Watching another female athlete compete while you are one yourself feels different. It can
be your opponent, your rival, your teammate, or your idol, but regardless of who, you still
understand. You understand the mornings of hard work, the practices, the pressure, the
losses, and the wins. All of the work that maybe a lot of the other people around barely
noticed. And even if they did notice, they never truly knew what went into it.
The female-to-female acknowledgment of the hard work and respect is seen in many
different moments. Some moments might go over some people’s heads. It can be as
simple as a quick hand up off the ground after a teammate fell or a pat on the back from
your opponent. And it shows up bigger too. Teams showing up to support other women’s
teams, senior nights to show acknowledgment of years of hard work and leadership, even
wearing that favorite player’s jersey number on your back. Females have a lot of special
ways of acknowledging and recognizing each other.
There is a kind of unspoken community between female athletes. It goes beyond the
people next to you, playing for the same team. It shows up in the team you’re facing
against, the team that you beat in playoffs, the young girls in the stands looking up to you.
We all know how much time goes into actually being on the court, the field, or in the pool.
And even in moments and high fives that don’t seem big, they mean a lot when it comes
from another female athlete who understands. And that is probably one of the best and
most rewarding parts of being a female athlete