FREE DOWNLOAD: Women & the Winter Olympics Reference Guide

The Winter Games kick off in Vancouver Friday, February 12th and we’re stoked to see our fave female athletes compete in events like skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, luge, bobsled and more.

For all the deets on who’s competing when, along with notes on athletes to watch, Olympic trivia and more, download our FREE Women & the Winter Olympics Reference Guide.

Enjoy, and check back for lots of Olympic news and info over the next two weeks.

Related Posts:

Vancouver 101: Figure Skating
Vancouver 101: Bobsled, Luge, Skeleton
Vancouver 101: Speaking  Canadian

Sports gadgets and gear for athletes and spectators

With the Winter Olympics just around the corner and March Madness inching closer, most Americans are finding themselves immersed in sports. But, with the cold settling in, everyone needs a little push to get active.  From Trend Central, comes  some trend worthy technologies that can help you perform at your peak, or just keep you up-to-the-minute on the shredding in Vancouver.

Sports Tracker: You might already know about Nike+ and how it works with various Apple products to track your pace and progress, but what if you don’t have one of Steve Jobs’ latest toys or prefer the bounce of, say, New Balance running shoes?  What many Nokia smartphone users might not know is that a similar technology is available with their devices for free. All you have to do is go to the Sports Tracker site and download the training tool, and you’ll be tracking your running progress through your phone’s GPS just in time for marathon season.

Under Armour Recharge: For all of you still waiting for the advent of a Blade Runner world where we can buy body upgrades to enhance athletic performance, you might have to wait a little longer. Until that day comes, Under Armour is working on making you the best sportsperson technology can offer. Having evolved further than even its cutting edge wicking liners, the brand offers a product that actually makes your muscles regenerate faster than normal. Its Recharge wearapplies the methodology used in taking extremely cold showers after exercise to make the muscles contract and heal faster. Items should be worn for at least two hours – up to 24 hours for maximum results – after exercising.

2010 Winter Olympics iPhone App: Those who used the Lolla application this past summer know that these types of event scheduling apps are a lifesaver at massive happenings. Whether you’re going to be at the games in Vancouver or just can’t bear to miss figure skating on TV, this iPhone app lets you program your must-see events into your own personal viewing schedule. If there are time conflicts, it will let you know when to reprioritize. If you’re lucky enough to actually be in Vancouver, a map will let you know what’s happening where in real-time.

Pretty Smart!

Skier’s perfume blends rose oil with confidence

Ahh, the sweet smell of success.

2009 U.S. freestyle skiing champion Michelle Roark, has never lacked ambition. At age 5, she decided she wanted to become a chemical engineer and compete in the Winter Olympics.

Roark has been to one Olympics (Torino),  is hoping to compete next February at the Vancouver Games, and is only a couple of classes shy of earning a chemical engineering degree.

Her  record includes a World Cup season title, six World Cup victories, 15 World Cup podiums, and a world championships silver medal but Roark’s most recent endeavor may be her most impressive achievement.

Convinced that the scent from a patent-pending perfume blend that she developed and calls “Confidence” is as important to her athletic success as a good night’s sleep, Roark has been putting her chemical engineering education to good use and  developed a natural fragrance line called Phi-nomenal.

Roark blends her patented perfumes in a lab located in a beautiful old brick building in downtown Denver. There she also owns a beauty salon and spa. The space next door houses a trampoline, along with other workout equipment so she can train for the ski season.

She began working on creating natural fragrances because synthetic perfumes gave her headaches. Synthetic perfumes use an ethanol alcohol base, which Roark says is toxic. Claiming that a natural essence really has a life to it you can’t get with synthetics, Roark goes to Bulgaria for rose, Hungary for lavender, Florida for citrus. She wants to go to Madagascar for vanilla and India for sandalwood.

A recent WSJ article profiling Roark explains:

Scientific studies have shown that smell and emotion exist in the same network of neural structures known as the limbic system—an ancient core of the brain that dates to the beginning of human evolution. People might experience the connection when the smell of baking cornbread returns them to a Thanksgiving morning decades ago.

Ms. Roark’s research is designed to take this connection to a practical level by creating a concoction that will be as universal in its ability to improve performance as aspirin is in relieving headaches. Her scent, “Confidence” is a mix of rose oil from Bulgaria, bergamot from Italy, and grapefruit from Florida. She insists that these scents help her succeed and that they can be used to create the same emotional effects in others.

