UWS was one of the schools selected to receive the grant from the NCAA, which funds a two-year internship enhancing ethnic minority and gender representation in athletics.

SUPERIOR, Wis. – Over the years, more women have been emerging in the sports world in roles like broadcasting and media, marketing, training and even coaching. Now, through a grant with the NCAA, the University of Wisconsin-Superior is helping give more women the opportunity to work in sports.

UWS was one of the schools selected to receive an Ethnic Minorities and Women in Sports grant from the NCAA. The grant fully funds a two-year internship, enhancing ethnic minority and gender representation in athletics.

The Yellowjackets selected New Jersey native and James Madison University alumna Nicole Wishard as their recipient, who officially started this past week.

“I’ll be doing a lot of video work within the different teams and with our athletes and coaches and just in general a lot of videos, but then in addition, different types of creative content,” Wishard said of her position.

“It’s not just text anymore: it’s graphical, it’s video and I’m an old dog, I don’t necessarily have that because it wasn’t a thing when I was in college. Now we’re going to be able to not just put a toe in the water but dive in the deep end a little more and create that content that people want,” athletic communications and external relations manager and Wishard’s boss Jon Garver added.

Now, Wishard is becoming one of many women earning positions in the sports industry, which is some both UWS and Wishard feel honored to be part of.

“Particularly in the athletics communications, sports information field, it is almost exclusively a male industry so it’s really important for us to maybe be a trend-setter, somebody that can open a door for females, for minorities to give them the same opportunities that, for example I’ve had,” Garver said.

“We can be in charge of departments and all of the creative stuff and I think that this internship helps continue that thought process throughout the college world and athletic world that women can do this and so can minorities,” Wishard added.