By Parvathy Nair '22

As a part of Notre Dame’s ongoing Women of Impact Speaker Series, a livestream was held recently to interview two very talented athletes: Alyssa Nakken and Brenda Villa. The event was moderated by senior Maddi Wong. Maddi is our school president and an enthusiastic sports lover. Maddi is a four-year student athlete who plays basketball and throws shot put and discus for track and field, but her favorite sport is actually football! Maddi has been watching football since she was a child and over quarantine, she created a podcast called “Halftime, Halfway”! Her podcast features interviews with women who have broken barriers in the sports industry including Olympic gold medallists, nationally acclaimed sports journalists, many pro-athletes and coaches, and of course women in the NFL.

Alyssa Nakken is the first full time female coach in Major League Baseball history. Before taking on her role as coach, Alyssa was heavily involved in sports both in high school and college. After graduating from Sacramento State, Alyssa felt unsure about what path she wanted to take; however, she knew that she still wanted to keep athletics in her life somehow. An opportunity presented itself in 2014, when she landed an internship with the Giants and began learning about player development and sports management. Her hard work as an intern paid off, as Nakken was hired as assistant coach earlier this year by her manager, Gabe Kapler. She made history on July 20, 2020 in a game against the Oakland Athletics when she became the first woman to coach on-field during a MLB game when she went in and took over as the team's first-base coach in their 6-2 win. Her jersey was subsequently sent to the hall of fame.

Brenda Villa first discovered her love for water polo as an eight-year old when she joined a new swimming program that had opened in her city. Villa stated that she was especially grateful that her parents were supportive of her love for water polo, even though neither of them fully understood the game. Years later, water polo provided a pathway for Villa to attend college, earning her a full scholarship to Stanford University. Since her years at Stanford, Villa has made some incredible achievements: she has won our Olympic gold medals and has even been named Female Water Polo Player of the Decade by Fina Aquatics Magazine. After retiring from her athletic career in 2008, Brenda Villa has continued to coach in the Bay Area, and even founded a nonprofit organization called Project 2020 that reduces the cost required to play water polo.

We invite you to join us on February 4, 2021 for our next speaker series event, a conversation about culturally relevant education. You can register online at www.ndsj.org/speaker-series