I was fortunate enough to be credentialed media for the PWHL Draft in Detroit, Michigan for MediaNews Group Michigan on July 17th and as such I was able to do interviews downstairs in the interview room. While I’m going to use some of those quotes in an article that I am working on but, the biggest thing that came out of that session was that Allie was introduced to the PWHL.
To be honest it was something that I approached with great trepidation. As a sports media individual, I have carefully cultivated two personas. My personal life as Allie and the more public coverage under my zombie name (for those that don’t know a zombie name is the term given to my non-preferred name that I am forced to operate under due to perception or government documentation.) I have merged the two slightly with the use of initials in my photo credits but wasn’t sure how far I was willing to go.
My look was NOT the polished look that I usually like to cultivate when I am out and about as Allie. Natural hair, minimal make-up, pink polo and pink ball cap but . . ..
“Hi, I’m Allie from MediaNews Group” were the words that came out of my mouth when I asked a question. I was incredibly nervous/scared whatever synonym that you can think of to go with that, but things went smoothly. The ladies of the PWHL were incredibly gracious and didn’t bat an eyebrow.
There were other media in the room, only two who knew me personally and only one of those hadn’t been formally introduced to Allie and he, again, nary a word was said about it. He did give me a hard time about leaving after the fourth round of the draft because I had to get some sleep for the day job but Paul was awesome.
In fact, the only odd looks I received was when I used the bathroom. I should remind everyone that this was an official work event for me. It was also an event that had at least a million women in attendance. (Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a little but there were obviously a lot.) Those two factors, taken into account, I used the men’s room all night. Every time I walked in, if there was a guy in there, they gave me a quizzical look like what are you doing in here.
In general, it was a total success from my standpoint. I believe I will be photographing the PWHL Detroit games in the 2026-2027 season for a major outlet and I will be doing that under A.M. Arrick and as Allie.
Why is any of this important? Well, to me it is obviously important because it moves me closer to being who I am full-time.
It is also important to me because it fulfills one of the goals of this website and by extension transgender visibility. I know there must be trans individuals out there covering sports but if I am being totally honest, I can only name two of them now. Again, I am sure there are more and I will be spending time searching and maybe evening putting together a group of some kind if it makes sense where ideas, problems and just general camaraderie can be shared. I know that is a double-edged sword though as some people don’t want to advertise. I want the high school sports enthusiast who is transgender to know that there ARE people like them in the business and that it IS possible to cover sports are your authentic self.
Things went easy on Wednesday, but I can’t and won’t assume it will always be that easy. While I will have a few allies in the media room when I show up in the fall to photograph I am sure I will run into haters.
To be honest, we all do no matter what our profession or occupation is. At our jobs, in the bar, at a restaurant, there are going to be gremlins gnawing away at us.
There have been trailblazers who have made it easier for me, and I hope I can make it a little easier for others and act as a mentor to those who come after me. I mean, After all, I tend to be the mom in most of my social groups and that is what moms do, help the next generation.