Before competing, Roark  claims to douse her neck-warmer in the natural fragrance and spritz it on the back of her neck and behind her ears. At the age of 35, she’s still tearing up the slopes so it seems there’s something to her theories.

Since developing Confidence, Roark has created scents for Focus, Balance, Adventure and Imagination and she does custom blends as well.

Not only is she Pretty Tough, but Pretty Smart as well.

For more info, check out the Phi-nomenal website.

UPDATE: Video: WISE Networking and Panel (Parts 1-3)

If you’re interested in a career in sports, you need to know about a great organization called WISE.

WISE bills itself is the leading voice and resource for women in the sports and events industry.  The group celebrates and connects emerging and established women leaders, to promote one another in career growth and continue to change the face of our industry.

There are regional chapters of WISE and last week, at the invitation of chapter President Alex Mallen,  I was fortunate enough  to attend an event hosted by the Los Angeles group.  The 4th Annual WISE Panel and Networking event, which took place at the LA Athletic Club, featured the requisite happy hour followed by speed networking (not nearly as awkward as speed dating) and a really interesting panel discussion with a diverse group of professional women.

For an idea of what happens during a WISE panel, check out the following videos (Parts I -3).

The panel, moderated by Alex Mallen,  features USA softball player and Olympian Amanda Freed, UC Irvine Women’s Basketball Head Coach Molly Goodenbour, LA Dodgers’ VP of Broadcasting Lauryn Lukin, and AEG Director of Corporate Sales Vanessa Shay.

Girl Scouts to meet women with non-traditional careers at NASCAR Weekend

Professional barrel racer Tana Poppino together with three women race car drivers will join 500 girl scouts at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, MO on October 1st during a unique event being planned as part of a NASCAR race weekend at the track.

Tana, plus drivers Alli Owens, Tiffany Daniels and Johanna Long will participate in this event which is intended to provide the girl scouts with an opportunity to meet women who are successful in non-traditional careers. They will interact with the womennd ask questions and then they will watch the ARCA/ Remax Kansas Lottery 150  race in which Ms. Owens will be driving for the DeHondt racing tream. Many of the Girl Scouts will be watching a stock car race for the very first time.

Tana Poppino After 20 years of combining careers as a part time professional rodeo barrel racer and a full time corporate marketing position, Tana Poppino, decided to devote her full attention to barrel racing. It paid off handsomely when she qualified for the 2006 and 2007 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. During the past two years she has won the barrel racing event at major rodeos such as the Calgary Stampede, The National Western Stock Show Rodeo, Cody (WY) 4^th of July Rodeo, Oklahoma State Fair, Louisiana State Fair and the Sand Hills Stock Show Rodeo (Odessa TX). She has been a finalist at dozens of others. Learn more at www.tanapoppino.com.

Alli Owens drives for D’Hondt Motorsports piloting the #19 ElectrifyingCareers.com Toyota. This is Alli’s second year in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. She began her racing career at eight years old racing in a BMX bicycle race. Learn more at www.alliowens.com.

Johanna Long will be seated with Girl Scouts sharing her racing background beginning at five years old. She has several wins in the Florida Kart scene, experienced Legends Cars and then the tough Pro Late Model Series. Last year at age 15, Johanna became the youngest and first female track champion at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. Learn more at www.johannalong.com.

Tiffany Daniels will be seated with Girl Scouts sharing her racing and engineering background. Tiffany drives in the UARA-Stars Series and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. In addition to her racing career, Tiffany also hold a full-time job as an engineer with a NASCAR Sprint Series team. Learn more at www.tiffdaniels.com.

D’Hondt Motorsports headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina is home to the #19 Toyota Camry ARCA RE/MAX Series team and the #92 Toyota NASCAR Nationwide Series team. With over 75 years of collective NASCAR and motorsports experience from general management to crew, D’Hondt is poised to skyrocket into NASCAR’s next generation. Learn more at www.dhondtmotorsports.com.

Girl Scouts of NE Kansas & NW Missouri is an organization that, in partnership with committed adults, helps girls grow courageous and strong through a variety of enriching experiences.  Girl Scouts of NE Kansas & NW Missouri supports about 35,000 registered Girl Scouts, grades Kindergarten – 12^th from all populations, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds in 47 counties across Kansas and Missouri. Learn more at www.girlscoutsksmo.org.

