Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend Was Everything Women's Sports Deserves

I want to tell you about a room.

Not the venue, not the party, not the pool the room. The welcome reception for Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend, where Olympic athletes, elite female competitors, and the people who love women's sports all walked in and immediately felt something that is hard to put into words but impossible to miss when you're standing in the middle of it.

Happiness. Love. Recognition. The kind that doesn't feel performative or obligatory the kind that feels like it's been a long time coming and everybody in the building knows it.

That's where this weekend started. And it only got better from there.

The welcome reception set the tone

Walking into that room and seeing the faces of these athletes light up women who have given everything to their sport, who have trained for years in relative obscurity, who have competed on the biggest stages in the world and still had to fight for the recognition they deserve that was the moment I understood exactly what Flavor Flav was trying to do when he created SHE Weekend.

He wasn't just throwing a party. He was making a statement. And the athletes felt it.

I had the privilege of speaking to several of them throughout the evening and what they said stayed with me.

Alex Carpenter one of the most decorated players in US women's hockey history talked about what got her here in the first place. "I grew up playing multiple sports and it wasn't until later in high school that I figured out that I loved hockey the most. So, you know, just get outside, have fun and you'll find what you love." Simple. Direct. And exactly the kind of message that resonates when it comes from someone who followed that advice all the way to the Olympic stage.

Hayley Scamurra didn't hold back about what this weekend meant. "We are worthy of the celebration, and we are worthy to get this kind of recognition." She said it like she meant it because she did. Because all of them do. These are women who have spent careers proving themselves over and over again in spaces that weren't always built for them. To be in a room that was built entirely for them? That lands differently.

Stephanie Glanzer captured the energy of everyone involved behind the scenes. "The pride that we as a company and we all have is tremendous." You could feel that pride in every detail of the weekend in the way the athletes were treated, in the way the events were organized, in the way Las Vegas showed up for this moment.

The closing party was the perfect ending

If the welcome reception was where the heart of SHE Weekend lived, the closing party at Clique Hospitality's Tailgate Beach Club at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino was where it celebrated.

Flavor Flav brought the athletes out in style private cabanas, celebratory cocktails, pool bites, and prime views of the FIFA World Cup final playing out across one of the most spectacular outdoor venues I have ever been inside. The Tailgate Beach Club is a 50,000-square-foot experience more than 145 feet of LED screens, five resort-style pools set within Mandalay Bay's 11-acre tropical complex, 22 luxury cabanas, capacity for 2,000 guests and it sits directly across from Allegiant Stadium, steps from Michelob Ultra Arena, and within view of the future home of the Athletics. Las Vegas does not do anything small and this was no exception.

The athletes in attendance for the closing celebration were extraordinary. Jacqueline Wiles a three-time Olympic alpine skier and bronze medalist in the women's team combined event at the 2026 Winter Games. Jaelin Kauf — a three-time Olympic silver medalist in freestyle moguls skiing who has been one of the most consistent competitors in her sport for nearly a decade. Boone Niederhofer a 2026 Olympic bobsled push athlete and former Texas A&M wide receiver, bringing the kind of dual-sport athleticism that makes you stop and stare. Jadin O'Brien a 2026 Olympic bobsled push athlete and two-time NCAA heptathlon runner-up for Notre Dame, which already tells you everything about her competitiveness. Chevonne Forgan a 2026 Olympic doubles luge athlete and world championship bronze medalist. And Kelly Curtis a two-time Olympic skeleton athlete and the first Black athlete to ever represent Team USA in the sport, whose story alone deserves its own feature.

These are the women Flavor Flav brought to Las Vegas. These are the women he celebrated. And watching them sit poolside at Mandalay Bay with the World Cup final on 145 feet of LED screens fully seen, fully appreciated, fully celebrated was one of the best moments I have covered as a journalist.

My take

Her Game Network exists because we believe women athletes deserve to be covered, celebrated, and seen at every level from the WNBA to the NCAA to the AU Pro to Olympic sports. Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend is built on that same belief. And being in that room, speaking to those athletes, watching their faces during the welcome reception and the closing party it reminded me exactly why this work matters.

Hayley Scamurra said it best: "We are worthy of the celebration."

Yes. You are. All of you.

Thank you, Flavor Flav. Las Vegas showed up for women's sports this weekend and Her Game Network was honored to be there for every moment of it.