It was a good weekend to be a fan of Canadian athletics AND Amway Canada's exclusive brands, Artistry and Nutrilite, thanks to a pair of marquee international events featuring both brands in action.
First off, we'll start with Canada's impressive five-medal haul at the weekend's Skate Canada International event, held in Kingston, ON. Almost 20,000 figure-skating fans walked through the gates at the K-Rock Centre to see some of the world's finest figure skaters compete — and they got the added benefit of seeing the Artistry brand in action.
Even the fact that some of Canada's elite skaters were out of action due to injuries couldn't dim the shine that five medal-winning performances provided. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier (ice dance) and Patrick Chan (men's singles) took home gold medals, Kristin Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch (pairs) earned a silver medal, and Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers (pairs) and Amelie Lacoste (women's singles) all stepped up to the podium to receive bronze medals.
Best of all, in addition to the almost 20,000 attendees who watched the action live, countless more (literally countless at this time — TV ratings haven't come in) saw all the action unfold on the national broadcast network CBC, along with its subsidiary network bold and on-line at CBCSports.ca. And the Artistry brand was front and centre, both on the ice (rink board ads) and off (TV commercials, venue advertising, and a booth on the concourse offering free Artistry makeovers and an introduction to the on-line virtual makeover tool). Artistry is the proud skin care and cosmetics sponsor of Skate Canada.
The Nutrilite brand was also in action thanks to the stunning performance of the women's national soccer team. It's currently in Cancun, Mexico competing for a spot in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany, and they've enjoyed a dominating start to the tournament. In two games, Canada sits atop the group standings with two wins: a 1-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Oct. 29th, and an 8-0 shellacking of Guyana last night — a dominating Hallowe'en performance that should put a scare into the club's future opponents.
The Canadian squad was led by Christine Sinclair, she of the Amway-sponsored FC Gold Pride of the WPS, who scored four goals in the win over Guyana. Team Canada faces off tomorrow against the host nation and while both squads have already qualified for the knockout round, a win or draw would send Canada into the next round as winners of the Group Stage. The knockout stage begins on Nov. 5th. If Canada draws or wins tomorrow, they'll face off against the second-place team in Group B — the loser of today's match between the U.S. and Costa Rica; a loss tomorrow pits them against the winner of that match. Nutrilite is a proud associate sponsor of both the Canadian men's and women's national team.
The best way to keep up with all of our sponsorships? Become a fan of our Facebook pages. Visit both the all-new Artistry Canada page and our Nutrilite Canadian Soccer page and 'like' them both for the latest news, updates, and exciting product and sponsorship information!
And if you've been inspired by the winning ways of our national figure skaters and soccer stars, we've got an exciting opportunity for you to do a little winning yourself! Visit the aforementioned Artistry Canada Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/artistrycanada) and scroll down to the post that states "Artistry Timeless Moments Sweepstakes". When you click on the Skate Canada image, you'll have an opportunity to enter your e-mail for a chance to win free Artistry skin care and cosmetics products for a year!
Enter today and share in the winning!
Did you know the Seattle Storm is up one game to nothing over the Atlanta Dream in their best-of-seven championship round? Do you know who the Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream are? Care to guess a sport?
OK, let’s try this one. Which, of the Philadelphia Independence, Washington Freedom, Boston Breakers, and FC Gold Pride, has the best chance at hoisting the WPS championship trophy?
Stumped. I’m not surprised. The first paragraph refers to the squads facing off in the WNBA championships – women’s basketball. The second paragraph? Those are the participants in the Women’s Professional Soccer league playoffs.
You’re more than forgiven if you didn’t know. The fact is that we – myself included – give women’s sports not enough attention for what is often a better game. Yes, I'll say it. I often prefer women’s sports to their male-dominated counterparts. But for some reason, that doesn’t translate into my viewing habits.
Some will blame the media for not giving enough coverage, but I think that’s a load of bunk. I’ve been involved with the media and have had to define which events and sports merited coverage: the bottom line is the bottom line in these cases. Hockey, football, basketball – they dominate the headlines because people want that information. The media doesn’t create the news – they just give people what they want.
Sure, added exposure might draw a few more eyeballs to the games, but media operations aren’t in the market of promoting sports. And the sad thing is that sports fans would rather absorb themselves in an article about an NFLer scouring the practice field during training camp, searching for his lost earring than find out what’s happening in a critical WNBA regular-season game with playoff implications.