Superheroines can be divas, too

Lots of comic book fans were stunned earlier this month when Marvel made the unexpected decision to merge with the Walt Disney Company. But earlier in the summer, the comic book company made another  unexpected decision–except this one was actually kind of cool.

In July, Marvel released Divas, a comic featuring some of the toughest females in the Marvel universe: Hellcat, Firestar, Photon, and Black Cat, to be precise.  NPR says Divas reads like a youthful, superpowered version of Golden Girls . The plotlines focus less on hyped up battle scenes and more on life as an off-duty lady-hero.

According to writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (”Big Love”), “The idea behind the series was to have some sudsy fun and lift the curtain a bit and take a peep at some of our most fabulous super heroines. . . the series is going to a deeper place, asking question about what it means…truly means…to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns.”

The atypical tone of Divas may make it a hard-sell to the usual comic book audience (read guys).  But the boys should read it: the daring to make something so unconventional is reason alone to pick it up. And, more importantly, Divas is a big step in easing comic arts away from female objectification and towards a more substantial depiction of what makes women so super after all.

Check Divas out yourself

No-tech games offer summer amusement

Wanna be ballers may be interested in this summer’s reignited passion for neighborhood sports that may make you reminiscence for an era before cellphones:

Handball: Nothing screams ‘New York City in the summer’ more than a game of handball. Although the game was actually imported by the Irish during the California Gold Rush, NYC tends to get the most cred for handball, what with having more than 2,000 courts and all. Perhaps it’s a combination of this summer’s more temperate climates and a lack of funds to buy new video games or get out of the city, but whatever it is,  enthusiasm for the gearless sport seems to have grown like never before. And unlike the city’s mobbed public tennis courts, you neither have to purchase a permit nor wait your turn under the scorching sun to jump into a game.

Stickball: A reminder of simpler times. Basically a street version of baseball, all you need to play is a rubber ball and a stick (a broom handle is perfect). If your neighborhood park is more a patch of dirt  than it is a grassy oasis, fear not, because the city streets are the backdrop of this sport: Manholes can be used as bases and nearby buildings can be foul lines. While Xbox 360 has already recognized the significance of the sport in its MLB Stickball title, the passion for stickball runs through multiple generations (especially among those of Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Puerto Rican heritage), and thus, many young devotees are takin’ it to the streets simply to keep this urban tradition alive.

Boules: (Jeu de Boules): A term for an outdoor game involving metal balls that are strategically thrown across a measured court. The boules are aimed at a smaller target within the court, with the common goal of getting one’s boule closer to the target than that of an opponent. No longer reserved for older beret-wearing Europeans, games from the boules family, such as bocce and petangue, are finding new life among a younger set. Increasingly found in bars, the games offer a more sophisticated means of amusement for those who moved out of the frat house longer ago than they’d like to admit. (Plus, it’s a helluva lot easier than beer pong.)

Student athlete spearheads healthy food fundraiser

Yogavive, a leading producer of organic foods, understands the needs faced by girls’ athletic programs across the country. Many are often underfunded and sometimes, completely ignored.

According to one study, lack of funds and support means girls  receive 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than do male students, which translates to fewer chances for athletic scholarships.

Jordyn Lambert, a Yogavive summer intern and athlete herself  (Varsity soccer captain, JV softball) brought these issues to the attention of Beau Giannini, Yogavive President. Together, they developed a unique program that allowed girls to raise the necessary funds for their team, while offering their communities a healthy alternative to candy bars or tubs of cookie dough.

Yogavive’s organic baked and popped apple chips are vegan, gluten-free, fat free, with only 35 calories and no added sugars.  Jordyn thought they were perfect for team  fundraisers.

Says Jordyn in a recent interview with the Weekly Reader:

I know some programs sell granola bars or baked chips but really, those are not much better because of the refined sugars and artificial ingredients. I knew my team and I couldn’t go around the community selling junk food, but I also knew we couldn’t sell “healthy” snacks that weren’t even technically that healthy.

Now Yogavive offers other teams and clubs the same healthier option. Selling the Apple Chips as a fundraiser for a soccer or sports team can be a huge opportunity to both help finance the team‘s needs, and encourage a healthy diet and lifestyle. Yogavive currently offers their organic apple chips at a low price, so that student athletes can sell them and make as much profit as possible.

