A Lotta Finstas with RaShauna Hamilton - podcast episode cover

A Lotta Finstas with RaShauna Hamilton

Apr 09, 202535 minSeason 1Ep. 187
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Episode description

RaShauna Hamilton, the vice president of fan growth and community for the Washington Spirit, joins Sarah to discuss why it’s crucial for teams to listen to fans, how to create a memorable game day experience, and why she pivoted from her original goal of being a coach to get into community engagement. Plus, our NCAA tourney bracket winner and a fan meets the moment with an all-time jam. 

  • Check out the Washington Spirit’s theme nights here 

  • Watch Trilly Donovan’s “One Shining Moment” for the women’s tourney here 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're still picking confetti out of our undies from Sunday's national title game. It's Wednesday, April ninth, and on today's show will be taking a break from college hoops madness Olivia Miles to TCU to Naya Lats into South Carolina. Oh, we got a lot to get to tomorrow, but today we're going to pivot back to the NWSL and get right into my conversation with the Washington Spirits vice President of Fan

Growth in Community Rashauna Hamilton. We caught up with their a couple weeks ago to discuss a brand new season. What made her pivot from coaching aspirations to community engagement work, Why it's so crucial for teams and franchises to listen to their fans and being intentional about uplifting cultures across the DMV area with the Spirits events and theme nights.

Speaker 2

That interview's coming up right after this.

Speaker 1

Joining us now, she's the vice president of Fan Growth and Community for the washer Rington's Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League, with previous stops at the Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Hawks. She's a George Mason University alum and got her master's at VCU.

Speaker 2

She could be a food photographer.

Speaker 1

Based on the snapshots of a recent trip to Austin, she was eating good and snapping good picks.

Speaker 2

It's Rashaanna Hamilton. Hirashaana, Hi, how are you good?

Speaker 1

Except I was also recently in Austin and I didn't have nearly as much time as you did to go to some good restaurants.

Speaker 2

Based on those photos, well, I.

Speaker 3

Do love to eat. I feel like the only way to know a city is to eat your way through it, and I definitely put on a few calories that should require a couple of jogs once I got home.

Speaker 1

That is my strategy too, But it's also walk, so I have to walk everywhere so I could see everything and then break up the walk in with the eaton. So I'm jealous of your trip. It looked awesome. I want to go back to the beginning and talk about your relationship with sports, whether playing or watching growing up, and how you ended up on this path to working in them.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Absolutely. My dad was a college basketball coach, and so I played sports growing up. I watched him. He was at Yukon and won a national championship at Yukon, actually won two national championships at Yukon, and so I just sat on the sidelines watching such great sports happen. That's why I started playing. I was like, if the boys can do it, I can do it too. And from there it just I fell in love with it and I figured it's time to explore it from a business side.

And it's very different, but I knew that I wanted to find a way to contribute when my playing days were over.

Speaker 1

Yeah, you actually spent some time when you were at VCU as a women's basketball grad assistant.

Speaker 2

Was that the path originally was to get into the coaching side.

Speaker 3

Of course, I was like, Okay, my career is over. I don't want to go play overseas. I said, I'll just teach other women how to do this game at a high level. And what I realized is, hats off to every college basketball coach on the world, because it is a tough, tough gig and I feel like nowadays it's gotten even tougher with the poor and nil It's just you're really seeing the landscape change in college sports.

And so I thought I was going to be a college basketball coach, and I took a very hard left once I got into it.

Speaker 2

What did you like about it coaching?

Speaker 3

Well, I think what's cool about coaching is that you really get to connect with players. I think that part is cool, and honestly, they keep you young. I like to consider myself like fresh and hip. And I was like, all right, I know all the slang, like I know what outfits to wear. Right, So I was like, all right, this will keep me young and keep me cool. Like to this day, my dad is still probably the coolest man.

I know. I'm like, he's the coolest grandpa in the world because he's in college, so you know, he always is telling me what's going on, and I'm like, man, I need this to rub off on me.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

It's like a job that will both aid you quickly and keep you young somehow at the same time.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Yeah, And we thought wine was the only thing that could do that. No college coaching.

Speaker 2

That's right, that's right. Let's talk about the Washington spirit.

Speaker 1

You're a DMV Natives, So what did it mean to come back to work for a hometown team.

Speaker 3

The spirit is crazy, crazy, crazy big. Right now we are growing and to come back home and be able to be part of a club with an owner that is really growing the game for women is absolutely phenomenal. I will tell you when I got the call and I was in Miami, and I said to myself, is this the time to really take a big jump and take a leap a little bit of faith because the NWSL is an emerging league And I looked around at the ownership, I looked around at what the NWSL was doing,

and it was a no brainer. It also helps that my mom is still here and I've got two little ones, so whenever you can live close to a grandma, that's an easy yes. So I think it was a combination of right place, right time, but also being a part of this magnificent growth.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

I want to get into some the differences from your previous positions, but first, like just set the stage a little by telling us what your main responsibilities are. Some people might not really know what someone with your job does.

Speaker 3

That is totally fair. I get that question all the time. What I say is I really kind of work in three spaces and so fan growth. For us, the first piece is our operations and running any match at Audifield. So for us, we have one of the best fan experiences in the city. Our fans truly love coming to see us, and my team helps to put on that experience and helps to really make sure fans are falling

in love with us one game at a time. And the second space really is our community impact space, and that's what we do philanthropically to show DC how we support them. And then the third space that's super important and this little sliver I think unique right now to women's sports, is that fan engagement in growth, and that's where we bring the brand externally to the market and we meet people where they are to introduce them to us, but also to get them to get a little taste

of who we are. That is what I like to call our personality, and so I get a chance to bring the personality out and about to streets.

Speaker 1

I was a minority owner of the Red Stars for a couple of years and one of the things that we talked about is how do we make the game day experience a little bit more exciting or informative for fans. How do you use the JumboTron or screens around the field to be informing them about something that's happening or a player that's playing because it's really difficult compared to something like basketball, where you have built in breaks, timeouts, quarters,

et cetera. A lot more opportunities in basketball to have someone go out and juggle plates or you know, throw it fris me to a dog or do whatever else you do to add some entertainment, and some of it has to feel organic to to the team, even if it's a new team or only as a couple of years under its spelled. You also don't want to feel like you're forcing these activations or moments during the game onto face and they need to sort of create them themselves.

How do you respond to those restrictions? How do you make sure that the game day isn't just about pre and post but also during the game. What's a value add for fans, especially maybe some who don't know soccer as well need something to jar them back awake or interested, you know the newbies that are like, I'm not sure what's even happening out there.

Speaker 3

Well, I think one thing that we've done that has been super interesting is in your traditional American sports that we're used to seeing on TV on prime time, they have all this entertainment that's kind of roaming through the stadium. We do that as well. So we've created our Spirit Crew, which is our hype crew, and so they're roaming the concourse, they're going up into the stands and engaging fans. We're really taking every opportunity that a person is at the

building to connect with them. So we do your typical things pre and post because that's important. It's really important time. But when we have milestone moments within a match, we make sure to put that on the video board. We're sending our entertainment crews out so they can be capturing moments with fans so we can share those as well, and we try to make a really strong atmosphere. We try to get the fans prepared to chant and cheer.

We have our supporters teaching all of the chants and cheers pregame so that by the time the ball goes in and we start kicking off, everybody's ready. Everybody's knowledgeable and excited to join us on this journey.

Speaker 1

Nice you're a year into the job. You started and join the team in March of last season. How was the learning curve after years in the NFL and the NBA.

Speaker 2

I will be.

Speaker 3

Honest, it was a little rough. I was like, what when do we take a break? Like it just keeps going. I think that was probably the biggest thing to get used to, which also made me realize I could never have been a high level athlete in soccer, right. I played when I was younger, But I was like, oh no, they just they keep running. That's like their condition for this.

Speaker 2

That's the sport.

