our jersey sales were up 1,1 193% like that is unprecedented if you give people Something to Believe In that's probably a one of the best gifts you could receive and we had over 1 billion views to our digital content 1 billion views what is a Hidden Gem in Indiana from South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between this is get in the show focused on the hooer state and the incredible stories happening here today I'm Nate spangle founder of git Indiana and I will be your host for today's conversation today I'm joined by Allison Barber former president and COO of the Indiana Fever she is
a leader in women's sports recognized for her commitment to empowering female athletes she has played a primary role in revitalizing the fever franchise from behind the scenes she just transitioned from her role with the fever into her next chapter where she will serve as board chair and adviser for the marlla project an initiative aimed at uplifting girls and women in Indiana through Sports she's also the CEO of her own company to the hoop strategies a consulting company Focus on brand building today we're going to be talking about the rise of women's sports in Indiana and Beyond the marll project and the impact they're making across
the state and the future of the Indiana Fever Allison welcome to get in thank you glad to be here I am so pumped to have this conversation I I was happy that the intro came through and we were able to get you on in in very timely manner right like season just wrapped up with the fever and not only is there tons of excitement there but there's also tons of excitement about what you're uh transitioning into and going to be working on next so I'm super excited to dive into it thanks I'm glad to be here it is an exciting time for girls and women
in sports especially in the state of Indiana because we're all in on the opportunity that Sports can bring to make Society actually better oh oh my gosh yes because there's a bunch of new developments right not only are the fever like the hottest team the absolute hottest team in I would say women's sports but also Indie the Indiana ignite or the Indianapolis ignite Indie ignite the Indie ignite are coming which is going to be our professional volleyball team they're going to be what the seventh eth team something like that like that's right they're sub 10 I'm super pumped they're going to be up in on
the north side of Indianapolis and they kick off January that's super exciting I'm she I have the expert in all things women sports here um but before we dive into what you're doing with the marlla project and and kind of these fun new adventure you're you're jumping into we got to start with the fever right uh talk to me about I mean obviously first question the Caitlyn Clark effect right we got to start there we're going to give the softballs up early how how crazy was this season versus The Season's passed it was crazy in all the good ways so Caitlyn Clark is an amazing
person first and foremost you know all the things that we appreciate about hooers she brought with her from Indiana so generous and kind and just watching Caitlyn off the court has been as much of a pleasure for me as watching her on the court as you see her engage with kids and and really giving herself to the future of sports for girls and that's what she's dedicated to so Caitlyn the person is uh just amazing and we're honored and humbled that she's now a hooer and we're thrilled to have her here on the court you know it's her game is second to none in the
way that she plays and she's surrounded by several great talent talented athletes in Indiana fever so we've been fortunate to attract some really great talented folks women that now you know compliment Caitlyn's game fun to watch is and they all make each other better right like this team was super fun to watch it took a little bit to get going I feel like you know growing pains and especially you know when when Caitlyn coming from a national championship run rolling directly into the a full WBA season that's crazy that was like I saw her at the Colts game maybe not not too long ago and
I was like somebody said get her a beverage and like let her like hang out and chill for a little bit um well talk to me like are there like stats to measure just like how Wild this season was like I know the uh attendance for fever games was off the charts but like when you guys were dissecting just how big an impact and and how awesome of a run this past season was like what were you using to measure there so we do a few things on the business side we can measure everything from ticket sales to Fan engagement to merchandise sales on the
basketball side we're going to measure wins and losses but also just impact and progression of the game so you know I give a a lot of credit to our head coach Christy sides and her team that put together a really good brand new Young fever basketball team our hope you know over the last three years we had a plan that said this year according to our plan this year we would be in the playoffs and the eight top teams go into the playoffs if we thought if our coach sides could get us into the playoffs at spot eight that would be success she got us
in at six and so that was success on the basketball side and we're really proud of the work they did it took time to gel and figure that out that's not you know I come from business and nonprofit World same thing happens in Corporate America it takes you a while to figure out who how to play to each other's strengths yeah it's like you get that Harvard MBA in there and it's not like all of a sudden all right our profit and laws is fixed right it's like it takes a little time to get and and it's like I feel like uh like culture-wise you
don't want to be the 22-year-old coming in there and well this is how we did things in Iowa like now we're going to change every it's like no you gota like you build the the chemistry within the team that's right that's right and we had you know a veteran like Kelsey Mitchell and then we had Lexi hall and then Aaliyah Boston so we've had people who had played at the highest levels in college they could relate to where Caitlyn was coming from and therefore they all I think all we had to do was give them a minute to connect with each other and they did
and it showed on the court but to your question about metrics you know we look at on the business side our jersey sales were up 1,1 193% like that is unprecedented and okay obviously probably like largely fueled by Caitlyn's Jersey but like did that make like did more Leah Boston Jersey sell this year did more uh Eric wheeler like I love like I know a little bit I went to the season I went to the season opener and I was like okay like obviously you see like this is a young this is a team that is new to playing with each other but it was
super cool to see them all come together and like really figure and hit their stride uh through the stretch there yeah but let's unpack what you're talking about was the impact it's unprecedented the Caitlyn Clark effect is real and we're thrilled about it but it brought visibility to the whole team of the fever and to the WNBA but if we just want to keep it in Indiana you know with look at ticket sales sold out every night over 177,000 fans in our games at home but even something as simple as our terrific mascot Freddy fever his appearance requests went up 150% this season so you
talk about the fever the team which is what we've been working on you know five years ago when I got this job we put together a strategy said commit compete and contribute those three C's will drive us to a championship culture I couldn't I couldn't guarantee a championship that's not my job but I could help create a culture that would lead to a Championship win so you've got to have the culture before you can have the win did did you come in um was it right after or before didn't they have a like a championship run back in like 20 12 well well they won
