Growing up, I had a million career ambitions in an absurd amount of industries. I was a very curious kid, and I wanted to be a part of everything. Often, I was influenced by what I saw on TV and in movies. I would watch America’s Best Dance Crew, Center Stage, and Dance Academy, convinced that I wanted to become a professional dancer. I would meet adults and immediately be fascinated in what they do, whether it was chemical engineering, computer programming, or public speaking.
I was so easily inspired. So if I wanted to be everything, why did I never want to be a professional athlete?
The short answer? I never saw the possibility. All the professional athletes I watched and knew of were men. As a kid, if you asked me to name an athlete, I would have rattled off the following names: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kobe Bryant, Lionel Messi, and DeMar DeRozan. The women that did get the kind of screen time that the men got played sports that I either didn’t enjoy or were too expensive to participate in (e.g. Serena Williams).
I also never saw the possibility of working within sports, because it wasn’t just the athletes that were men, but the pundits, trainers, coaches, and executives.
Young boys can imagine playing in massive stadiums in front of sold-out crowds that sing your name. But as a young girl, you can only hope that by the time you reach the top level, more people respect what you do.
The closest I got to gaining inspiration from professional sports was the Canadian Women’s National Soccer Team. I would watch them in the Olympics and the FIFA Women’s World Cup. I remember seeing Desiree Scott get hit hard, then get right back up and play on. When I saw that, I knew that was the kind of soccer player I wanted to be (but only at the recreational level). She was the first athlete I connected with because she looked like me, and was killing it on the world stage in a sport I loved. The only problem was, both of these competitions happen every four years. In between those competitions, there was nowhere to watch these women play.
We’ve recently started to see more women in sports on the screen, and we’re getting to know more athletes. Women’s basketball and soccer fanbases are growing. But along with that, I hope we start encouraging girls when they are young to stick to sports. I saw too many give up, including myself. We don’t all have to be pro athletes, but we should be encouraged to enjoy a sport and dream big, no matter what the odds are.