The Sports Information Club Looks to Be More Inclusive
Sports Information Club runs the @swwpenguins Instagram account, which updates the Walls community on athletics / Credits: @swwpenguins via Instagram
The Sports Information Club (SIC) is a club at Walls that focuses on media surrounding school athletics. This includes statistics, broadcasting, commentating and social media updates. Recently, the club has focused on promoting female athletes to make their club more representative of all student-athletes at Walls.
The club was started in 2021 by Eliav Brooks-Rubin (‘23). Brooks-Rubin is a multisport athlete who wanted to “promote [Walls] athletes and highlight their accomplishments.”
According to Rubin, the goal of the SIC is to “bring Penguin Athletics to the student body.” Methods for communicating information include awards, live broadcasting and social media. The Instagram account @swwpenguins was originally started by athletic director Kip Smith but is now entirely run by members of the SIC. It boasts over 1000 followers and posts everything from weekly schedules to monthly recaps.
One of the biggest achievements of the club has been its growth in stat tracking. According to SIC member Erin Pollack, Mr. Smith had always tracked baseball statistics, but it wasn’t until the SIC that every sport began to see their numbers reported. “Stats are my favorite thing about SIC,” said Price Burton (‘23), who plays several sports at Walls.
Through the efforts of current club leaders, including Van Harlee (‘24), Noah Pershing (‘23), and Sean Aldridge (‘25), the SIC has increased the popularity of Walls athletics and has nurtured a growing sports culture at Walls.
“Since the SIC started, there has been a lot more attention given to Walls sports,” Pollack said.
Despite these achievements, some have critiqued the club’s gender ratio. Currently, only 8 out of 55 members of the club are female, which is roughly 14 percent. Burton, who examined the lack of media coverage on women’s sports as part of her Senior Project, said, “if you go on Instagram there have been a lot more photos of male [than] female athletes.”
Brooks-Rubin said he is aware of this inequality. “I try to mix [men’s and women’s photos] up,” he said, “although I’m sure I could do a better job of it.” Burton also has noticed that all of the club leaders and the majority of commentators are male. Rubin explained that the club is based on a volunteer system and he is hoping to get more women consistently involved.
Outside of Walls SIC, women are underrepresented in sports media. Roughly 40 percent of all professional athletes are women. However, both media personnel and media branding are largely skewed toward male athletics. Both Burton and Brooks-Rubin agree that it is important to put eff ort into recruiting more women into the SIC.
I try to highlight everyone,” said Brooks-Rubin. “We have more highly successful female athletes than male athletes and it’s really important to highlight them.”
Van Harlee (‘24), who plans on leading the SIC next year, said he is committed to increasing female representation in the club.
While there is still room for improvement regarding gender representation at the SIC, the club has been incredibly successful in its mission to popularize Walls athletics and celebrate student-athletes.