in 2012 yes and then yes they did and I came in in 2019 so it have been a while after that cuz I was I actually that was my freshman year of college and one of my my buddies his uh his older brother worked for like field or whatever and they had like tickets to the game and so we went to catch one of the one of the games within the championship it was a home game and uh it was our first like we're at the WNBA finals and I was like Whoa man college is sweet like you get to like cuz I went to
depa so we like drove the 50 minutes into town or into into town in Indianapolis and it was wild I do believe that did CU did Minnesota clench like win the whole thing in Indianapolis I think that's right I think I was at that and it was like oh that's that's tough but it's cool to see the whole like what 2015 make it the championship then like I mean some Dog Days in there and then now kind of like a revitalization it's like any business model you have you hit your Peak and then people retire coaches retire players retire so then you just go into
rebuild mode which is not unusual if you come out of a business you know background and really in sports it happens all the time and so that was the wave we had to ride and we had to we had this wonderful group of fans who have been with the fever all 25 Seasons many of them and new fans that said let's let's come around this franchise and believe in them and and and be patient and that's what they were and so they rode the wave with us and I'm very grateful to all of our fans yeah what were season tickets like season ticket sales did
they increase this year oh yes well when Caitlyn announced that she was coming out into the draft on a Thursday afternoon from that time to Sunday night we had over 6,000 phone calls people wanting to buy season tickets how many SE how many season tickets do you offer uh well we had to get creative there half seasons and like other stuff like that packages so we only sold full seasons and then once we got all those folks accommodated then we sold half season so I mean we had to we had to adapt but our company Pacer sports and entertainment was ready for it and that's
the that's the beauty of our company working both Pacers and fever when something like this happened we had a whole team around us to support and to be responsive to our fans when did it get on the radar like what board meeting or wherever you guys sitting when you're like hey we could get Caitlin Clark like when did that like moment kind of like click well we knew our odds were good going into the draft lottery in December but you don't know until you know and that was and then we knew we got the first pick in December but we didn't know so that's December
and the players in college don't have to declare until after their college season ends so that could be anywhere between March and April and so we waited and Caitlyn decided to announce before her season ended and that when it was all systems go and she kind of knew right like she knew that she'd be going to Indianapolis so it's like let's say she just didn't Vibe she's like no I want to be in LA or I want to be in New York like she could have been like n I'm gonna I'm going to take my nil money I'm going to play another year in Iowa
like maybe win the national championship so I think that speaks uh like volumes to the fever organization yes um because I mean you've seen it before like Eli Manning right back in the day was like nah I don't want to play there like I'm like I'm just not going to do it right so I think that does speak a ton to your guys as organiz a and the the fever organization as a whole that you know like a blue chip I don't want to S once in a lifetime cuz I hope that more of these like come like there's there's other women coming up that
are going to be like bigger and better than Caitlyn Clark right but an awesome player says like you know I want to go to Indi and I want to build something special in Indiana I think that's right and it's a credit to I hope and I accept your compliment I think it is a credit to the fever franchise I think it's a credit to pce for sports and entertainment but in addition to that it's a credit to our city and this was a place that KAIT had spent time playing in the Big 10 tournament and she'd been here she had an understanding of it so
I think our city showed up in a way that would make it attractive to somebody especially from Iowa to say this is a place where you'll be comfortable and so far so good what was uh what was the most unexpected change this past fever season like obviously you knew ticket sales and merch sales and all those things were going to go up but like was something that shocked you like huh I didn't expect this to happen so there are a couple of things one on our away games I didn't expect they would sell out in the ways that they did we were in a in
Atlanta and the Atlanta WNBA team plays in a small venue so they rented out their NBA venue because of the crowd size so they sold 177,000 tickets which is their capacity and then on top of that they sold 1,000 standing room only and I remember walking into the arena and looking up so the arena was jam-packed every seats hold and then I looked up at the third I think it was the third tier and there were people looking down at the tops of our heads that paid standing room only seats to be there that night that was shocking to me and I didn't see that
coming at our second to last home game our cameras were panning the crowd and this gentleman was holding up a sign and he said it's my I'm here from it's my 91st birthday and I wanted to see Caitlyn Clark play and so you expect to see all the little kids I mean that is and which is what we love because that's the inspiration of the Next Generation but to see you know a six-year-old and a 91y old there for the same reason those are the things that make you stop and pause and say this is something unique and special oh I I love it I
think it's so cool and so unifying like truly like again my one of my best friends he's a farmer up in Northern Indiana and he's never come to like a Pacers game never been to a Colts game I don't think and he's texting me like like yo we have to make sure he came down for a fever game this year and I was like that's wild like I can't get him to come down on my birthday and he wants to come down and watch Caitlin Clark so like whatever that is thanks Andrew yes um you need a different friend I guess so so when you
think back to this past season um what's been your proudest moment maybe through maybe not just this season but just through your five years with the fever what was your proudest moment keeping our fans engaged you know that's a gift of time and resources that people in the city and state have generously given to our franchise the fact that you could go through some down years some amazing players and tamaa catching retires and she was beloved for all good reasons and she's still crushing it in the city like she's doing big stuff I actually just uh popped into teas me the little like uh i'
never had tea before um but uh it was actually Olivia West she invited me we were catching up or whatever and she you got to come check this place out and I was like oh like I'll have my first cup of tea and good for you it was it was great hot or cold I went hot okay um cuz I'm a coffee guy you know like warm hot coffee uh it was different but like all of a sudden like the person behind the counter like opens this container and I like she's like yeah smell it I was like okay they fan it to yeah they
waed it to you and I was like oh absolutely let's go um so it's great but she's retires and so you might imagine a scenario where the fans drop off when a tamaa retires or when the team is struggling to rebuild and but our fans didn't drop off you know I mean there was a core group of fans that kept believing they stayed optimistic they were the always the voice in my head that says this will get better you'll you'll all will figure this out and we're here for you so I when I look back at that and say what what's a great takeaway it's