Speaker 3

Yeah yeah, So I think for me adjusting to that was great. But what was the same, I think is the passion. So I think when you are sitting in a match, watching soccer match amongst nineteen thousand people, it is a truly electric atmosphere. And I thought because we didn't have these manufactured moments, that that atmosphere would take a dip. So I kept assuming to myself. I was like, oh, you know, we don't have a time out, we don't have this, we don't have that. Like people are going

to fall asleep, people are going to be uninterested. And I found that to be untrue in the best of ways. I think because soccer is such a nail biting sport, right you just you're waiting and waiting for that magic moment. I think it keeps fans so interested because they feel like they cannot leave their seat, because if you leave your seat and there's that one goal, it's like you

waited all this time to miss the moment. And so I think that is shocking, but also with shocking to me coming from these more traditional sports that have so much stoppage time, But it's also kind of nice. I'm not sitting in the stands for four or five hours, right, like, it feels very achievable for our fans.

Speaker 2

What do you think's the biggest difference when you're looking to serve fans of women's sports in the women's sports space versus serving fans in men's sports.

Speaker 3

We have done a lot of learning about our fans, and the biggest difference I see is that our fans are truly immune to the wins and losses. So I think in these bigger sports, you see a team has a bad year, their stadium starts to empty out right, There's very few of these legacy teams that are fighting,

fighting and fighting for fans. And what we have found in our segmentation studies is that our fans are really with us because of what we represent, because of who we are, because of what we believe in because of the message that we provide. We are talking about strong role models with our athletes, we are talking about all of the community and philanthropic giving that we're doing, and

that message resonates with fans. And what we find as well is that the soccer community is very tribal, and so people want to come and they want to be with their fellow people. That's really what we found, and so they are there for the experience. But it is a social gathering as much as it is an entertainment opportunity.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I mean, I think, of course it helps a little with newer, younger leagues because the suffering has only gone on for so long for the teams that do struggle in you know, established men's sports. I'm literally wearing a cubsat right now. You can go one hundred and eight years without winning it all, and then it does start to feel like, listen, I love you, I'm going to keep coming, but figure it out.

Speaker 3

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1

What's interesting is it's a positive, of course that fans are so aligned with their teams and they stand for so much more than just soccer. At the same time, that's a lot of pressure on teams and leagues in the women's space, to not screw up, to not offend, to not drop the ball. When it comes to important social engagement, community engagement, intersectional issues. How intentional do you have to be because you know that you will hear it from your fans if you step in it.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I think soccer fans are very vocal, but listen, they are representing a generation where that is the norm. I think the reality is is as we look at Generation Z becoming a bigger population of not just the workforce but consumers, they are an informed generation. They purchase intentionally,

and so what it requires is accountability. And I think what the brands that are doing it really well, ourselves included, is that even when we make a misstep, it's about being accountable within that misstep, right, And so we desperately try not to and we will always try to be on the right side of history because that's what our brands stand for. But it's not to say that these that behind these brands aren't human beings that make mistakes.

And I think what's really really nice is that gen Z sees effort, and gen Z ces progress, and gen Z is empathetic. And so when brands do make a misstep as long as they're willing to own that. I think that these consumers and these fans they get it. They understand. They're like, we are with you, and we get that. And I think really the NWSL is doing a great job of being player centric now and so it's really hard to misstep when you let your players

have a voice. And the NWSL and especially the Spirit does a really good job of giving the players their voice. I think we've seen that in the CBA, in this new CBA, and I think that is what's promising, is that we are really testing and piloting something different and saying we think different is better, and let's give it a chance and see if that is the case.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I would agree with you.

Speaker 1

I think the player centric league and then also listening to fans. And we've seen an example of that of late with the Boston and WSL team. Right, they rolled out a name and a brand that was poorly received, and they said, all right, bet let's go back, let's listen to y'all, let's try to think about how we did this and come back and try again. How much engagement does the Spirit have with supporters groups, fans, message boards,

social media, chats. How much are you trying to keep up with that, either directly to them or just hovering behind the scenes and watching to make sure you know what your fans are saying and thinking about the team and the choices you're making constantly.

