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Megan Shutzer never intended to be a filmmaker. A Harvard and Stanford graduate in international studies, she was working and traveling in East Africa for more than two years. She always used her experience as a soccer player to connect to the people on her journey.Shutzer arrived in Zanzibar, an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania with a population of about a million people. There are 800 mens soccer teams on the island, and one womens team.Shutzer, who speaks Swahili, sought out the New Generation Queens, quickly striking up friendships with the young women on the team.It was a really deep and close relationship, Shutzer said. It was also just very inspiring for me. It was viewed as bad and immoral for these girls to be playing soccer. And the fact is they were still playing. They were playing against men. I thought their story was very compelling.Shutzer decided to tell it. She said because shes never produced or directed a film before, the players themselves were her partners.They were eager to share. And they were a huge part of every decision about the film, Shutzer said. I asked them Who do you want the audience to be? The people here, people abroad. They were big questions, and they were great in terms of leading me.Now when Shutzer shows her 54-minute film, which is named after the team and follows its journey to its first tournament off the island, she frequently tells the audience that it was never made for them.It was made to show the other girls in Zanzibar that you can be a woman or a girl and Muslim and still play soccer, Shutzer said. Those things arent mutually exclusive.Shell will have another opportunity to tell that story in Oakland this week, as her film is part of the lineup for the inaugural Womens Sports Film Festival.The festival, which features nine films about the womens sports experience, will play Thursday through Saturday at The New Parkway Theater in Oakland, California. It includes a main feature on Thursday -- Thursdays opening night is free -- and Friday, and then multiple short films Saturday.The festival is the creation of executive director Susan Sullivan, a Bay Area documentary filmmaker, and executive producer Jennifer Matt, a technology entrepreneur and former athlete.Sullivan happened upon a showing of Strong! the documentary about Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Haworth, in a free screening at the San Francisco Public Library three years ago. Haworth, who is now retired, took to the stage after the showing, along with director Julie Wyman, and Sullivan was hooked.It was the greatest thing Id ever seen, this powerful female athlete up there and her story being told, Sullivan said. The experience really moved me.Fast forward, Sullivan says, to another film she saw about a young Indian girl named Thulasi who wants to become a boxer, trying to lift herself out of poverty and familial expectations, and Sullivan came up with the idea for a film festival dedicated to telling extraordinary stories of female athletes.I was moved by these athletes and these stories and the filmmakers who have brought these films to the screen to share with people, Sullivan said. These were films and athletes that people have never heard of, and it was a wrong I needed to right.I wanted to go to this event. And it didnt exist. If I felt that way, other people felt that way, too.Enter Matt. Shes been an athlete her entire life -- a basketball and soccer player, a swimmer. No one had to tell her that there arent enough stories about women and girls in sports.Im a believer that girls should stay in sports longer in their lives, even if they are never going to be a professional athlete, Matt said. Its a great thing to get you through some tough years.Sullivan and Matt are running the festival themselves, from securing the location and sponsors to working directly with the filmmakers. For the most part, they have self-funded this event.The films that will be shown in Oakland have been curated and shown in other places. Three films are a work in progress, Sullivan said. Strong! will be featured, as will Light Fly, Fly High the story of the Indian boxer, along with a series of short films, including Keepers of the Game by Judd Ehrlich, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is about a group of Native American girls in New York seeking to be the first Native womens team to bring home a Section Champions.Also showing will be Speed Sisters by Amber Fares, about the first all-woman race car driving team in the Middle East, and The Other Shore, which follows legendary swimmer Diana Nyad as she attempted the 103-mile non-stop swim from Cuba to Florida without the use of a shark cage.Shutzer said she watched the festival trailer in a room full of friends recently.Everyone had a grin on their face, she said. We are all so excited to see these stories, people are hungry for them. This is going to open a window into whats possible for girls and women. So rarely do we hear these stories, and yet they are out there. And you can really understand them, because it comes out through shared experiences.Wholesale Nike Shoes . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. Discount Nike Shoes .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. https://www.wholesalenikeshoesauthentic.com/ . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Cheap Nike Shoes From China . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Cheap Nike Shoes . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles.Muhammad Wilkerson will be ready for the regular season.Who says? Mo says.Fresh off signing a new multiyear contract, Wilkerson expressed his confidence on Wednesday that he will be on the field for the New York Jets season opener against Cincinnati on Sept. 11.I will be ready for Week 1, the defensive end said. He is recovering from a broken right leg suffered in last seasons finale and couldnt predict when he would be available in training camp, which begins next week.Rehab is going well, he said. Im running four times a week and just taking it day by day. Im focusing on my leg and rehabbing each and every day. When the coaches feel it is time for me to get out there on the field and I am ready to go, I will be out there.Wilkersons deal is worth more than $85 million, including $37 million in guarantees through the first two years. Through three years of the deal, Wilkerson will be paid $54 million in guaranteed money.Asked if he was surprised that the last-minute deal came together when there was so much pessimism surrounding his contract situation, Wilkerson preferred to look forward.Im happy to get a deal done and glad this part of the situation is over with, and now I can just focus on football and get ready for the season, he said.I am glad my agent got a deal done for me and ... everybody in my support system. Were ready to get things rolling. I dont have to focus on my contract situation and can concentrate on my rehab.He also believes the Jets, who finished 10-6 last season, are a playoff team if they build off that performance in their first season with Todd Bowles as coach.dddddddddddd But they are missing a key piece from the defense with tackle Damon Harrison now making his living at Met Life Stadium for the Giants.We could be the sky is the limit, we can be as good as we want to be, as long as were all putting in the work day after day and pushing each other to be great, Wilkerson said. We had a good record last year and just have to build on that.The 26-year-old Wilkerson had a career-high 12 sacks last season and was selected for his first Pro Bowl, but was unable to play because of the injury. A 2011 first-round draft pick out of Temple, Wilkerson sought a new deal for the past two years.Meanwhile, he saw Philadelphias Fletcher Cox sign for six years and $103 million, with little to no movement from the Jets this offseason.Until last week.Despite the uncertain contract situation, Wilkerson spent time at the Jets facility during the offseason while working his way back from the injury.Wilkerson, from Linden, New Jersey, gets to stay home to play for at least five more years after compiling 36 1/2 sacks through his first five NFL seasons. He has 372 total tackles, seven forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in 77 games.I definitely wanted to be here, he said. Im from New Jersey ... wanted to raise my children here, and Im really excited to be here.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '