. I won't
be perfect. I want my body to be perfect, to
(19:35):
show up perfect on the days that like it doesn't
feel good, and so I am hard on myself and it,
like you know, flows into other things that I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
That goes into like my relationships, it goes into work,
it goes into other things, and it's like, yeah, like
I'm human. But I feel like if you can have
nine good days and one bad day, like I feel
like that's that's good.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
I mean, I feel like you're you're it's you get.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Every day cannot be a good day and you just
had to have to accept that. I feel like I
it's like explode with joy and happiness because there was
a moment in time where I was not happy and
I know, like what it feels like to not be happy,
(20:26):
and I don't know. I just I want to choose happiness,
and I know that I can choose happiness instead of
choosing to go back into that like dark moment in
time where I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't
go to practice, I couldn't do long jump, I couldn't
do the things that I love the most. And yeah,
(20:50):
I feel like whatever is like thrown at me as
a negative way.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
I just take it with a grain of salt. I
just like, Okay, how can I control my moment? I
can that that I can control, like me being happy
or me showing up happy, Like so many things wrong
happened on meat Day, but I chose not to look
at it like that. I chose and like, you know
what this that's not normal to happen on my meat day.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
But neither was jumping in times Square, neither was running
through a stage on a long jump where music is
being glared into me.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Here that's not normal either. So it's just like I
pick and choose at this point of like when to be,
you know, upset and frustrated rather than it like all
tackling me at one point.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Mm hmm. Totally. It's all about your perspective and how
you respond to things. For sure, I love that. I
know we're running out of time, so I want to
get one more question in with you. We're we just
had this moment, massive moment with a Flow's Track and
Field center stage, and now we're kind of heading into
the off season. So people they tuned it in for
the first time, they like, I love this sport. I
want to keep following it. What's your suggestion for them
(22:05):
to keep the momentum going as we look ahead and
maybe to like LA twenty twenty eight or World Championships.
How do new fans stay engaged with track and field?
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Yeah, I would say follow college track and field. College
track and field, there's indoor seasons you get to follow
your favorite sports team. So if you went to I
don't know, K State, you can follow Kasas State track field,
dragon field. So it's just like there are opportunities for
you to follow track. You just have to find it
(22:36):
right now because the accessibility and the access to track
is very difficult. But if you can find a way,
there will be a way you can make it work.
So we have indoor track and field as a professional
level and at a collegiate level, and then we have
(22:56):
our outdoor season which is Diamond Leagues, which are follow
vice and then through all social media, follow your favorite
track and field athletes and social media, it's the same
thing you post our practices, to post where we're going
to be and what we're doing in our off season,
and you'd be surprised how many athletes you relate with.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Amazing. Well, we'll definitely put a link to your socials
and the show outs if anyone's not falling already. Thank
you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it,
and congrats on an incredible year. We can't wait to
watch what's next for you too.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
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(24:01):
for more.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Thank you again to FanDuel for supporting today's podcast. The
buzzer may have sounded on this women's Pro hoops season,
but the action never stops with FanDuel. They offer tons
of ways to get in the game all year long.
But the best part about FanDuel is that they are
all in on women in sports. For example, they boast
a wide range of women's soccer markets to bet in.
The puck is about to drop on the upcoming PWHL
(24:23):
season and you can wager on that. With FanDuel, you
can even place a novelty bet on when Taylor Swift
and Travis Kelsey are going to get married and might
have to check that out. Your just bracket era may
be over, but your winning era is just getting started.
Head to FanDuel dot com or download the FanDuel app
to join in on the fun. Now it's time for
(24:47):
our Personal training sessh and this is a segment where
we'll answer your hard hitting questions about absolutely anything in
the sports world. Nothing is off limits, so Today's Personal
Training SESSH. We're taking a question from Sammy, who reached
out to Ellen on install. Here's what Sammy had to say.
She said, quote, I did have a question as I
am attending my first NWSL game on Sunday Gotham FC,
(25:08):
and was wondering if there's anything I should know about
how the standings are playing out as we head towards
the playoffs. First of all, Sammy, thank you so much
for your question. We love when people are reaching out,
and I want to start off by saying, have an
absolute blast at the Gotham Raising Louisville game. Shout out
to you for going your first endp cell game. It's
going to be electric, and especially because the playoffs are looming,
so there's a lot at stake for the game that
(25:28):
you're going to attend.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Do you know what my first NWSL game was, Laura, No,
I was so lucky.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It was the NWSLAMPI start off big. It was like,
you know what, we're going big or we're going home.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think it was twenty twenty one or twenty twenty
two in DC when Washington Spirit made it all the way.
I think it was Washington and Portland and I got
to see Christine Sinclair so.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Cool, which was really cool, and Crystal Dunn play.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
But yeah, that was my first NWSL game, and so
I do have to agree with you at the first.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
NWSL experience is amazing. But I do have that championship
in my mind.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
You said the bar pretty. I've actually never been to
an NWSL game in person, because soon you will. Soon
I will because we're getting a team in Boston next year.
But yeah, they're I mean, DC is closed, Gotham's close
for me, but I've never been to a game in person,
so I've only watched on TV. So my bar is
low because I've never been. But oh my gosh, start Whip.
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I'm so excited for you for next year. And I
should also mention too, for those of you who missed it.
