For International Womens Day I had the special opportunity to team up with my favorite running brand - ASICS to tell my own personal story. We joined many other women in the #ChooseToChallenge - challenge where we made our own challenges or joined in on other existing ones.
I chose to #ChooseToChallenge Women’s Inequality in Sports.
I know what some of you are thinking.. As you eye-roll reading this I encourage you to really think about the sports you watch on tv, the jerseys you have hanging in your closet, and maybe even the sports season tickets you own. How many of them are women-related?
It’s ok. Me too.. Although I’ve never been a season ticket holder I certainly have player jerseys hanging in my closet. Most of male soccer players like Wayne Rooney. I used to have some Mia Hamm t-shirts & women’s National team apparel way back in the day, but other than that 0 when it came to women sports.
Not because I hated watching & supporting women sports, but because when I was growing up the access to women’s soccer jerseys & games on tv was basically impossible to find. It was like a special treat to be able to go watch a women's soccer game. I only distinctly remember a handful of live game we attended. The USWNT at the Cotton Bowl in the early 00's when Mia Hamm was still active and a few others of women's college soccer games. The rest were men's teams like the Sidekicks and Dallas Burn (yes I'm throwing it way back here). I will say the access has improved since I was a young girl, but it is absolutely not equal in any sort of the term.
I’m also not here to say I had a troubled childhood because I felt suppressed in sports because I certainly did not. I'm very realistic here. I had plenty of opportunities I needed at a young age to develop into the soccer player I dreamt of being. It's when I got to college & after that I really started to experience the inequality at it's finest.
In honor of International Women's Day I am going to share my story.
Ever since I was a little girl I always dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player. I idolized players like Michelle Akers & Mia Hamm. I lived & breathed soccer. It was my life. And I know there’s a lot of other girls who can say the same too.
I played collegiate soccer at the University of North Texas, a Division 1 program, for my post-high -school soccer career. We won multiple conference championships and were nationally ranked. We had a stellar team. UNT always had a stellar soccer team. We definitely faced inequality in sports here though. While we got very nice equipment and traveled and stayed in nice hotels, it didn't even compare to the men's sports like basketball and football. I mean not even a small fraction of what the men's sports had. Like I said, I never felt suppressed because I am grateful for what we did have and I am not a disgruntled former player because I'm not. I just want to paint a picture for just how blatantly obvious we were inferior to those programs. I never understood how and why because the football team usually held a losing record. We always had packed out stands on Friday and Sundays at our home games because we won a lot and had a reputation on campus of having a "winning tradition". If we wanted to use the sports weight room and rehab facility it better NOT have interfered with football. If we had a Friday night game the same time as football WE had to change our game time and be out of the parking lot so football fans had "room to park". If we had lunch at the sports cafeteria for summer workouts we had to be out of there by the time football came in. We had to "tip toe" around men's sports programs and "not get in the way". Although we were actually superior, we were certainly not treated accordingly. This has to change from the top, down. It starts with the Athletic Director and admins treating women's sports fairly and how they deserve to be treated. My argument isn't women should just get everything men's sports get because they're women. My argument is that women should be treated fairly because they are talented athletes who deserve equality.
After playing women’s soccer at the University of North Texas I decided to chase my childhood dream of becoming a professional soccer player. I went to a tryout in Houston for the Dash with some other teammates and came up short.
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| Seattle Reign Training Facility |
A few weeks later I flew out to Seattle for a tryout for the Seattle Reign. It was a 3-day tryout and fully encompassed Seattle in one weekend. Cold, rainy, and tough. I ended up making the team and immediately entered training camp. I was so excited my dreams were unfolding right before my eyes!! To make a short story short I quickly realized this whole women’s professional soccer player life was far from what I had imagined it to be my whole life. I lived with a host family as did some of the other players on the team. Most of the players who had been professional players for years drove old, clunky cars, had a second job coaching and doing private lessons, and really just barely made ends meet. WOW. What a culture shock.. *obvious excludes celebrities*
*so you’re telling me you can play collegiate soccer and get a degree, make a professional soccer team, and still not be able to afford to make a living?!* This is not ok! Especially when men can take the SAME path and make a pretty nice living doing the same exact thing. INEQUALITY
I distinctly remember a girl, Kendel, who had just been traded to the Reign and she was an amazing player. I'm talking AMAZING. She had been in the league for a few years. When she moved to Seattle in her beater-of-a-car she also had to live with a host family because she couldn’t afford to buy her own apartment. WHAT? I was just getting hit left & right with reality checks. Then I got cut from the team. I honestly don’t blame them for cutting me. I was overwhelmed by the pace of play, just couldn’t get my legs moving like I knew they could, and just completely blew it. Plus i missed home terribly and was not emotionally "in the game" at the time. But most importantly I couldn’t keep up.
After returning home and training to get back out there to another team I came to a crossroads. Do I keep chasing this dream that wasn’t actually so grand and bright just to say I “did it” & force my parents to keep providing for me while I chased this dead-end dream? Or do I just face reality and get a “real job”? Spoiler alert I chose the latter...
Now I’m not saying that had I kept chasing the dream I would’ve had an illustrious career because I may have & I very well may not have. The Lord led me down a different path & I will never be ungrateful for that.
I had a few college teammates play professionally for years overseas too, but we all ended up in the same place.. Give it up & enter the real world. Sad right?
My point is that women’s sports doesn’t lack TALENT.. It lacks SUPPORT. There are so many talented young women who are talented enough to be elite athletes in their respected sports but don’t have the opportunities to pursue an “elite” or “professional” career. The viewership is less than men’s sports, tickets sold & revenue is less than men’s sports, etc. But why? And if you tell me it’s because women’s sports are boring please exit this screen now.
WOMEN. It starts with us. WE need to support each other. WE need to support women sports. WE need to be season ticket holders of our favorite women sports. If WE want change - we must spark the change! WE need to pave a way for young girls with bright dreams in sports to have an opportunity. They deserve it and I want them to be able to chase those dreams & be able to provide for themselves for as long as they are able to play their sport! We can't all be Alex Morgan's, but that doesnt mean we shouldnt be allowed to make a living playing our sport.
I’ve been thinking the past few weeks about what exactly I would say here & how I would start making changes in my own life to further support women’s sports. I went onto my alma maters sports website (mean green sports) to find a season ticket or game day ticket purchase option for the women’s soccer team and found nothing. In fact, I found that the university is not allowing ticket sales for women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and women’s softball this season due to “COVID”? You can only attend their games if you are on the “team list”. BUT you better believe there were no such restrictions on football and men’s basketball. THIS IS NOT OK!!!!!! This is EXACTLY what I am talking about when I say I’m choosing to challenge women’s inequality in sports. The pay, the support, the opportunity, the everything.
I hope today allows you to think a little deeper on the goals you want for women and how you can help incite change. We can do this- together!
For more information and resources of International Women's Day go here
Search 100% Women-Owned Businesses here
For Celebrated Women In Sports go here
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