Speaker 3

The easy answer in the one word is constant.

Speaker 2

You got a lot of fence? Does?

Speaker 3

We got a lot of fence does? There's a lot of us And the best part about being a lean staff too, is that you have a lot of people here that are p passionate about the brand, and so when we are kind of circulating and watching what's happening, we're doing it because we genuinely care about this organization. But what's important is that our fans they do They tell us exactly what they think, They tell us exactly

what they want. And we're also super intentional about not talking about fans as these groupings of people where they're not human. Right. Sometimes you hear a lot of marketers start saying our demographic or this group right, like we when we talk about them, we truly say our fans.

We do a survey after every match and we go through and we read the verbatims because we want to know that a dad brought his daughter, his eight year old daughter to the match for her birthday with her eight friends, and he was so overwhelmed and exhausted by the time that night was over, but it is something

she's going to remember. We get pictures of you know, ladybugs soccer that came to visit us, and there are so many of those stories, and that's what we hold on to, is those individual stories, because every fan matters to us and we care about every single one of their journeys and touch points with us.

Speaker 1

I remember talking to former Bull's employee at the time he was still employed. They're just talking about how important it is not to look at demographics but instead to look at behaviors. Because i might be a certain demographic, but when I'm taking my niece and nephew to a game, I might be buying more food and candy, you know that kind of stuff maybe merch for them, and if I'm going with my friends, I'm buying more beer and

I'm engaging with the product differently. So needing to look at how someone's behavior impacts how you want to serve them instead of how they're demographic, might tell you what you think that they're going to behave as is super important.

Speaker 2

I was reading an interview and you talked.

Speaker 1

About being willing to fail in order to see progress right, and that you have to sort of take some big swings and see how they work out. Is there an activation, an event, a promotion that you remember taking a big swing on that didn't work and what did you learn from that?

Speaker 3

Oh, my gosh, I mean so many. You have to be willing to do it. I think this year we last year we had a giant American flag that we had out on the field, and operationally it was tough for us to do. I think it was you know, soccer fans, especially Spirit fans, are patriotic and definitely care about our country, but they're also very informed, and so I think for them, because that was the only representation on the field, they were like, well, what about what

about the Spirit? What about? And so to say that we failed would be accurate because I think they were expecting so much more of us, And so what we said is what else can we provide that makes them feel like they are truly here for a Spirit match?

And we've embraced their sense of identity in that, and so this year we've we've failed last year at just the Flag, we figured out how to kind of make it better operationally, and then and this year we did a center circle with the Spirit branding, and that's been why we accepted and loved. We've got people asking us to be part of that group to do it right, and we just realized that, hey, there was just a part of our fans identity that just resonated more and for us, we were.

Speaker 2

Like, we love it.

Speaker 3

We absolutely love having the opportunity to bring you more Spirit branding. We would love to do that with more merch, all all of that. So that was probably the one for us that we thought, Okay, this is a flop. How do we kind of take this flop and turn it into something better.

Speaker 1

Well, on editorial aside just from me that is not attached to you in any way, I could see why people maybe don't want the focus to be on American patriotism right now. So yeah, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, I'm talking food and fan engagement with Rashaanna Hamilton.

Speaker 2

Keep it here. We do look at data for Washington's Spirit fans.

Speaker 1

Are there any surprises when it comes to different demographics or fan groups? Like, were there numbers that shifted your approach to outreach weather because you wanted to serve a fan base that you didn't realize was as big as it was, or maybe because you wanted to potentially catch the eye of a fan base that you think you could grow.

Speaker 3

Well. I think what is important right in marketing is that when you get to know who your core fan is, that as much as you want to kind of stray and try to go out and source these new fans, you do have to think about what is my potential there? And can I fish in a pond that I already know is biting? And so we have decided, because of really what's available to us and our market, We've decided

to fish where we know the fish are biting. And so what that means for us is we are just trying to learn more about the fans that have been loyal to us. So we know about where they're consuming women's sports, but where they're consuming other information, we try to show up in those places. I mean, I will tell you DC is a brunch city, and so last year we had a game where we did a brunch promotion. We're trying to expand that and now We're like, who can we partner with to do brunch out?