the takeaway that I've always believed to be true if you give people Something to Believe In even if you can't deliver on your results immediately but they believe in you or your promise or your product and they come alongside you that's probably one of the best gifts you could receive oh I love that and it's paying off right like like the future is so bright for the the fever organization and I mean they're going to go on and Sans you right because we have new fun uh fun adventures that we're going on but they're going to do great things and I'm I'm super know how
I feel about Sans youu as a way to describe that Sans you Al you're out of here well not out of here but like you're going on there's a there's a new a new um opportunity that's that's arised that you're super excited to take on and I'm super excited talk about so walk us through what the marll project is uh we just launched two weeks ago the marlla project first of all it is the country's first so this has never been done in the nation it's the country's first girls Sport and Leadership complex for girls 12th grade and under and we're going to build it
up by pH Oaks Farms we're very excited about that location it's named marlla after Senator Burch by's first wife marlla by who could not get into college because there was no title 9 so Title 9 first and foremost was for financial aids so girls could go to college with Aid and she couldn't go and so part of her journey inspired his journey to write Title Nine which opened up all the doors for girls to go to college and to play sports and get scholarships so as a tribute to marlla we've named this the marll by the marlla project and because Indiana is the birthplace of
title n it all aligns perfectly so imagine a facility built for girls where they can come and they can have we'll have a health and mental Mental Health and Wellness Center an athletic center Fitness training nutrition training basketball volleyball soccer tennis field hockey flag football all of the sports so girls will come for weekends of tournaments and camps and Clinics and then we'll build out this curriculum of yearr round programming for girls because what we believe to is what we know the research demonstrates if girls play sports they have this trajectory of a Career Success that's un second to none so according to ernston Young
92% of women in seite jobs played Sports no 922 I can believe that yes why I can really believe that you know getting to the top like being in the SE Suite is competitive like you have to like be you to be the first one in the last one to leave like put in the extra work and I do think that uh that athletes just have that mentality and there is I think about uh like women's sports specifically around like women's soccer players volleyball players and basketball players not to knock any other sports but I'm just thinking of like personal examples like they are tough
hard nosed and like are out to compete yes and they know how to play Team ball which is what you need to do in Corporate America to be successful so sometimes you've got the ball and you're making the shot and sometimes you've got the ball and you're making the pass both are important skill sets and they translate to Corporate America or nonpr any any business perfectly and so we're looking at the marll project of saying we can do so much more for girls in training them to be successful mentally physically emotionally and do it through this platform of sports and what's the nearest Big City
to fa Oaks Farms well you're 100 miles north of India and 70 miles south of Chicago and so you're right on the path between the two big cities so that's why we put it there so that we can attract from all over Indiana and Illinois and the thought would be it's like you know weekl long summer camp or something like that or like weekend getaway both weekend getaways weekend tournaments we like partnering up there with phro Farms because if you think about all the kids who are in travel ball their families go with them and now all of a sudden we're offering something for the
girl female athletes to compete and then also the farm PHS Farm is right there and they have activities for families with other children to be in involved so it's kind of a familyfriendly opportunity interesting I love it I think it's super super cool how did this get on your radar and like what got you invol like was this from the beginning you were like was who idea and and how did this come to life the uh Glenn Tilly from GT Sports and his team have been doing working on this concept for two years a few weeks ago they were given the Grant from the state
of Indiana a ready Grant because they've been doing this work behind the scenes just getting all the pieces in place four weeks ago Tama Catchings who is an adviser to this team asked me if I would take a meeting with them to learn more about it and in that meeting I when I learned about it similar to how you responded this is important and the time is right which really goes back to your first questions about you know women and sports and the fever and being this visible team now it gives us the opportunity to do more if we take it and so we're taking
it yeah and I mean it has to be obviously the impact of it to leave the fever when they're like like I feel like it's just beginning to scratch the service of like all the success and the cool things that are coming there like that just kind of shows how big this opportunity is and like to make a a national Global impact to women in sports I think is amazing so when you think about like what this is going to look like for families like walk me through like what it's like for uh let's say uh fifth fifth grade basketball team comes to marlla is
what you're going to call it comes to marlla like what walk me through what that's going to feel like so they'll come to this state-ofthe-art facility which we're really proud of they'll go through uh classroom work curriculum work around mental health physical health we have a full kitchen we'll teach cooking classes about how do you if you want to be a successful human and athlete what are you putting in your body and so we'll have nutrition bars and Clinics and that piece for the for girls and then they'll go into the training center where we'll have this beautiful gym for athletic training working out with
trainers so that they're working at fifth grade you need to work out differently then you do it seventh grade and ninth grade and so that training piece as well all of that will happen uh mostly through our mental health mental and wellness centers and then they'll compete and so they'll go with depending on the sport we'll have tournaments we'll have clinics we'll have coaches in to teach students about and girls how to play different sports so it will be all of these things but and then anchored around these great tournaments and Championship is there like going to be like overnight accommodations like Hotel type like
dorms or like what's going on there they have Hotel a hotel already built there and part of our model will be to build a second hotel and more restaurants so that it's either drivable from Crown Point my I'm from the region so I know that that location great you can drive down from sherille marille Crown Point all what's like the closest like Indiana city to fa Oaks Farms well so you're right by Jasper County and Newton County so you're really moving your way up toward that marville sherille Crown Point area what's the economic impact that area is going to see from this uh from this
complex yeah we're excited about that too we haven't modeled all of the economic impact except for the fact that in as we build we've at it in three phases of how the build's going to happen what we do know is that our model shows that we'll hire 1,000 new employees just to support the marll project so a thousand new jobs with this project which is a great boost to the community oh my gosh yeah a thousand that's wild um well talk to me about women's sports and the opportunity that Indiana has to really like be the capital like obviously you know with the fever's success
and the Indie ignite coming in like the the pieces are all there and it's like kind of our job to arrange them all and build this masterpiece but but talk to me about this opportunity the Indiana has you know it's like any good success story I told somebody I felt like we've been writing code in our basement for five years and our IPO just hit you know everything looks like a overnight success which it never is but we've put all of these pieces in place in our city so whether it was trting the NCAA years ago it's the fever franchise that's 25 Seasons old sport
Indiana Sports Corp has just put out their strategic plan one of their pillars is to make Indiana the headquarters for women's sports and so all of these bites at the Apple of success every little piece will pay off in big ways for our city and our state but the momentum it all has to happen in this Rhythm it's the flywheel of what happens first and how do we build on each thing and so while we welcomed you know Aaliyah Boston last year is our first draft pick and the momentum started to shift for the fever and then we welcomed Caitlyn Clark and more momentum happened
all of those things if they happened independently would be terrific but the fact that they're happening in collaboration with our business our city our nonprofits Sports Corp all everybody identifying the power of women in sports and how can Indiana be that headquarters all of those things are coming together just at the right time JC heart company is your answer to navigating the apartment rental Journey with almost 50 years of creating enjoyable living experiences in Indiana you'll be sure to find your new home sweet home you're going to find 30 communities in the best areas Indiana has to offer Hamilton County downtown Indie Bloomington just to
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har or visit home ISJ cart.com Nate one more time home is JC har and what can the community at large do to support you with the marll project and to support just women's sports in general not only in Indiana but beyond as well you know there are three things I think people can do it you know one go to the game so you talked about India ignite is starting in January so inaugural team professional volleyball up at the new Fishers facility let's go let's show up let's support and buy tickets because that builds that momentum as well keep coming to the fever game but follow
all these teams on social media that's important too what was the increase of social media followers for the fever this year well you know it's interesting we had um there are so many metrics around that the one that I just was shocked by I shouldn't be surprised by anything this season but we had we have you know 40 games so we're about half the size of an NBA league seasonwide and we had over 1 billion views to our digital content 1 billion views and so an NBA team at the height of their season doing a great job I think some of the numbers are around
480 million for an NBA team and we were over 1 billion no way I mean I can believe it like I it was just like I mean it's mindboggling isn't it I just think anything that involved like the fever Kaitlin Clark was just like mustsee content right like I remember I watched like I don't know 3 minutes of them at the state fair or something like that like I was like oh my gosh like I had that sweet cord like I had like that was me I was there like I loved it like I don't know I can't imagine that is wild to put in
perspective against like a peak NBA team like to over double that yes um but again and half the amount of time half of the amount of time yeah well we were actually we just had I had um someone from WTHR on two weeks ago and we talked about like they I think that with the rise in the popularity of the WNBA they kind of need to evaluate like schedules and like play like for the fever not to get to host a playoff game right that's tough like we were talking about how awesome it would have been for the city like you know you bring the
fever back and a must-win game like the city would have shown out for that that's right that's a that's a tough one for for gainbridge not to get to do that but I think like they are making steps obviously like nothing moves as fast as you want it to but like you know charter flights and all these like different um steps that are taking right it's like got to keep the the foot on the gas there but um that was kind of our big takeaway was like man I wish they could host a playoff game and there were more fever games to see yeah and
that'll come I mean they will make those changes and adapt and adjust you know it's a lot to change models that have been around for a long time but I think we're well on our way yeah and when you think about the uh the marel project and the impact is going like talk to me about what the vision would be five or seven years down the road 10 years down the road like what does this look like for Indiana our Focus first and foremost is that every girl will be able to participate in marll project so part of our nonprofit work will be to raise
money for scholarships we are so dogged about the fact that Sports is the great platform for girls to develop and succeed that we want to make sure every girl who wants to be a part of it can be a part of it but our modeling we're we're expecting that we'll probably in the next be from the time we start and we finish the build the first few years by year six we model that we'll have over 400,000 girls going through our programs gosh that's awesome awesome yes holy smok life changing and is there anything like this to compare it to no no not for girls
that's so a okay so is there a boy analog they have uh they have sports clinics around the country where boys and girls can compete and you know play their tournaments those things exist but nothing similar to this that's just for girls with scholarship money funded with all the sports so you might find a basketball clinic or soccer but we're all in I love it I I think it's so impactful and it's just like s like all the things coming at the right time like you know aiyah Boston last year klin Clark this year fever the ignite coming like all these like dominoes seem to
just be positioned at the right place at the right time to just like make a huge impact in women's sports WNBA Allstar will be here in July so all of these things are it's that flywheel that Harvard Business you know if you go to Harvard that you mentioned that's what they teach you about is this flywheel of one thing leads to the next the challenge for leaders is how do you maximize the momentum so you don't sit back and say oh great we've had all these great ticket sales it's like how do you broaden this conversation how do you take advantage of what seems to
be this energy throughout the country to say let's learn more support more let's learn you know let's really push into and lean into girl Sports well and I do want to dip dive into something you talked about a little bit ago that I did not know so Indiana is the home or the the the founding of Title 9 like that started here I don't know how how well versed you are in this but I'd love to just like know a little bit more about that story and marll by and and how that all came to be so in 1970 leading into 1970 there were some
women that were really pushing and uh the credit really goes to part of the credit goes to a professor at the University of Maryland and she was an associate professor and she kept applying to be a full professor at the University and she didn't get the job she was just didn't get the job and finally one of her Deans said you know you're too outspoken to get the job and it made her mad Bernice is her name and so she started fighting fighting for women to have equal opportunity and she lobbied Congress and she got a congresswoman from Hawaii to get involved in it and
so they went and met with bur by who was Indiana Senator at the time and that you know they just kept working together to figure out how do we level the playing field for women and he you know was courageous enough to put pen a paper and he wrote the Bill the title Title 9 and it says that it's 37 words long it talks about how no institution that's getting Federal funding can discriminate against women for their Pursuit Of Education and other activities and those words are important and other activities and so he Senator by pushed forward and he you know sponsored the legislation Title
9 which then opened all the doors for it took a while to adapt and for people to believe that it was a thing they had to follow and so there's been some issues along the way but um over the years meant that girls could go to college with and get financial aid and that they could qualify for SP Scholarships in sports this is in 197 like 1971 that's like 50 years ago like it just seems like not real to me which is crazy like to me it's like it's a no-brainer right it's like you know equality all these big things that are just like for
someone who's 27 it's like oh that's just the right thing to do sure like that's wild that that was like a an out there idea 54 years ago how did that not happen exist prior to that but you know and so what have been like the big Milestones along that right so the first one was like getting scholarships so people like marlla could go to college but what other like like athletic scholarships and things like that and it took time for the athletes for the athletic departments to accept the fact that they had to scholarship female athletes and so there was a lot of work
that people had to keep doing because they didn't want to have to do it because those weren't necessarily the sports making money for the college when did the women's NCAA tournament like basketball or anything like that like when did that like start be a thing that I don't know no okay but so at the time there are there are like there are women's basketball teams across the country but they just were non scholarship that's right yes that's rightow so you know Billy Jean King talks about how she loved birchby for these words and other activities three words that he wrote in Title 9 because he
wasn't writing it necessarily thinking about sports scholarship but he just thought there must be more that girls could be able to participate in if somebody made the space for that so financial aid and other activities is how then people like Billy jenking and other Trailblazers said that means Sports and so that's how they pushed hard for scholarships well when you think back I'm guessing you were an athlete I played tennis and uh softball and college when you think back to your time where did you go to school Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga o what impact did Sports have on you whether it was growing up and
and what impacts do you do you see Sports having on young women across the country the world well my real sport that I love is basketball and my I've played that in my driveway like every good hooer but you know I'll tell you what basketball actually according to research is the number one sport to develop psychological well-being so wrestling is the number one sport to develop personal discipline so they've kind of think about these Sports what if I told you I was a wrestling coach I'm a varsity coach here at does that make sense it's hard I always say like it's not the process is
not fun but the product is fun yes but you would think about that as a wrestler personal discipline because it's all on you when you're on that mat it's you right yeah and personal displine of also like whether here there in between it's like you know you have to make the weight class like it starts before you even like get on the mat right and it's like you take a high school boy that's like used to you know picking out all the time or whatever and it's like hey just so you know when you wake up tomorrow it's like you have to weigh 1 120
on the dot or less you can't weigh 120.1 or you can't compete yes yeah no I've seen too many are spitting in a cup on the bus on the way to the thing thing that's the thing uh okay so so person question is what it makes right what does Sports do and so it really if you break it down I my first career in Indiana was a first grade school teacher and so I come to the marlla project with that academic background of saying there are certain things that you have to build into children to be successful it's our job and our responsibility um and
confidence is a big piece of that Sports can be a platform to build in confidence and I love love the game of basketball because you don't need you can practice basketball in all you need is a ball in your driveway in your basement and you can get better at dribbling you can get better at moving with a ball like there are all these things that build confidence for kids and you can get better at shooting yeah I mean it really matters like winning a game of pig you know it's you never have to like have someone in your face like blocking your shot or whatever
and it's like the ball goes in and you're like oh I still got it like let's go well you know that's funny you're talking about that because it actually releases dopamine and and if you're sitting in your office and you sketch something on a piece of paper and you're going to go throw it away if you crinkle that paper now I've known you for 21 minutes but I'm guessing when you throw that paper in the trash you probably shoot it at the trash can you probably don't get up walk over and you're oh absolutely yeah I could tell even if I have to go chase
it down afterwards and shoot it again yes because when it goes in dopamine is released in your brain and it is a satisfying and good feeling and so every time a kid can put a ball through the hoop we're doing something good for their brain okay I want to ask you a okay I I have an interesting question then so what do you think about like so I'm I'll just like give my stance first right I'm like a competitive person like and I believe that like you know I so I played High School football as well our team was horrible we won six games in
four years but I think that losing those games like made me who I am like I'm very resilient I would like to believe because it's like when you go into halftime down 66 points you have to somehow put on a smile and say we're still going to win this game even though you're going to lose 66 to6 like uh there was just something special about that where now I can just be like an eternal optimist what's your kind of stance on when you think of you Sports and even high school like keeping score participation trophies like I would just love to hear the psychology and
your thoughts behind this so I'm a big fan of competition because it brings out the best in people and winning and losing is part of life and the the the sooner and that we can teach that the more resilient children will be now there's a way to teach it to a four-year-old that looks different than a 14-year-old of course and so what are your expectations for the four-year-old but there's so much to competition that looks different than just if you got the ball through the hoop so competition is being a good sports person Sportsman it's being a good loser that that is a skill that
we should teach because that's part of life there's fairness when the referee calls something that they should or shouldn't call how do you respect authority well that would go a long way in society so these are things that we shouldn't dilute Sports is a great place for us to teach that and I think good coaches and and parents who are engaged know at what level their children can succeed and thrive in that and sometimes it's more than what their child wants to do and that's okay too but I don't think we should dilute the competitive nature because it teaches too many good life skills yeah
I totally agree and uh my my big thing that I kind of tell the guy like wrestling is a brutal sport right like and a lot of times you have to like get pinned 30 times to get your first one right it's like you got to go out there in front of like your mom God and everyone in the stands and like get beat while we're in like a little singlet like it's like a humbling experience until you get to be good that's right and I always say like just cuz you lose doesn't mean you're a loser like just cuz we lost doesn't mean you're
