Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explore
Speaker 1: the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm
Speaker 1: Scarlett Film and joining us now is Cheryl Tucson. She's
Speaker 1: a former Olympic silver medalist. She is also the director
Speaker 1: of Colgate Women's Games, which is the nation's longest running
Speaker 1: track and field series for women and girls. Cheryl, welcome
Speaker 1: to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: So tell us a little bit about the Colgate Women's Games.
Speaker 1: The forty eighth game is coming up and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of excitement around it. Tell us what we need
Speaker 1: to know. So well, I'm glad you started here. So
Speaker 1: March EIGHTI through April we pick off our season for
Speaker 1: this year. The Colgate Women's Games is a has been
Speaker 1: going on for forty eight years. This season and we're
Speaker 1: happy that we're starting an outdoor series this year, or
Speaker 1: actually our second outdoor series this year, and it'll be
Speaker 1: taking place at Queen's College in New York and the
Speaker 1: culmination will happen on May seventh at Icon Stadium. So
Speaker 1: it's a free event, no no cost to participate, no
Speaker 1: cost to attend. So we welcome all of your listeners
Speaker 1: to take to come out and join us. Oh, Charlot's
Speaker 1: more than that, right, It's the largest amateur track and
Speaker 1: field meet in the country. I'm talking elementary school through college.
Speaker 1: I believe Colgate Palmala has been the sponsor since the
Speaker 1: beginning of time. And my question for you is, look,
Speaker 1: you know, we all know your history, you know, going
Speaker 1: back to the nineteen seventy two Summer Olympics and your
Speaker 1: involvement at Adams Track Club and Fred Thompson, your mentor.
Speaker 1: I mean, can you talk to us about what you
Speaker 1: know Fred imparted to you and how that's kind of
Speaker 1: gotten you involved with this particular event, and you know
Speaker 1: just basically what it means for you and what it
Speaker 1: means for you know, women across the country who are
Speaker 1: basically in track and field and looking to make their mark.
Speaker 1: Absolutely so. I started out as a thirteen year old
Speaker 1: with Fred and the Adams Track Club and at that
Speaker 1: point I didn't have any particular focus as far as
Speaker 1: being involved in athletics or actually nor was I focused
Speaker 1: so much on the academic part of you know, being
Speaker 1: involved with the team, which which was the team focused.
Speaker 1: Athletics was what we did. But the goal and goal
Speaker 1: was to get an education. So when Fred started this
Speaker 1: team in our community, it was really important for girls
Speaker 1: who joined the team to understand that the end goal
Speaker 1: was education. So for me it was very important because
Speaker 1: it helped me to refocus, rededicate my energies not just
Speaker 1: on the track, but also to getting good grades and
Speaker 1: looking beyond where I was in school. And at that time,
Speaker 1: there was so few scholarship opportunities for girls, this was
Speaker 1: before Title nine, that the idea of going to college
Speaker 1: was not a reality for me. So Fred his vision
Speaker 1: was really important for all of us who were part
Speaker 1: of that organization. And then Fred eventually collaborated with kog
Speaker 1: pau Mala company. They saw his vision in what he
Speaker 1: was doing by getting young people in general, but the
Speaker 1: girls who were on the club to understand that education,
Speaker 1: that athletics was a means to an end, a means
Speaker 1: to getting a better education, having a bright future, which
Speaker 1: was and is in fact Colgate's primary mission as a
Speaker 1: company to reimagine a healthy and brighter future for all people.
Speaker 1: So it aligned quite well and that was the beginning
Speaker 1: of me being able to see college as an end goal.