Speaker 1

Oh we've seen that with the Mystics with their mimosa and tickets.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it worked out really well. Yeah, you DC folks.

Speaker 3

The DC girl is love, love, love a good brunch.

Speaker 2

I'm here, girl. Why try to fight it day drinking? You know you're not hung over the next day, you just hung over that night.

Speaker 3

So we we have kind of leaned into learning more about our fans. But the same thing we find in our youth soccer world that we get a lot of youth soccer, we get a lot of girls that want to become our athletes, but just girls that are seeing these role models, and so we lean heavy into that. I will say we we did see a very small segment that we think about as like a sports generalist, so they're just into sports in general. And I was I was surprised, I think at that one, but not

surprised that they support us because we're winning. I didn't want to brag, but we are winning. We did with the Challenge Cup this year.

Speaker 1

We've noticed Yeah, so pretty good over there for y'all the last couple of years.

Speaker 3

Yeah, So I think that helps.

Speaker 2

Right, Like we're Yeah, for sure, we're growing well.

Speaker 1

And also I think with the changing dynamic of women's sports in general, hopefully going to women's events will be a part of scanning your city for opportunities at entertainment of all kinds. It used to be very intentional that it was about being a women's sports fan, so like in the same way that someone might go to a baseball game, and if they don't love baseball, just because

it's part of the culture of living somewhere. Now they'll start going to NWSL games, WNBA games, college women's basketball, like, hopefully that'll be part of the scan.

Speaker 2

Of what are the things you know available to me?

Speaker 3

Yeah, I have to tell you because I think this is a great, great story on that is that I had invited I have friends obviously all over the city. I had invited a couple of my guy friends out. There was like four of them. They are a little younger than me, and so they're still in that age where they have a good time when they go out and party, and so I said, just come to a Spirit game, just come to the home opener. You might have a good time. I just want you to experience it.

They were open to it. They came and after I get four text messages that was so much fun. Please let me know when I can come back. But I think that is the power of women's sports now is that it's not a charity. It is entertainment and it is exciting, it's fun to watch. There's a great environment. And I tell you, I was like, okay, I have converted four Spirit fans that if you would have asked.

Speaker 1

Me, it's cool to be a part of yeah, the way that it didn't used to be, right. It's part of the water cooler talk, and it's part of being able to keep up with what everyone wants to know about and understand and like go to which is cool. Last year, the Spirit celebrated the Black community in DC with a Juneteenth celebration that included honoring Lincoln Phillips, legendary soccer coach at Howard University, engaging with local small business.

Take us behind the scenes of creating an event like that and how you can make sure it feels authentic and not just a one off.

Speaker 3

We are very intentional about talking to each community that we identify and want to celebrate, and so specifically for Juneteenth, we worked with curators at the Smithsonian African American Museum. We worked with local community members, members that are running nonprofits that help tell stories within DC of the black community. And also, for so long d C had really been

known as Chocolate City. It had been known as a safe haven in a place where black people can thrive with culture, economically, with homes, and so Juneteenth gave us an opportunity to embrace that. And the great thing about being a DC native is that I already know the inroads, I already know where to go. I've been in this city for years, and so getting an opportunity to work with those groups that helps it feel authentic. We're not

just pretending we are living these values. We are living these moments, and we are really taking the time to make sure if we are going to celebrate this group of people and show the world how beautiful their culture is, that we do that in a way that they would feel proud of us for helping to do. And so I think it's just about if you are not the expert, and if you are not the person, then you go find that expert and be perfectly okay being a good listener.

Speaker 1

In addition to Juneteenth event, this year, you'll have that again. You'll also have special theme games for things like Pride and Hispanic Heritage among others. So there anything you can tell us about what might be planned for this year in terms of the theme nights you're having.

