The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap Serious Fun: Amy Love, who has been an athlete all her life, says her magazine will focus on the competitive aspects of women's sports, rather than the cosmetics. Local woman's national magazine will focus on real women athletes Former child soccer star launches 'Amy Love's Real Sports' By Cecily Barnes From the outside, Amy Love's quiet Cherry Avenue home looks like any other on this Willow Glen block--neatly trimmed lawn, drawn shades and a black sports utility vehicle out front. But inside the walls, amid tear sheets, strategy plans and stacks of photographs of professional women athletes, the 32-year-old Harvard Business graduate is making history, or perhaps herstory. At 8 a.m., Love already has the phone gripped between her shoulder and ear while typing on a computer keyboard. A notebook filled with spreadsheets lies across her lap. The day will continue like this into the evening, as the days have for many months. Every morning Love cranks the engine to actualize her dreams. Just two weeks ago, the dream became reality when the first issue of Amy Love's Real Sports was released. She describes the monthly as the first women's sports magazine to address sports from the perspective of competition, not femininity. "If you look at newspaper coverage of women's sports, you'll see photographs of women on the ground," she says. "Our goal is to clearly and dramatically change the way the media represents the female athlete. It doesn't showcase the strength of character and quality that surrounds women's athletics." Fifty thousand subscribers will receive the full-color, glossy magazine, which includes articles by top writers, such as Amy Shipley of The Washington Post , Linda Robertson of The Miami Herald, and Ann Killion and Traci Cone from the San Jose Mercury News. Love explains that she recruited these professionals by simply phoning them, and explaining her mission. "A lot of people have attached a lot of emotional meaning to what we're doing," Love says. "With the launch of four women's professional sports, there is recognition by sports fans that the time is now to create this equality of coverage." Love leaves the room and returns with two magazines which she flops on the table in front of me--Sports Illustrated Women Sport and Condé Nast's Sports for Women. Far from the action images featured on the front pages of men's sports magazines, these covers reveal glamorous portraits of women athletes. Love runs her unpainted fingernail across the headlines listed on the cover: "Tonya and Nancy" and "The Coach as Sexual Predator: Are Young Girls Safe?" and "Why I Fell for Grant Hill." Inside the pages she turns to a question-and-answer section dealing with athletic issues: "My nails are shredding; what should I do?" and "How to get bicycle grease off your leg." "It's very clear that we're going after different market shares," Love winks. "They're going after the fitness market and that's fine. We just want to do something different." Love swivels around in her chair to show the blown-up action shots of women papering her conference room. Holding out her right arm she describes the images portrayed by Amy Love's Real Sports. "If you see our shots what you see is action," she says, "very beautiful and graceful women athletes." Love stands and points to the face of a tennis player clearly focused on an upcoming shot. "You see intensity, competition and dedication. You can see the intensity and pride of what they're doing." She says her magazine articles will rarely discuss an athlete's personal life, but rather focus on professional goals and accomplishments. Each issue will cover at least three sports, and will profile an outstanding team player. Jennifer Azzi of the San Jose Lasers fills the first profile slot for Real Sports. "From a star at Stanford and the U.S. Olympic Team to being a leader in helping found the American Basketball Association, she hasn't lost sight of what it means to be a team player--even with her own Pert Plus commercial," Love gushes. "It's these basic fundamentals that people feel has been lost in professional sports, but she's very pure in women's sports. This magazine is about showcasing those sports." When Love finishes speaking, I'm sold. I've never heard such a passionate and persuasive presentation. Considering Love's background at Harvard Business School, Pillsbury, Proctor & Gamble and Navigation Technologies, the effectiveness of her pitch is not surprising. However, the spirited description of Real Sports seems less marketing savvy than genuine passion, one that has grown since Love was a young girl. When she was 9 years old, living in her hometown of Danville, Love and her parents filed a federal lawsuit against the California Youth Soccer Association--which had denied Love's application for an all-star team solely because she was a girl. The Love family won the case, clearing the way for girls across California to access boy's soccer teams. Now Love is breaking another barrier. Women have largely won access to sports, and now they need to be showcased. Who better to do that than the woman who took on the state of California as a 9-year-old soccer player? [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, December 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.