a loser like and it's like that's a moment that's just a little blip on your timeline how do we improve and go get better like oh my gosh I just like you're speaking my language of like you just learn so much and you honestly learn more in my opinion like the losses about life and who you are as a person and your character and just like persevering like I see this thing with with kids I hate to be like I'm not that old but I'm like the kids these days get off my grass there's there's just so many like other things they could do you
know it's like so I do see this like that worries me just slightly of like oh like wrestling's really hard I'm just going to go play fortnite or wrestling's really hard I'm going to join there's a million things you can do which is great I love like the different opportunities to all these different things but with attention spans being so short it's like I'm constantly thinking about practice and activities I'm like was there something that slightly resembled the game today and if not like we have to do one tomorrow or like kids are going to get bored and like oh well acting or the play
or the musical or whatever it's like always fun and we're singing and dancing and having a good time like I'd rather go do that than join the wrestling team and like get beat up for two hours a day so I I'll get off my my soap box there but I just think you Sports were you ever a coach yes what you coach I coached a losing volleyball team and a losing basketball team Junior High girls oh boy and that's just like already a fun time and like so we had a so I don't know if you know but the one of the latest ihsa official
sanctioned Sports is women's wrestling yes so like last year it was a club Sport and I was the club coach as well so I'm driving to a a wrestling match and you're talking about Junior High girls like I think just a different feel than like a high school wrestling team where I'm like lock in like you ready to go to war they like braiding each other's hair and it's like this boy going to ask me to the homecoming dance or whatever and like that was how they got in the mindset and then after their matches they would hug each other and I was like my
number one rule with the boy no hugging not hugging the girls were like oh my gosh you did so good and I'm just like it's just it's cool to see the sportsmanship and like though it's the same sport it's a different sport like I just love it but so talk to me about your high school or your Middle School uh volleyball team I will but I'll tell you when I got this job at the fever somebody said oh they have Chapel before every game and so Tama always go to Chapel I said well I'll to Chapel I'm you know love to think about things of
God and yeah have a moment before this fun game and this competitive game I go into the chapel where we have a chaplain there and they pray and all of a sudden the opposing team walks in to the chapel and I said to Tama why are they here she goes oh no Chapel's for both teams and I said oh I won't be back and I never went back no you're a competitor I am yeah I love that like I do think that like obviously you you hit on it right it's like there's a Time to be competitive and there's time to be a sportsman and
like the pregame is like a it's very valuable like no I'm locked into like we're going to go to war right now right well talk to me about what what you learned from coaching a junior high volleyball team yeah volleyball and basketball but I think what I learned is what you're sharing about your coaching experience is that if you want is adaptability is important and so if you're the grown-up in the room your job is to be creative about how do you meet the needs of your students or your players and it's going to look different this team to the next team boys to girls
sport to sport but I I do want challenge coaches and parents and teachers to say let's accept what this reality is and how do we use our skill set and our experience and competencies to create an environment where these children will Thrive and so do we have to figure out a different way for them to play some games sometimes or have more time to do their hair or you know play a little bit of their video game before maybe we didn't grow up that way and we wouldn't choose it we're not sure if there's the same value of it but the the lasting value is
for them to have a coach who says I care about you as a person I'm going to do the extra effort and extra work to try and make this meaningful and and sports should be enjoyable at Young ages so we'll figure that piece out I do think yeah there are a lot of like specifically like dads I feel like they get like they forget that you know fifth grade basketball or fifth grade softball is supposed to be fun yeah like fifth grade wrestling like our big thing is like just keep them around the sport like it's got to be fun and enjoyable because when it
gets to high school it's going to become like it's it's a job right it's like It's a Grind but when you're a little kid it's got to be like you do this because it's fun you do but but still not deluding the truth of winning and losing that is hard and so what does fun well I mean winning is more fun than losing if we want to talk about what's fun but the culture you can create and the camaraderie and the team there can be things that are fun outside of the winning and losing because I just I just don't want people to dilute the
power of competition it's a very good thing yeah I I totally agree I love it and I I just uh as a coach it's like we're getting into so November is when like wrestling season starts and I've like been reading 11 rings but Phil Jackson and a few of these other like books about like building a top caliber culture and all these fun things and I'm super pumped but I'd love to know uh I mean coach to coach right like what advice would you have for all the coaches out there of Youth Sports like you're about to go in and you're pouring into the marll
project and it's gonna you know 12th grade and under like so high school to Middle School to elementary kids like if there are coaches out there listening what advice would you give them of how they can make an impact in their young players lives today players children adults what you do is oftentimes more important than what you say one of the things that it's not always consistent but I do believe that competitors have a drive and a motor that they want to get better and so as a coach if you break it down for whatever age group you're working with and you teach them the
value of getting better at something wow what a discipline what a great muscle memory to create in kids of just getting better will they all be great at dribbling with their you know non-dominant hand maybe not but can they get better at it of course they can so that would be my every coach every parent no matter what age if you're using if your kids are into sports or theater or any of these things break something down give them something that they can get better at because that will build a life of determination and skill I love that and I think of like an easy
like how I think about doing stuff like that is like the goal setting type stuff where it's almost like uh at my grandma's house every time I would like once a month or whatever there'd be like little marks or maybe like once a year every six months we'd do the little like pencil marks and it's like okay if you look at your let's say you're a basketball team in fifth grade you look at your worst player that like can't dribble it's like oh well they made it 10 feet they made it from the free throw line to the Bas line but like by the end
of the season they can dribble with their left hand all the way to half court it's like that's an easy way for them to like track the progress and it's like you almost gfy the little you know the little things of like oh we got you got so much better you got a whole basketball court better at dribbling this year yes or you got you know you used to make three free throws in a row now you can make 10 free throws in a row or whatever it is like we do a big like hey here are um here are like three goals that I