Yogavive’s apple chips usually cost $1.49 in stores but with their fundraising program, they offer all 5 flavors for only 50 cents a bag to teams and clubs, allowing them to make 100% in profits. On top of that, athletes know that they’re selling genuinely healthy snacks that aren’t adding to their community’s health and obesity problem so this is a great opportunity all around!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Jordyn directly at jordie@yogavive.com.

Pretty Smart!

School Daze: Back to school trends & deals

NikeID
One of the original kings of customization, NIKEiD has launched a back-to-school iPhone app that gives teen girls (sorry, guys!) the opportunity to create custom kicks and apparel on the fly. No longer limiting designers to traditional computer access, the new NIKEiD app lets consumers choose designs and color combos for a number of styles of both shoes and clothing items. Since it wouldn’t be complete without a social media twist, the app also allows users to share their final design ideas with friends on Facebook so they can get those much-needed second opinions before making the actual purchase.

Sears
Using music as a showcase for their back-to-school looks, Sears has hired Disney t(w)een queen Selena Gomez to lead the Sears Air Band Casting Call, a competition to find a fifth member for Sears’ Arrive Air Band, which will be performing at this fall’s MTV Video Music Awards. Four separate TV spots feature Gomez’s call for the fifth band member, with each featuring back-to-school duds from Sears’ music-inspired fashion categories, including rock, pop, hip-hop and skater (not quite sure what “skater” music sounds like). Interested 8- to 16-year-olds are directed online to the Sears Arrive Lounge, where kids can submit their audition videos and vote on the contestants. In addition to contest info, the site features current band member profiles and video interviews, games, and of course, a Style Room where visitors can check out the clothes, make purchases, and share the items and looks with friends (or perhaps more importantly, parents) via email.

Macy’s
Thanks to the department store’s upcoming partnerships with two iconic teen style mags, Macy’s shoppers will soon be privy to the expert style skills and lifestyle advice of both Teen Vogue and Seventeen. Teen Vogue will host a number of in-store events in which stylists from the magazine will aid teen shoppers in creating a cutting edge back-to-school wardrobe with Macy’s merchandise. Judges will select a wardrobe champ at each location, with winners receiving a $5,000 Macy’s shopping spree and a spot in a future Teen Vogue fashion spread. Seventeen will infiltrate Macy’s locations with a number of fashion shows and mini-makeovers for teen shoppers. While the actual dates and locations have yet to be announced, the events will take place at the end of this month and into September – just in time for adolescent clothes horses to put their best looks forward for the “fashion show” that is the first week of school.

(via Trend Central)

Sports Authority
Back to School also means Back to Sports for a lot of students. To suit up for a championship season, Sports Authority is offering some great online promotions:

• 25% off Any Single Item at SportsAuthority.com Friends and Family Sale! Exclusions Apply. 8.13 to 8.16
• Shop Back to Sports and Save 15% off $100 at SportsAuthority.com! (exclusions apply. Ends 8.31)

So, with school almost back in session, it’s time to reset your clock and get back in gear!

The newest Beauty & the Beast is “Beastly”

Pretty Smart: One of our fave characters is Belle.

Now comes word there will be a live-action, modern retelling of the children’s classic “Beauty and the Beast” told from the Beast’s point of view.

CBS Films has signed actress/singer Vanessa Hudgens to star in the TV movie “Beastly”. Hudgens will play the role of Linda (the modern Belle) while media mogul Mary-Kate Olsen has signed on to play Kendra, a witch who puts a curse to the school’s most popular guy to teach him a lesson.

Kyle is the handsome egocentric student transformed to a beast when he asks Kendra to the prom as a practical joke and Hudgens helps him learn true beauty from within.

So who will play the beast? Current Burberry spokesman Alex Pettyfer has been chosen to appear alongside Vanessa in the film. Alex is 19 years old and most recently starred alongside Emma Roberts in the movie Wild Child.

Also cast in a supporting role is Neil Patrick Harris.

The film is based on Alex Flinn’s novel highly praised novel Beastly, and will be directed by Daniel Barnz

A fully-fleshed out beast and a much more beautiful beauty (on the inside, that is) make Flinn’s novel truly awe-inspiring and we’re hoping the film captures her vision.

Book Description:

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

Production commences June 13 in Montreal, Variety reports.

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