Since I first became aware of it, I have felt disheartened by the lack of attention given to women in sports. As I got older, the unfortunate realization that this fact adversely affects the number of women in sports (whether that be middle school, high school, or college) absolutely made my spirits sink. During the 2022-2023 school year, about 38.8% of boys were involved in athletics, while only 30.1% of girls played a sport. Additionally, there has been a dip in the number of girls participating in high school sports since the pandemic that has not yet recovered. This is due to many girls quitting their sport & neglecting to pick it back up after COVID cases subsided.
I have experience playing many different sports, as I was lucky to grow up in a family that encouraged me to be active & new activities as much as possible. Like many kids, I started playing soccer at age three & tee-ball at age five. At the same time, I was put into dance classes & learned the beauty of combining art and athleticism. My elementary school began intramural volleyball in third grade, & I begged my parents to join, happily taking a trip to Target to buy my first pair of knee pads. As I grew up, I realized that I didn’t have quite the right amount of grace required to become a dancer & hardly the stamina to keep up with the other girls in soccer. So, I let those two go while gaining an insane amount of respect for people who excelled in those sports.
My volleyball career ended after my sophomore year of high school, when I finally quit my club team after having a coach who stripped me completely of my confidence. After a few games, I remember being called out for “being the reason we lost,” which was my last straw. After quitting, I looked back at my nine-year-old self who couldn’t sleep the night before my first game because it felt like Christmas Eve. Back then, I didn’t doubt myself, & I didn’t see my mistakes as detrimental, as I simply laughed them off & got back into position to receive the next serve. It broke me, & for a while, I didn’t know if I could continue with softball – the other sport that defined me – because I felt like a failure.
Softball was a part of me for ten years as I grew from a wide-eyed elementary schooler, earning my first strikeout, to a graduating senior pitching my last game. I loved softball, & for a while, I saw myself dreaming of playing in college & possibly at the professional level. When I tried to explain this to family members, I was almost always met with the question, “But there isn’t a professional softball league, right?” This was silly to me because I was a huge fan of the Akron Racers, Ohio’s professional team in the USA softball league. One of my earliest memories in travel softball was being chosen to throw out the first pitch at an Akron Racers game when I was only ten years old. After the game, I got an autographed softball from AJ Andrews, an incredibly talented shortstop, who had just hit a home run to secure their win. The ball still sits on the desk in my childhood bedroom, & I toss it around sometimes when I need motivation or am stuck on an assignment.
I began to grow out of my rose-colored glasses when I was belittled by the boys in my grade for playing the “easy version of baseball.” As someone who practiced just as much as they did & cared about my sport just as passionately, I was enraged. In seventh grade, one of our assignments in English class was a demonstration speech. I chose to demonstrate how to throw different softball pitches – something I knew inside & out. I began to stutter halfway through my speech as I looked to the back of the classroom & saw a group of boys laughing while imitating me. Being looked down upon is one of the worst feelings in the world, & despite my embarrassment, that didn’t overtake the passion I had for my sport.
During that speech, I was 13 years old. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, girls begin quitting their sports at twice the rate of boys at age 14. My experience is unfortunately not unique, & girls being perceived as “weaker” or “less talented” than their male counterparts is a huge reason why they drop out of athletics. So, why did I choose to stay & avoid being part of that statistic? I’d have to owe a lot of that to one of my amazing coaches.
I had the same coach for travel ball from age nine until the summer before my freshman year of high school. Coach Ray had a style of coaching that was often complimented by parents & other coaches. Being his player for over five years, I never heard him raise his voice. He built up every one of his players by complimenting us on visible improvements & using constructive criticism to help us become the best players possible. You could try to pick out which player was his favorite, but it would be fruitless – his respect for all of us was evident & nobody was placed on a pedestal higher than another. His patience was admirable, & his creativity with trick plays & new drills kept us locked in during practice, excited to compete.
You could ask me a thousand times if I regret the pain & pressure that came with being an athlete for almost my entire childhood, and I would always say no. Through every sport I played, I learned something about myself. Sometimes, that was just the fact that I have horrible balance (sorry to all of my ballet teachers!), but other times, I discovered much more surprising things. By becoming a senior captain alongside my best friends during my last year of softball, I discovered that I can lead effectively & become a role model through my words & actions. I will never forget wiping the tears of the underclassmen during my senior night as they told me they “didn’t know what they would do without me next year.” After receiving an MVP award as the youngest player on my travel team, I realized that hard work can take you to unimaginable places despite unideal circumstances. Most importantly, after losing my love for volleyball after so many years, I learned that growing out of something you thought might fit you forever isn’t always a bad thing – sometimes, it’s exactly what you need.
So, with everything considered, it is more important than ever to encourage young girls to join athletics or keep up with their sport. The media must keep shining the spotlight on talented female athletes, whether it be Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles, or Katie Ledecky because having a role model gives girls a reason to play. Also, learning teamwork, leadership skills, & communication through sports helps girls gain the confidence necessary to be lifelong leaders & blaze their own trail.