Speaker 3

Listen, theme nights are a big deal over here. Okay, We've got thirteen opportunities to bring fans out. And when we say we know how to party for a theme, we've been it. This year, we have our pitch side pups have Pride, as you mentioned, we have Hispanic Heritage month. We're working with our local Hispanic radio contacts to make sure that again we're celebrating authentically. We're working with small businesses, so we had Hispanic owned food trucks that partnered with

us last year. Anybody who experiences culture knows the number one way to do it is through food, and so you will always see us getting fans an opportunity to have food be part of that culture. And so you'll see that pregame in our new tailgating space. We have just very much up to the ante when it comes to theme nights. And I'm like, at this pace, I don't know what we're going to do next year to blow this year.

Speaker 2

Out of the water.

Speaker 1

What's the date on that Pitch side Pups. I will attend anything with dogs.

Speaker 3

Pitchside Puffs is coming very very very soon. So that is our May second game. May second, We've got you down. So we've got you and your down for May second we go. It's also our celebration of AAPI heritage months. So you'll get a combination of really strong food, really good culture, and some cute pups.

Speaker 2

Perfect. We'll hit the road right now, I'll throw them in the car.

Speaker 1

Women's soccer in the US used to be a predominantly white sport, but that's changing.

Speaker 2

There are some of the biggest names now women of.

Speaker 1

Color, whether that's Triple Espresso like Trinity Rodman, Mausewans, and Sophia Wilson formerly Sophia Smith, or international stars like Tamushawinga and Barbara Banda. How does your approach to community connection change because the makeup of the sport is changing.

Speaker 3

Now because it is a global game. I think here we are looking to bring that access to the communities that historically have not had it, and so we do that by partnering with community organizations. For US, that's organizations like Boys and Girls Club and DC Scores, they are already doing programming. They already are engaging with kids in

programming to help produce better outcomes for those kids. And so what we do is we work with them to help bring soccer as an avenue for them to experience sport. And I think what we're finding is as we're going into black and brown communities here, it is becoming more accessible, more acceptable, it's becoming an option. I think they're also seeing role models that look like them. Right, if you can see it, you can be it. And so for

us it really has changed. I mean, our stadium is in the Anacostia Navy Yard area, which is a historically black community in DC, and so instead of going out to more suburban communities, we've said, hey, if we want to grow the game in black and brown communities, we

can actually do that right where Autyfield sits. How do we work with DC Parks and rec How do we work with some of these nonprofits that are in that community, because we know that by doing that it helps further our game, but it also helps clear that participation gap. And I have to tell you that's important because in a city with such a high minority population. We also have the largest gap between girls and boys playing sports

in the entire country. We are the smallest space, but we have a twenty percent difference in the amount of girls in the amount of boys that are playing sports in general. And so we have looked at that problem and said, how do we help do our part to fix it if nothing else in our sport.

Speaker 1

Yeah, one of your superstars, Trinity Rodman, the kind of player that sells tickets helps with the whole fan growth part of your jobs. Real nice when she talks about how playing club footy overseas is an inevitability, How does that change your timeline for promoting her and centering her in your efforts if you're aware that you might not always have a Trinity Rodman in a Washington Spirit Jersey.

Speaker 3

Listen, we have the Michelle Kange effect, and I think that is more than enough. We are a global brand is simply by having the Michelle Kaning effect. And I think we continue to support our players. We continue to really highlight our players, understand their talent, and I think Michelle has been great at investing in the talent that our women have. And we are focused on making sure as many fans as possible, and DC could come out and see Trinity play. And so I think you know,

for us, is it is that simple? It's focusing on those things.

Speaker 2

So is the Michelle Kang effect?

Speaker 1

Don't count on Trinity leaving because we're going to convince her.

Speaker 2

To stay, or is it count on Michelle being able to get the next Trinity run?

Speaker 3

Listen, all I know is I leave the sporting ops to sporting.

Speaker 2

Good answer, Good answer. Let's talk Michelle King.

Speaker 1

How involved does she in the team's community outreach and engagement with fans?