We did launch the Just Plus our premium community last
week where we are creating the safest space on the
Internet for you to be able to be a fan
with any type of sport that you're into, to discuss on, discord,
get extra content, get perks, all that sort of stuff.
(26:50):
Our website spells this out way more eloquently than I
am right now, but Gossam is one of our partners
for our All Stars here, so if you join up
in our All Star tier, you can get discounts on
the Gotham game and you could join Sammy this season
as well in a really affordable way. So shout out
to Gotham for being a part of the Just Plus.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yes, definitely check out the Just Plus. Has been so
fun talking there, and I'm sure everyone will be talking
about these end of Beer cell standings when it comes
down to the wire like this, So let's set up
kind of where things stand. Yes, the standings are really tight,
and that's what you want. You want it to be
interesting coming down to the wire here. Every single team
has just two regular season games left, so two match days,
and that includes Decision Day, which this year is Sunday,
(27:32):
November two, And I love Decision Day. It's something I
think stems from soccer, but it's basically final day of
the regular season. Everyone's playing at the exact same time
they did it. It's similar in baseball they do it
on the last day of regular season. It's like a
little bit of a staggered start, but it adds to
the excitement because you can't watch and say oh, this
team loss, so we're in everyone's playing at the same time,
which just adds to the drama and it's super fun.
(27:53):
You need a lot of screens to watch everything, but
it makes it more exciting.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
There's so much chaos and I can't believe that we're
about to start talking about the postseason with the NWSL.
Time has flown by so fast, but I'm so glad
that we're here right now too, lore, especially.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Because the WNBA postseason went by.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
So fast with the Las Vegas Aces sweeping that now
it's it already feels like the postseason for the NWSL
because there's those only two games left. As a reminder,
there are fourteen teams in the NWSL this season, only
the top eight teams make the playoffs. So far, three
teams have been eliminated from playoff contention, the Utah Royals, BAFC,
(28:32):
and the Chicago Stars, so sorry if you live in
any of those markets. There's also been three teams that
have clinched, so that's the top seeded Kansas City Current,
the Washington Spirit, and Orlando Pride.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And that leaves us with eight teams still fighting for
the five remaining berths, which quick math quick math GIRW
math extra interesting. What's also exciting is there's not a
wide margin between these teams, like everyone is fully in contention.
And for context, if you win a game, you get
three points in the standings, one point for a draw
or a tie, and then zero points for a loss.
(29:05):
And right now, just three points separate the number three
Orlando Pride from the number eight Racing Louisville. So wow,
really really tight if you look at the table right now,
kind of scary.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And I say this with soccer all the time. Soccer's
bed a game of moments. So Louisville could be sitting
in eight right now and literally by the time or
chatting next week, they could be in that number four
spot and feeling so different, and then the week later
they could totally feel like they're out of the playoff
mix altogether.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And that's what That's why we love sports.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Exactly, we love it, and just another layer to why
the standings are so important. Of course, there's home field
advantage here, so even if you first of all teams,
they just want to make it and be above that
number eight mark. But then if you're in the top four,
you're going to get that home field advantage. So there's
so many different gamesmanship and different impacts happening across the
standings that we can keep an eye on too.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, and home field advantage in soccer. I wouldn't say
it's as big as something like football, right lore, but
just the atmosphere and the supporters clubs and the crowd
colors and everything like that makes such a big difference.
Especially for Gotham. That crowd is rawsius. So Sammy, you're
going to have the best time ever. You did such
a great job selecting this game. Thank you so much
(30:16):
for messaging us.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
And y'all. Our dms are open.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
If you want to be featured on a future episode,
call us and leave us a voicemail at one four
three seven five six four five five seven nine. That's
also linked in the show notes. You can click on
that and it will literally just call you. We love
to hear voices, your beautiful, beautiful voices. You can also
dm us on Instagram. I'm Ellen at the gist, Steph
(30:40):
is at Sephanie Rotts and dm us there and we'll
be like, yeah, actually don't know the answer to your question.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Let's get our smarter producers.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Let's see and we can chat with you about it
on the next podcast or email us at pod at
the gisports dot com, whatever's easiest for you. We love
these questions, but we also love it when you call
us out on things that we maybe said wrong, did wrong,
should be reconsidering, or a hot take er opinion. We
love those two.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Basically, send us everything and Sammy, send us photos from
your game. We want to see let us know how
it was, too. That'd be really fun to see.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
That's such a great idea.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
The only thing I don't want is a hot take
on life of a show girl.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I'm over those takes.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
That's out only sports slash, some culture, but not the
life of show girl. We have our limits.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, we all have our limits. Anyway. That marks the
end of today's episode. Laura, thank you so much for
joining me today. It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
I love that interview, and thank you all for tuning in.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yes, always fun to chat with you, al Thank you
so much. We'll be back in your feed with a
new podcast next Thursday. One week from today, we are
heading to Toronto for our just off site to spend
some time together in real life. So in the meantime,
if you enjoyed today's episode, We'd love for you to rate, review,
and subscribe.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
This episode was edited by Savannah Howel and produced by
Lisa Mintilo, Alexandra Puccio, and of course Lauren Tuscala again.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
I'm Ellen Hyslab and I'm Lauren Tescala. I'm going to
go channel tar Davis Woodhall and have a relaxing night
before a big moment, probably not long jump, but I'll
channel my inner Tarra and try to be confident, and
we will chat with you again next week
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