Written by Bri Hall

Over the summer, I pulled out my father’s yearbooks. For context, my father excelled in various sports and was very involved. He played sports  his entire life, whether pickup basketball games or in the leagues with the Marines. As I was flipping through this yearbook, I noticed the sports section. I tried to spot his face among the basketball team and realized there was no women’s team. Nor was there a women’s track, volleyball, golf or tennis team. There were none. 

I, like many other children, idolized my father. I marveled at his athletic accomplishments, wanting more than anything to participate in his hobbies. He was my role model. I welcomed athletics. I quickly realized as I grew older that athletics was not as welcoming to me. 

You may be asking what I mean by this welcoming. Women can play sports now; it is true we have reached a point in society where women can play sports. This is due to legislation like Title IX, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, but we have yet to reach full acceptance in this changing tide.

Our generation has built new cornerstones of women’s athleticism from gymnasts like Simone Biles to tennis players like Serena Williams. But their journey to success was not only challenging in the athletic sense. Women face additional barriers in the world of athletics. Despite this, they persevered in their work. Society nevertheless shows that their hard work and resilience can be quickly undermined and that their platform stands on shaky ground. 

With such a short U.S. history with women in collegiate and professional level sports, women who advance in these careers are met with backlash. We have witnessed how women coaches are represented in the media and how readily accepted moments of passion for male athletes are mercilessly criticized for women. We have seen the harms in industries that revolve around women athletes, where abuse is rampant until recently addressed. Women have been reduced not to their athletic ability but their presentability. They’ve been discredited, dehumanized and disrespected, yet they persevere. Despite these added obstacles, they carry on. 

Even in my own experience, I used to listen to unfounded rhetoric about women’s sports spitefully said by men who hold no athletic ability. I heard those intimidated by the strength of my teammates call them, “ugly, gay, a tryhard.” On several runs with my teammates (as young as sixth grade), I was harassed by cars, stalked and catcalled (in broad daylight). I used to entertain hypocritical objections to my athletic wear. 

Though heavy laden with additional walls to break in their athletic careers, where funding and opportunities are less, female athletes seldomly receive respect and support (even in their childhood). Many female athletes still dedicated their lives to a sport. I can’t think of a better role model than that. Through adversity, they are pushing the boundaries of what they are told they can do. They follow their dreams, and the beauty of their journeys will be celebrated for centuries to come, while the words of their critics will fade. 

We cling to these athletes as images of what is to come, the long-fought desire to be able to enjoy not only our hobbies but to excel in our careers, athletic or otherwise. Not all of us are called to be professional athletes (I certainly am not), but those who are should be welcomed with opportunity and support. Until that time when society accepts women in this way, female athletes will carry on their hard work through humility. 

There will be a day where, in the same way that I idolized my father, a little boy calling a female athlete their hero will be less of a taboo. There won’t be degrading distinctions between teams or rhetoric that diminishes women, but encouragement to every young girl to keep fighting on, letting them know we are watching and cheering them on to take on the world and win.