want to accomplish this year and usually try to make them like uh quantifiable it's like I want to have this many wins or I want to like whatever like lift this much weight or do this much like GPA all things like that uh and I think that that's a really good way and it doesn't always have to be like the wins or Lo and it's honestly more impactful when it's like not necessarily just like we want to have a 500 record this year it's like yes of course I know that one but it's like if so and so is like well I want to run
the Sprint in less than or two seconds faster than I did at the beginning of the Season or whatever it is those things are super powerful yeah but you have to have a plan for it so you know setting a goal without a plan is a wish you Adam Scott talks about in a Adam Grant in atomic habits there's a line in his book I think it's really something I hang on to and it says when you set a goal and you advance it you accomplish something you're casting a vote for the person you want to be so you get up today and you do
five push-ups should you do 20 push-ups maybe but you did five today you're casting a vote for the person you want to be and wow what a great thing that we can use that Sports to teach kids how to cast a vote for the people that they want to be and it's a great it's a great platform I love it I could talk Youth Sports literally all day I do want to kind of like go back and just talk right so your time with the fever as as come to an end because you're on to this new fun exciting chapter empowering women sports across not
only Indiana but the nation 400,000 like you're the impact of of young female athletes that's going to be I mean I'm super pumped to follow along there but when you think back about The Last 5 Years with the fever what do you hope your legacy is that you left there I hope that my legacy of the 5 years that I was there was that one I believed in women's sports I believed in the power of our fans and I engaged our city to accomplish things that people weren't sure we could accomplish and so you know I'm I'm very bullish on Indianapolis and the people that
make this city work for them to all come around the fever all these years uh for me to sit in that chair for 5 years to say let's let's transform this franchise and we can't do it alone and so when I look back on my legacy I think well maybe maybe we're able to put our hand and some talent and some energy and effort to keeping a franchise that our city and our fans could be proud of as we were going through this transition I love that I know I've been a fever fan for the last year or so but I can definitely tell like
the impact that you've had and and I'm uh super excited I think the marll project is in very very good hands especially after this conversation holy cow I'm jazzed up I'm bullish on women's sports especially in Indiana being the headquarter for women used to be the amateur sports Capital now we're going to be the headquarter for women's sports I love that um I do want to go the last thing about fever as you think back to the past five years what are like two or three of your favorite moments like alltime moments that were just like man that's going to forever be ingrained I will
not forget the little girls show up in their jerseys with their basketballs for autographs and that wasn't just this year it was more this year for sure but just the little girls because what it reminds me of is the saying if you can see it you can be it the fact that our city has put forward a women's professional basketball team for 25 Seasons meant that little girls could see themselves on a path whether it's on the court or my coaches or our front office so that will always stay with me and all the thank you notes and the cute cards that girls and kids
would send about their moment their experience at the fever I think that will be something I will always remember when it comes to the future of the fever next season and Beyond what are you most excited about well it's the future is so bright for the fever you know I mean to get into the playoffs at the sixth seed this year my expectation is that we will see many more years of that deep playoff run and the new leadership team Kelly crossov the new president she was the original she started the league and so she was with the fever for 20 years before she went
over to the Pacers for five years as an assistant GM she's come back to be the president that's a that's a wonderful opportunity for the person who created the league now to have the skill set to take it the team to the next level she just hired Amber Cox as her GM and Chief Operating Officer that's brain gain in Indiana that we like to talk about so we're bringing in Talent from Dallas and she Amber's terrific and I so I'm expecting a more robust future for the fever as they go deeper into the playoffs I love that uh we won't say we're guaranteeing a WNBA
Championship but we're not taking it off the table we're going to we're going toost Hoist the trophy here in the in the circle City that's right okay I do have one fun question um well I have a bunch of fun questions as we kind of wrap up these are all uh this will be a little more fast-paced or whatever but like I do want to know what's the one thing that Indiana needs to know about Caitlyn Clark that they might not really already know Bo there's so much out there about Caitlyn Clark isn't there I know but it's like the media like there's so much
out there from people that don't actually know her and like have never just like sat down and hung you said like the first day she like oh she's like from Iowa and like very generous and humble and all these things that like that we see also an ultimate competitor yes um but I'd love to know is like from someone who's sat down and been in the room and like what should we know well you need to ask Kaitlin uh what they ought to know but what I will tell you about Kaitlyn and I've had the pleasure of having a front row seat to watching her
rookie career she's humble and that's an interesting mix to be such a you know Powerhouse player so talented and to have humility along the way and you watch it when she gets acknowledged or Awards and you could just see it in her face but then what I also see in her humility is how she'll walk off the court after signing some autographs and there'll be some little girl there that Caitlyn might not have spotted right away and then she catches her eye and she goes right back to sign that autograph so I think Caitlyn takes her um job very seriously she takes herself less seriously
and It Dem it demonstrates through her humility I love that and I I just think like as as the season kind of got going I was like man I can't imagine being 22 23 however old she might be like the pressure i w say glad the season got off to like a a little bit slower rest but it's like it takes a lot of the pressure away when you're like man just go out there and be a play like be a young professional like no one was phenomenal their first job whether it's an athlete or like and having the expectation that all of a sudden
like a a rookie is going to come in and like like I just can't imagine being it's like a young person with that much pressure and I've Lov to see the city and everyone kind of Step Up and like be there and be like it's okay like we're going to figure it all out and and it clearly shows in the in the results of the Season had sure and she was great in her first job she just needed a few weeks for everybody to figure it all out yeah phenomenal um okay so now we have the lightning round where I'm just going a couple quick
hitting questions here uh first question Hinkle or gainbridge which which stadium is just like you rather watch a game in gainbridge there we go I love that there is historic Hinkle field house I love love it and I love it for the right games so you know my family and I will spend a lot of time at Hinkle for the college basketball we're big fans and so that feels so good and you're just nostalgic and you feel like you're really part of it um but I'm really proud of gamebridge heck yeah what's your what's your favorite concession snack when you're at a fever game oh
