Directed by April J. Abeyta, our documentary features powerful representations of women, both behind and in front of the camera. The film’s subjects are all self-identifying women who have used sports, a topic historically dominated with male stories, to become leaders and role models.

Our crowdfunding campaign has been sent to overtime! Thanks to the generous contributions of so many supporters, we’ve hit 100% of our initial goal!

We now have time to do something really special with After the Game. The wonderful response the film has received is indicative of the need for a film that showcases athletics and the powerful impact they can have on women. We believe that After the Game will connect with people across the country, and there are many more out there who could benefit from this film. 

Like you, we want many people to see this movie, and first they need to know it exists! With the remaining time in our campaign, our goal is to raise an additional $5,000 so that we can submit After the Game to more film festivals, host more community screenings, and consult with skilled film marketers. With your help, we can introduce After the Game to more people! 

We’re calling this stage of our campaign OVERTIME! And like any good athlete, we know the importance of not letting up until the final buzzer. 

Please join us in bringing this film to more people! It would be AWESOME if you could make a pledge, of ANY amount.

Is a pledge not a possibility? We get it! You can help our campaign’s reach by following our project. With 500 followers on Seed & Spark, we will get to submit After the Game to more than 20 film festivals for FREE! Simply hit the FOLLOW button and you’ll be making a positive difference to this film and to this movement.

 

THE STORY

Small time athletics. Big time impact.

After the Game is a first-of-its-kind feature-length documentary that spans nearly 20 years to unveil the long-term empowering impact of sports on women.

The film follows three young women on a 1999 collegiate basketball team as they test their limits to push to reach their athletic potential and seek NCAA glory at a small university. Nearly 20 years later, these same women each find themselves applying lessons learned from their playing days to different professional off-the-court challenges today. 

 

Weaving together the stories of two college basketball players, Michelle and Polly, and their head coach Mary, After the Game gives perspective into the world of small-time college athletics and what motivates women without aspirations for a professional sports career to keep playing. By moving between intimate stories from their 1999 college basketball season and those of them facing career challenges today as adults, After the Game aims to make connections between sports participation and professional success.

 

After the Game aspires to provoke audiences to re-evaluate the purpose of sports participation, beyond the possibility of going pro or earning a scholarship. From Michelle's quest for playing time and the opportunity to lead, to Polly's drive to be a positive boost during stressful games, to Mary's unrelenting determination to push her team to achieve more, the viewer gets to see first hand how sport builds fortitude, confidence, and resolve.

WHY THIS FILM IS IMPORTANT

For most women athletes, "going pro" means something different. The odds that a woman basketball player competing as an NCAA athlete will eventually go on to play at the professional or Olympic level is only 0.9%.

Why play sports if you’re not good enough to make a career out of it?

The benefits of athletic involvement for women are evident in boardrooms, executive officers, and other corporate environments. Of women who hold C-suite level positions in the U.S., 96% are former athletes. 52% of C-suite women played sports at the university level.

By presenting the personal paths of Michelle, Polly, and Mary in relation to sports participation, After the Game illustrates the behaviors and techniques adopted from athletics that translate to greater success in the corporate environment.

 

Unfortunately, girls are currently quitting sports at alarming rates. By age 14, girls drop out of sports at two times the rate of boys. By age 17, more than half of girls will quit playing sports altogether. While various factors have contributed to this trend, chief among them is a new cultural expectation that participation should be reserved for only the most competitive players.

The intimate look at the journey of Michelle, Polly, and Mary will inspire parents and teenagers to recognize the real value that athletics offers, and hopefully think twice before quitting. Sticking with sports in the long run can provide women with the fortitude and skills to help them thrive long after the game is over. There is more than one way to “go pro.”

A UNIQUE DEGREE OF INTIMACY & OPENNESS

They all competed together at a small university in Southern California in 1999. At the start of the season, one of them, April J. Abeyta, began capturing their journey with her Hi8 camera.

In 1999, April, the director of After the Game, was a teammate of Michelle and Polly and competed under the tutelage of Mary. She was also a film student, and in her senior year felt compelled to document the ups and downs of her team’s journey.

Years before the availability of palm-sized camera phones made capturing memories on video an everyday occurrence, April was able to preserve a visual history of her team’s season in 1999. She filmed her teammates and coaches throughout the entire season, capturing every big play, every painful injury, and hours and hours of playful bantering. 

Feeling comfortable with their trusted cohort, Michelle, Polly and Mary openly share their insights, disappointment and frustrations, and ambitions.

 

That trust and comfort endure when April prompts her former teammates and coach to evaluate the impact of their shared experience two decades later. It’s as if the viewer is also a part of the team, gradually getting to know these women as they fight for athletic glory and eventually become working adults. 

THE PLAN

After the Game is currently in post-production, including final editing, and now awaits sound mixing and color correction before being sent off for consideration by festivals.

Throughout 2020, we intend to showcase After the Game around the country through festivals while also partnering with nonprofits, corporate businesses, and universities to organize community screenings. Our hope is that the film brings greater awareness to the true value of sports, particularly for women, and the role that athletic participation can play on building confidence, leadership skills, and resilience in women.

Eventually, we intend to self-distribute online offering the film through video-on-demand (VOD). Our streaming partners will be finalized during the festival run.

WHERE YOUR CONTRIBUTION GOES

After the Game intermixes analog and grainy footage collected by a Hi-8 camera in 1999 with polished footage filmed in high definition by a cinema camera. The combination offers unique challenges for sound mixing and color correction. There is also a need for a graphic designer to create visual elements, such as on-screen graphics and titles.

 

Your contribution to this campaign will go to support:

- On-screen graphics and titles
- Color correction
- Sound mix
- Community screenings