Speaker 1: The co Gate Women's the co Gate Women's Games is
Speaker 1: a program, a developmental series that starts young girls from
Speaker 1: the very from first grade all the way through college
Speaker 1: and beyond. And what that does is give them based
Speaker 1: you know, depending upon their grade, and opportunity to learn
Speaker 1: how to compete, to learn how to lead. Of course,
Speaker 1: they developed tons of self discipline and you know, confidence
Speaker 1: and self esteem, but it teaches them how to lead,
Speaker 1: and that's that's that's the beginning of a brighter future
Speaker 1: for anything that we do. And your living proof of that,
Speaker 1: you pursued a degree in higher education, became the first
Speaker 1: in your immediate family to earn a college degree as
Speaker 1: a result of your involvement. Talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: any partnerships um that the event has with higher education
Speaker 1: institutions to formalize this pipeline for young women to participate
Speaker 1: in track and field. So most of the students come
Speaker 1: from the New York City Public school system, but our
Speaker 1: reach goes beyond that mean the New York metropolitan area,
Speaker 1: Tri state area, of course, but we have participants that
Speaker 1: attended games from up and down the East Coast, so
Speaker 1: to speak, and the New York City Public school system
Speaker 1: we are actually you know, aligning with them on how
Speaker 1: we can spread the word about what we do as
Speaker 1: an event. This year, also shot Right Stores has partnered
Speaker 1: with Colgate to help spread the word by doing instore
Speaker 1: promotion and things of that nature to spread the word.
Speaker 1: So the Coogate Pama company has been behind this effort,
Speaker 1: has championed what we're doing with the cool Gate Women's
Speaker 1: Games for forty eight years and sponsored it through scholarship, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, the scholarship values were doubled. Yeah, is
Speaker 1: it really You know, the cost of education is so high.
Speaker 1: But one of the points I would love to make
Speaker 1: is that because we start the girls so early to
Speaker 1: get them learning these tremendous disciplines, they are actually, based
Speaker 1: on their overall performance in the competition, eligible to earn
Speaker 1: to win scholarship from first grade, which is unheard of.
Speaker 1: So I mean they can actually start building toward their
Speaker 1: own saving for their own education from as early as
Speaker 1: first grade. And so, talk to us about the event itself,
Speaker 1: I mean, how has it, I mean, how's it evolved?
Speaker 1: I mean, from my understanding, it's really become more of
Speaker 1: an incubator for developing athletic talent, many of whom have
Speaker 1: gone on to running the Olympics and whatnot. I mean
Speaker 1: talk to us about, you know, the state of track
Speaker 1: and field for young girls in the United States right now,
Speaker 1: right so the sport itself is tremendous. It's a very
Speaker 1: strategic kind of event and so everyone gets involved with
Speaker 1: it learns to basically be strategic thinkers. You have to
Speaker 1: learn how to lead from the front from the back.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of youth programs. The co GET
Speaker 1: Women's Games covers the gamut from elementary through college and beyond.
Speaker 1: We even have a thirty year category, thirty year and
Speaker 1: above category. But what the COCATE Women's Games is, what
Speaker 1: our strength is is that it is an incubator for
Speaker 1: developing athletic talent. They start in elementary school first grade
Speaker 1: and they compete over a series of years. Actually it's
Speaker 1: a four week competition right now. It used to be six.