my word those potato chips are they just get me the potato chips the potato chips and well those are sometimes with the catering and then I can hardly turned my head from the Benz pretzels o out of South Bend yeah with cinnamon oh those are good ones they are I love that okay what's the best halftime show you've ever seen at gamebridge I love those um I love the dunking team are the Pacers they do it for the Pacers and for us they're so amazing and then the dogs are just you know hilarious what I the one I can't watch is the woman who climbs
up on top of every single thing and she's spinning you know her baton and she's 40t off the floor and it stresses me out so I just can't watch have you seen U I think she called red panda where she has like the the little bowls and like Stacks them throw them up crazy that's wild to me okay when you think of what level of sport is your favorite uh High School College professional basketball Dude Love Of course watching the fever I'm a college basketball I'm a college sports fan I just I love everything about that who's your team uh IU yes all right I
love that uh and Notre Dame for my husband ah okay that's fine also good um yeah yeah oh my gosh and IU football right now is how about it how about they look good yeah I got my masters for my you so what do coach Sig says he says I win Google me that's hilarious okay now we have our younger years segment so this question is brought to you by our friends at or Fellowship they're a great organization here in Indiana uh helping develop the next uh generation of young Business Leaders and entrepreneurs so Alison what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self I
would give my 22-year-old self myself the advice that I took as a 22-year-old and that is to be in the room show up for every single thing you can volunteer where you can take advantage of opportunities when they come to you and even if you don't see that this opportunity I mean I was you know a school teacher was a lifeguard and swim instructor in the Summers each thing that I would say yes to and every opportunity I took would always lead to something valuable a friendship a work relationship a new job and so just say yes I love that I think that's great advice
and it's like some you say yes blindly and you have no idea what like what's going to come but like when you think of from school teacher to president and COO of the the Indiana Fever like that's a wild trajectory worked at the Pentagon worked at the White House I mean these are the things that happen when you say yes could you imagine like when you were coming out of undergrad you know going to be a school teacher that like you'd be in the white house or you'd be running a basketball organization flying over Iraq during a war in a war zone no not at
all we're going to need episode too to get into all that Holy Smokes um and as we wrap out I always have some fun Indiana questions so what's something the world needs to know about Indiana the people are our secret sauce so when I moved here to Indianapolis I didn't know anybody and I was starting WGU Indiana and knew that I needed to meet people to help us build the brand so more people could get their Master's and bachelor's degree and be successful my first year here in 365 days I met with 214 people 214 people and that only happened because I would meet with
you today and you'd say oh you should meet Barbara tomorrow and Barbara would tell me I should meet Deborah the next day that's the secret sauce of Indiana is that the people here are all in to help the other people I love that and it's so true and you hear it time and and it's like especially I love to hear it from people who are not originally from Indiana and come from outside and it's like no there's a reason like you put Roots down and stay here and it's like you build this like this insane work of really really impactful people very quickly and I
love it I mean it's been the truth for me but again I'm a lifelong hooer so um I love that that's great um what is a Hidden Gem in Indiana have the great pleasure of being on the Indiana destination Development Corporation serving under elain Beetle and we have all of these Trails the golf trail the hiking trail the basketball Trail the pork tenderloin Trail you can go to the website and you will be you know probably surprised by all of the wonderful things that we have but I have and a you know loyalty to the dunes so I grew up in Northwest Indiana and lived
in Portage Ogden Dunes on Lake Michigan and the dunes are just breathtaking and spectacular oh I love it so and it's like now a national park right like as of I don't know a couple years back that's right uh I love it and it's it's so and it's you almost like show a picture of that and you can't believe they're like wait what yes uh so I don't know if you heard about the duel the the movie that was shot here or filmed here they did a world premiere one of the main actors was Dylan sprous he's from The Sweet Life of Zack and Cody
if you heard that so they filmed 80% of it in um in Indiana okay and they set up uh on the beach up at Lake Michigan and made it look like California and you couldn't like you couldn't even tell like again they made it look like said in LA or whatever it was it was so cool it made me super pumped that's beautiful okay final question for you who is a hooer we need to keep on our radar boy there are so many I'm really inspired I get the chance to hang out with a lot of people who are in their 20 30s and 40s
and I do that on purpose because it keeps me motivated and inspired uh there are just so many hooers to keep your eye on but right now I would say keep your eye on Caitlyn Clark oh yes absolutely I'm excited to see her um take a little like you know have a little break from you know basketball obviously you're still playing and doing all the stuff but like just like breathe for a little bit for the first time in what's probably like over a year you know more than that coming out of college and uh maybe see around the city like hanging out like having
a good time like I that yes um thank you so much for being a guest today it was so awesome to hear not only about all the cool stuff with the fever but also about what you're doing with the Marvel project and the impact that you have already made and will continue to make in young athletes young female athletes lives like I'm super pumped to to follow along here and and I'm pumped to have you know individuals like you spearheading this initiative to make Indiana the headquarter for women's sports thank I think it's so awesome and I'm super excited for the Indie ignited as well
to like have their inaugural season and for fever and all the fun things that's good and thank you for being a coach that's an important piece of your story I love it it's like literally my favorite thing um if people want to find you or support what you're doing where can they where can they do that at marll website would be the place to go heck yeah I love it thank you so much and we're going to have to have a whole another Deep dive into what overseas and white house and all those fun things we'll have that on part two we appreciate you thank
you thank you for listening to this episode of get in if you likeed what you heard make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast this show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater whether you're trying to start your own podcast or looking to take your show to the next level make sure you check out sweetwater.com for all your creator needs if you want exclusive behind the-scenes content on all things Indiana make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok at Nate spangle thank you for being part of what makes the hooer state so amazing we'll see you next
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