How Madeline Mirrione is Fighting Gender Norms in Sports
By Ava Hart
Walker Kessler jumped above the rim to block a shot during the heated game. The 7-foot Jazz center landed on the court as the referee’s whistle blew.
The ref signaled goaltending.
The Delta Center crowd booed and screamed at the official.
Madeline Mirrione, a Utah Jazz team attendant, recalls being upset at the call — a reaction that caught the attention of a fan with a full head of grey hair and a booming voice who was seated close to the court.
“Do you know what goaltending is?” the man asked her.
“Yeah,” Mirrione said.
“That’s when they give them the points because they shouldn't have blocked the shot. It was an illegal blocked shot,” the man continued.
“I know,” said Mirrione, even though she was thinking of a nastier response.
Mirrione said things like this happen often. But while she doesn’t think women employees of sports organizations should have to put up with “fansplaining” as part of the job, she isn’t deep enough into her career to say what she really wants to say to fans like this.
She’s confident, though, that someday she will be.
•••
Growing up, Mirrione often spent time watching sports with her family in their home in the Salt Lake City suburb of South Jordan.
Her dad was from New York, and the family cheered for teams from that city.
“Anytime the Jets, Mets, or the Islanders were playing, we were always surrounding the TV watching,” Mirrione said.
But it wasn’t until the fifth grade that her love for sports solidified.
Her school had entered a contest where a Utah Jazz player would read a book to the students. The contest was called“Be a Team Player – Read!” and is a large outreach program for the Jazz. Mirrione isn’t sure why this specific experience cemented her passion for sports, but it did—even though the school didn’t win, and the player never came.
That interest carried on as a spectator and blossomed even more right before Mirrione left for college at the University of Utah.
“I was getting ready to go to college and I was like, what if I did a career in sports?” Mirrione recalled asking herself.
And that’s what she began to do.
•••
Mirrione started her sports career as a team attendant with the Utah Stars, a team in the NBA’s G League, the NBA’s minor league that is designed to prepare players for the next level of their basketball careers. She was promoted to team attendant for the Utah Jazz in her second season.
During the beginning of her time at the Jazz, Mirrione realized she needed a job during the off-season. That brought her to Real Salt Lake as a game day operations intern. Her connections with RSL helped her get her position as a group sales intern for the Utah Royals.
She relishes the opportunity to be around people who exemplify the sort of confidence she is hoping to have in her own life.
“Athletes really do think that they are the hottest people on the planet,” she said. “They are so confident, and I think that we all could kind of take a page out of that book.”
One thing she’s confident of already is her ability to handle a lot of responsibilities. She still holds all three of the positions, as well as being a full-time student of the U.
“Maddy is a go-getter,” said Keagan Robb, Mirrione’s boss at RSL. “She is actively looking for ways to do her job to the best of her abilities and this attitude has been a positive example and influence to the team’s overall attitude and productivity.”
•••
Mirrione would love it if more people were focused, as Robb is, on her abilities and aptitude.
But women employees of sports organizations often face stereotypes related to why they are even interested in doing their jobs.
Mikell Rasmussen, a Jazz coworker, said one assumption is particularly hurtful. “We aren’t there to hook up with NBA players. We truly like the sport or want a future career in sports,” she said. “Being friendly doesn’t always mean we are flirting.”
Mirrione said it is challenging to get past comments about her reasons for working in sports. And it is annoying to have to hear men—it’s pretty much always men—explaining things she already knows, and might in fact know better than they do.
“I’m really polite to their faces, and I kind of play into it, which I know I shouldn’t,” she said.
She sometimes even thanks the fans for explaining things that she already knew.
“And then,” she said, “I go in a back room, and I scream at a wall.”
•••
Mirrione would like to be done screaming at walls.
But she also knows that, for now, she can only take one step at a time.
And at the next game, perhaps, that step will be to stop playing into the stereotypes. Maybe she’ll be a little less polite and won’t just smile and shrug it off when people suggest that the real reason she is there isn’t about sports.
“I think it’s a slow climb, but I do think we’re seeing better progress,” Mirrione said.