Speaker 1: We hope to get back to that. But each week
Speaker 1: they learn how the taker you know, to get out there,
Speaker 1: compete on their own, stand before crowd, separated from their
Speaker 1: family and friends, but chair on by them. And from
Speaker 1: there they learn and develop how to hone their skills
Speaker 1: from the program. Because it is developmental and we go
Speaker 1: from elementary middle school, high school, they actually really learn
Speaker 1: how to become better competitors that are athletes. And we
Speaker 1: have twenty nine to date that have gone on to
Speaker 1: the Olympics. I'm one of them, and hundreds who have
Speaker 1: made it to the national level and collegiate level the
Speaker 1: heights of that. And so while most of them do
Speaker 1: not necessarily make the sports headline, they all benefit from
Speaker 1: learning how to discipline themselves, become you know, become better athletes,
Speaker 1: and achieve their own personal goal. They pick up a
Speaker 1: lot of transferable skills sports all of that. Sol As
Speaker 1: we wrap up our conversation, you mentioned that, of course,
Speaker 1: and Damon had talked about how you competed in the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two Munich Games. Can we expect any CWG
Speaker 1: alums to participate in the twenty twenty four Olympics in Paris? Absolutely? Well,
Speaker 1: there's there are four that competed in the last games,
Speaker 1: in the last Olympic Games, and we do have a
Speaker 1: few collegiate athletes. Now they're not necessarily they're in college,
Speaker 1: so we expect to see a few of them. The
Speaker 1: trials will happen next year, so we'll keep our eye
Speaker 1: out and we'll definitely be happy to I'll be happy
Speaker 1: to return, and you know who they are. You know,
Speaker 1: I just have one question about you know, obviously the
Speaker 1: the the Colgate Women's Games itself and the atmosphere you
Speaker 1: just kind of talked about. You know, it's the first time,
Speaker 1: or maybe it's not the first time, but it offers
Speaker 1: these these these young athletes an opportunity to kind of
Speaker 1: get into that big meat environment, right Like I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess when you're running track and field after school
Speaker 1: and you're going to different high schools, you know, it's
Speaker 1: not the same thing is running in in the co
Speaker 1: Gates Women's Games. My question is how much goes into that?
Speaker 1: You know, is it is it is a lot of money.
Speaker 1: I mean, is it sponsorships? I mean is it you know,
Speaker 1: are you are you charging you know for people to participate?
Speaker 1: Can they just you know get tickets for free? I mean,
Speaker 1: how does it all work? So there's absolutely no fee
Speaker 1: to participate in the co Gate Women's Games, no charge
Speaker 1: to attend the co Gate Women's Games. And in fact,
Speaker 1: the Comala Company has sponsored it for all of these
Speaker 1: years in terms of the event itself and then the
Speaker 1: scholarships edit awards for competitors who earned points. They earn
Speaker 1: points based on their performance, so basically those top performers
Speaker 1: are able to earn scholarships. So when you look at
Speaker 1: the overall cost of participation for the athletes, there is
Speaker 1: no charge. But the athletes do have challenges in terms
Speaker 1: of finding by able space to train. They are also
Speaker 1: exposed to a lot of coaches and mentors at the event,
Speaker 1: so they benefit from being in that space where they
Speaker 1: can find coaches and mentors who can help them along
Speaker 1: with their training and to find space. But the event,
Speaker 1: because we're a series of developmental series and not a
Speaker 1: one and done kind of event, we kind of serve
Speaker 1: as a training ground for a lot of these I
Speaker 1: would say newer athletes who are just coming into the sport,
Speaker 1: just learning that we even exist, to come out and
Speaker 1: train or be a part of the competition week after
Speaker 1: week and find their way find out whether they actually
Speaker 1: want to stay in it to be that great athlete
Speaker 1: or they're just enjoying the part of belonging. So yeah,
Speaker 1: sure we create that they can belong. I love I
Speaker 1: love the mission of the Colgate Women's Games and what
Speaker 1: it strives to accomplish. Really appreciate your joining us to
Speaker 1: give us an overview of it and looking forward to
Speaker 1: seeing what comes out of it. Cheryl Toussant is the
Speaker 1: meat director for the Colgate women Games, but you might
Speaker 1: know her as a former Olympic runner who won silver
Speaker 1: in the four by four hundred meter relay in the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two Munich Games despite losing fish in the race. Right,
Speaker 1: the best, the best way for folks to your listeners
Speaker 1: to find out more about the Colgate Women's Games is
Speaker 1: to go to Colgate Women's Games dot com. Our website
Speaker 1: has everything that would need to know about who we are,
Speaker 1: what we do, how we do it, and how to
Speaker 1: sign up. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Cheryl, Thank you, Cheryl,
Speaker 1: thank you. This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcasts.
Speaker 1: I'm Scarlet Food here with Damien sass Hour. Catch us
Speaker 1: every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, where we explore the world
Speaker 1: of money in sports and we certainly hit on both
Speaker 1: of those ideas today. Also find me on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Scarlet Food and you can catch me on Twitter at
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