The thing is women’s sports are often so much better. For all the people who lament about the loss of innocence in sport – the advent of big-money player brands as opposed to people just playing, the alternative is right there! Women’s sports don’t draw the fans at the moment. The participants, in large part, do so not for the (non-existent) mega-million-dollar contracts, but rather for the love of the game.
And the vast majority of these women are just good people. You don’t see the me-first, chest-thumping, 20-minute-choreographed-routine-just-for-doing-what-you-were-supposed-to-do-on-a-routine-play showboating that you do in many men’s sports. Back in my university days, I had the distinct pleasure of covering a few women’s basketball and soccer games. The women were great. Sure, they were probably playing the PR game – but on the field of play, they showed they could play the game. They had a noticeable lack of ego despite their status within the game – and that’s probably because in spite of their athletic prowess, they remained largely anonymous off the court or pitch.
Oh, did I mention fundamentals? Yes, women’s sports, by and large, benefit from the fact that power is not king (or queen). As we lament the loss of basic shooting and team-play fundamentals in the NBA, the WNBA displays them in spades.
Look at tennis. I’m a casual fan now, to be honest, but I used to enjoy the sport quite a bit. The men’s game? Too much power; not enough intrigue. It’s power serve, ace. Or power serve, opponent flailing wildly at the ball, return into the net. If you’re lucky you may get a three or four-stroke rally. The women’s game? Longer rallies, variety in shots – people actually coming to the net!!!! Sure, there are exceptions on both sides, but the generalizations hold true. If you want to see the best of sport, you watch the women’s game.
As a corporation, we have a vested interest in women’s soccer. Marta, who set a WPS record with 19 goals and is likely going to be taking home the Michelle Akers Player of the Year award, is a NUTRILITE brand representative south of the border, and Amway sponsors her home club, the FC Gold Pride.
We also have a Canadian connection to this sport through our affiliation with Soccer Canada. Christine Sinclair and Candace Chapman are both members of the FC Gold Pride – and they’re members of our Canadian national women’s soccer team. Sinclair has served as Marta’s right-hand, uhm, woman this year racking up 10 goals and adding nine helpers, while Chapman holds down the fort as one of WPS’ elite backliners. And now they get to step out of the prominent shadow cast by Marta – the world’s top female player – and take centre stage in leading a Canadian squad towards its FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament at the end of October.
But will anybody notice?
It seems the only time the sporting community as a whole takes notice of women’s sports is when they try to cross over to the men’s side. Michelle Wie made headlines for trying to play on the men’s tour before accomplishing anything on the LPGA circuit. Annika Sorenstam played a few rounds with the boys, and – of course – how can you forget the immortal Billie Jean King smackdown of Bobby Riggs?
For many, the most famous female hockey player is one who wouldn’t even get a sniff on a list of the top 50 or 100 players. But Manon Rhéaume gets the nod for her stint as a Tampa Bay Lightning publicity stunt.
Of course, Manon has something else to go with her puck proficiency. Pulchritude. Unfortunately, our most famous female athletes are elevated because of how they look on the court. Pretty trumps performance.
Is that a bad thing? Not entirely. Anything that draws eyeballs – and don’t tell me there aren’t a few female sports fans who haven’t been drawn to their sport because of Rafael Nadal or Tom Brady’s looks – is a good thing. But looks shouldn’t be the only thing. There’s nothing wrong with appreciating how these athletes look – but, eventually, that has to be tempered by an appreciation of how they perform.
If someone wants to tune in to watch Maria Sharapova because they think she’s hot, then great. Hopefully they’ll move beyond the eye candy and see that, hey, that woman’s got a heck of a ground stroke. When they move to focusing on her backhand and not her backside, then you may have converted a fan.
I’m realistic. TSN, newspapers, Sports Illustrated – they’re not going to dedicate reams of paper or precious minutes of air time to women’s sports out of the goodness of their hearts. Fan interest drives the game. But if you truly consider yourself a sports fan, then tune into a women’s game – whether it’s soccer, tennis, basketball, or any other event, you’ll quickly remember what it’s like to appreciate a true sport.
And, athletes’ looks aside, that’s a beautiful thing.