Speaker 2

How much do you interact with her as an owner in.

Speaker 1

The presentation of what your team stands for and how you want to engage with the community.

Speaker 3

Michelle really sets the tone for the team. The one thing I will say is that Michelle King as an owner, and the one word I will use is visionary. She is involved in what we're doing. She is invested in what we're doing, and she also understands the importance of doing it in the nation's capital in DC. And so she has invested in women's sports, but she's also looking around DC and making sure that she's investing in DC.

So it's been exciting I think to have such a visionary woman really helping the city.

Speaker 1

When I think of Michelle King, the one word that comes to mind for me is fits. Legendary fits. Do you have a favorite and doesn't involve a cape?

Speaker 3

Okay, my favorite Michelle look as I like to say that eliewuk K is really anytime she gives me a sunglasses, like any sunglass she gives me, I'm like, when we have a meeting or or I shouldn't say a meeting. When we are at a match and Michelle throws on one of her glasses, I'm like, I'm here for this energy. The thing amazing is about to happen and I'm about to witness it. And I think, what's really cool is that Michelle knows that her fashion is iconic and she

owns it. And she's like, don't believe me, just watch right.

Speaker 2

No, it's a power play for sure.

Speaker 1

I remember meeting her and being introduced to hers one of the owners of the Red Stars, and I was wearing jeans and a like zip up and she had one of her looks on and I was like, yeah, these are not the same people economically and otherwise.

Speaker 2

Rashana, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 1

It's so fun to get a peek behind what teams are doing, and there's so much good stuff happening at the Spirit. It's nice to hear how y'all are getting it done.

Speaker 3

Yeah, we are trying, I will say, we are trying to build little Spirit fans everywhere, big Spirit fans everywhere. We are trying to do our part on the field. But I think what's really cool is that we are really trying to engage fans in a different way. We are trying to show them how fun soccer is. And I will tell you being able to witness even the

smallest how Hirschfeldt fan has been ultimately life changing. I mean when you see a kid start crying because of the way that how brought us into that extra time and got some penalty kick action in the semi final last year. I think it's just really symbolism of things to come with this club, and I'm excited to see how we keep growing and keep progressing and moving forward.

Speaker 2

I love it.

Speaker 1

Thanks so much for Shauna. Yes, we have to take another quick break when we return. Highlights that eat meet a song that slaps welcome back slices first, a quick shout out to Mary Zee, who won the Good Game with Sarah Spain bracket challenge, and not only that, she's a Connecticut resident and Yukon fan who made the trek to Tampa and got to see her squad win in person. Who's the big winner, clearly, Mary, Prize coming your way just as soon as they get my ass to the post office.

Speaker 2

Mary.

Speaker 1

We love that you're listening, but we want to get you in the game every day too, So here's our good gameplay of the day. If you find yourself in the DMV area, or if you live there like meish make your way to some Washington Spirit games and community events this season. Sounds like Rashana's got some really amazing things planned, so you don't want to miss out. We always love to hear from you slices, so hit us up on email. Good Game at Wondermedia network dot com

and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. It's easy. Watch the folks who gave the women's tourney their one Shining Moment review ten out of ten, given the people what they want rating. Every year, the Men's NCAA Hoops Tournament ends with a video montage of highlights set to the now iconic song one shining moment. The women don't get the same treatment, so someone stepped in to make

things right. Shout out at Trilly Donovan two on Twitter for creating their own montage of highlights from The Big Dance, appropriately set to I Want to Dance with Somebody and all time banger truly Whitney Houston forever and honestly Trollie Donovan two forever.

Speaker 2

Thanks for doing that. We'll link to the video in our show notes. Now it's your turn to rate and review. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.

Speaker 1

Slices, Good Game, Rashaana, Good Game, Washington Spirit, few sports teams smiling and taking photos at the White House as if the world, our savings, our healthcare, our rights, and our due process aren't all completely and totally right now because the man you're smiling with looking at you Dodgers. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our Executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez and Grace Lynch. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain

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