When I was in high school, I wrote a scathing article in the
school newspaper detailing the disparity in which boys’ sports and girls’
sports were treated. This was in the
early 90’s and I was a product of a mother who did not burn her bra in the 70’s
but was highly influenced by the push for women’s equality of that era. The main complaints I had as an athlete was that the
sports teams I was on had substandard uniforms, equipment and fields. I don’t think I had ever heard of Title IX; I
just knew it wasn’t fair that boys’ teams got new uniforms and we were wearing hand-me-down
boys’ uniforms. I don’t think I need to
explain why a uniform designed for a 13 year old male basketball player might
not be the best fit for a 17 year old female field hockey player. I experienced quite the notoriety when the
article was published because I was quite passionate about the inequality and
voiced it. (go figure) Girls told me great job and
boys, especially football boys, threatened to hurt me because I may have
mentioned their losing season in the article more than once. This article even struck a nerve with
teachers; again, female teachers were basically fist bumping me while I
received a lot of stony faces from my male teachers. I struck a nerve, but then I graduated and
moved on and the inequality of boys’ sports vs. girls’ sports didn’t seem an
issue I needed to press anymore. I was
very busy not playing any sports for the first time in four years and gaining
an excessive amount of weight as college freshman are prone to do.
I didn’t think about girls’ sports much until this past year
when my own girl started playing on sports teams at her middle school. I looked at the new uniforms she was given
along with warm ups, sweats and athletic bag and thought about how things had
really changed. I was happy for her that
in this era, not only are girls’ sports teams endured, but that they are
expected and encouraged and funded. My
girl however, still spoke often and passionately, about how the boys’ teams
were treated better or didn’t have to work as hard. I told her I was sorry to say, but even
today, her female coaches and her female teammates would always have to work
harder. This is, unfortunately, life as
a woman. Forty-four years after Title IX,
these girls and coaches still have to work harder, play harder and be more than
their male counterparts and women everywhere are still working harder, trying harder
and still being paid less than their male counterparts.
Anyway, soap box speech over, yesterday I was just reminded
again how incredibly important sports are for teenage girls. I’ve watched my girl over the past year go
from awkward and clumsy to an athlete. I
have watched her run, climb, lift, throw and shoot. I have watched her win, lose, try and fail. I have watched her play her heart out and I
have watched her dig deep when she needed to.
I have encouraged her and watched her encourage others. But yesterday, yesterday, she did something
that gives me goose bumps to think about.
Her basketball team was losing very, very badly. They were outmanned, outplayed and
outshot. They were frustrated, they were
learning as they went and they were struggling.
My girl did not get to play much, which I still don’t understand, but
the last time she was in, she was on it.
She was here and there, she was defending, she was getting her arms up
and in there and tangling up and she was giving it absolutely everything she
had. The look on her face during her
last play had me desperately wishing I had a great camera or could draw. Her face was red with exertion, hairs around
her face just everywhere as they slipped out of her ponytail, her jaw was set,
her shoulders back, but it was her eyes set like steel and determination that
just killed me. The look on her face
simply said “Let’s get shit done.”
 |
| I guess I had that face too. Plus mouthguard and bad uniform. |
I like that she is an athlete. I like that she is learning
teamwork, perseverance and endurance. I love that she is learning at age 14 to
set her game face and her mind to “let’s get shit done.” This, this is what she is going to need to be
successful, to be heard and to be everything she is meant to be. This is why sports are so damn important
during girls’ teenage years. This is why
we need to sign them up, this is why they have to try different things and this
is why we sit on those benches and bleachers and run around town taking them
where they need to be. I am thrilled my
daughter is 14 and learning how to get shit done and not 24. Or 34 or older. I am so thrilled I have goose bumps as I
write it and picture that face, that feral, ferocious face once more.
So we need to keep pushing for true equality in spending and
funding for sports. We need to talk
about female athletes with the same reverence we use when talking about male
athletes. We need to be present, be
encouraging and be LOUD as we cheer them on.
These girls are learning how to be strong, to be there for each other
and they are learning how to get shit done.
And if their faces look anything like my daughter’s, they are going to
change the world.
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