With the Winter Olympics in full swing, and other big sporting events on the horizon (can you believe we are almost a month out from March Madness?), it’s a glorious time to be a women’s sports fan.
At The Milliat Press, we are feeling inspired as we actively work toward the launch of our first print magazine issue this year. The theme of that issue is “Who Wins the Game?” and it will include athlete profiles and first-person accounts, analytical essays on pressing industry topics and even a graphic novel.
One piece to the puzzle that is already underway is our cover story on Kathleen Doyle, former Big Ten Player of the Year at Iowa and WNBA draft pick who is now climbing the ranks as a college basketball coach after retiring from playing in 2023.
Kathleen’s story – written by me, Hannah Taylor – resonates with me as a former athlete and sports journalist because it’s not one you would expect to see on the cover of a mainstream media publication. Her basketball journey is marked by peaks of winning and individual success, but also by moments of intense failure and disappointment.
For all her accolades – winning two state championships in high school, helping lead Iowa women’s basketball to its best NCAA Tournament results in program history and getting drafted 14th overall by the Indiana Fever, among others – Kathleen has also faced her fair share of adversity. The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended her senior season at Iowa before the NCAA Tournament, when she and the team were playing their best basketball; her rookie (and only) WNBA season took place in a bubble in Florida, thousands of miles away from her hometown of LaGrange Park, Ill.; and she tried twice more to make WNBA rosters after proving herself overseas, only to be cut on the last day of training camp each time. The resilience with which she handled these setbacks, and the self awareness she showed when making the difficult decision to give up playing and become a coach, are just two of the lessons that make Kathleen’s story the right fit for The Milliat’s first magazine issue.
The large majority of girls and women who play sports growing up must come to terms with the physical end of their careers before they are mentally or emotionally ready. I played Division III soccer and lacrosse at Hamilton College and can still vividly recall the “grieving process,” as Kathleen called it in one of our interviews, I endured after my final competitive collegiate game. After you put so much of yourself into an activity you are deeply passionate about and into the pursuit of an athletic and personal goal for as long as you can remember, the moment you realize it’s all over, you go through something of an identity crisis. Like Kathleen’s transition into coaching, sports were such a big part of my life that I also stayed close to them, becoming a sportswriter and then an editor at publications including the New York Post, The Athletic and Just Women’s Sports.
While building The Milliat, one of the data points we keep coming back to is the alarming rate at which girls drop out of sports in adolescence. By creating a publication that raises the visibility of women’s sports narratives and tells important stories like Kathleen’s, we hope to contribute to reversing this trend, inspiring girls’ sports participation and enriching more lives through sports in the same way they have touched Kathleen’s and mine.
On This Day in History
As the United States women’s hockey team gets set to play Italy today in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Milan Cortina Games for its eighth straight appearance in the knockout round of the Winter Olympics, it’s easy to forget that women’s hockey hasn’t always captured our attention at the Olympics. In fact, it didn’t exist until the late 1990s.
Twenty-eight years ago this coming Tuesday, Feb. 17, Team USA took home gold in the first-ever Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament with a thrilling 3-1 win over Canada. After clawing back from a 4-1 deficit in their first meeting to defeat Canada 7-4, Team USA took the lead in the final and never gave it up on their way to the gold at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games.
The U.S. women’s success not only sparked a longtime Olympic rivalry with Canada, one of the most heated in all of sports; it also helped put women’s hockey on the map back home and inspired generations of girls on the ice.
Hilary Knight was 8 years old when U.S. women’s hockey blazed that trail in Nagano. Now playing in her fifth Winter Olympics (and wearing No. 21 in honor of ‘98 Olympics legend Cammi Granato), Knight is determined to lead Team USA to its third gold medal while looking to break a record of her own – she is currently tied for the most career goals and points in U.S. Olympic women’s hockey history.
Knight sat down with Flame Bearers before the Milan Cortina Games for a candid conversation about what it takes to win at the Olympics and her perspective on the growth and future of women’s hockey. Flame Bearers is a women’s sports media and storytelling studio that amplifies the stories of elite women athletes through live and digital experiences.
Tune in: USA vs Italy, Friday 2/13 @ 3:10 pm ET (USA Network & Peacock)
(MPAC) Milliat Press Ambassador Club at NYU
As announced in our last newsletter, The Milliat Press Ambassador Program – a cross-campus network uniting the next generation shaping women’s sports – is now accepting applications from actively enrolled students.
We are thrilled to officially launch the program with NYU and junior Chloe Cho as Lead Ambassador! Chloe is an NYU Sports Management undergraduate with a love for sports and storytelling. She brings high energy and creativity to every event she touches. From leading Red Bull campus activations and coordinating NYU Sports Film Festival events to completing marketing internships with MetLife Stadium and the New York Red Bulls, she focuses on building experiences that connect people and brands.
Hear why Chloe is eager to get involved in the Ambassador Program, in her own words:
Q: Can you tell us why you’re interested in building MPAC at NYU?
CC: As a woman in sports management, I am deeply motivated to help bridge the gap in education and opportunity for women in sports. I believe visibility, access and mentorship are essential to creating long-term change in the industry. Being part of this program feels aligned with both my professional goals and personal values.
Q: What are some of your objectives with leading this program?
CC: My primary objective is to build meaningful connections within the sports industry while helping expand awareness of Milliat Press and its values. I am especially excited to share and promote the newsletter on NYU’s campus through activations and events, engaging students who are eager to learn and get involved.
By the Numbers
1922
On August 20, 1922, nearly 20,000 spectators filled most of the 25,000-seat Stade Pershing stadium in Paris to witness the first international women’s athletics competition, founded and organized by Alice Milliat in response to Olympic exclusion. Originally called the Women’s Olympic Games, the event was later renamed the Women’s World Games after objections from the International Olympic Committee. Nine track and field events were contested by 77 athletes from five nations: France, Great Britain, United States, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland.
We are proud to name The Milliat Press after Alice Milliat, a true women’s sports pioneer.