Record Breaking Year for Women’s Sports
I grew up playing sports. I tried them all; soccer, cross country, basketball, softball, and shot put before realizing my love of volleyball. Like my father and uncles before me, my height gave me an advantage on the court and the longest love affair of my life was born. After 17 years of playing, it is still one of my favorite things to do. I love the poetry of movement as players move, dive, and jump to prevent that ball from hitting the ground. But in all my years of playing sports and all of the different coaches I’ve had, 4 of them have been female and there were even less opportunities to watch women’s sports on television. That’s why I started coaching youth volleyball, to share a love of the game and to teach my athletes that you can continue to play at any level after high school.
2023 marks a clear shift in the future of women’s sports and representation, let’s take a look back at some of the landmark events that got us there.
During the NCAA finals yesterday, my team and I watched the game together. I was able to set up a projector and audio (women in STEM!) to create a real experience for my players. I took a minute and looked around the room of 14-year-old girls watching the best in their sport on the national stage. In a year filled with advances in women’s sports, it felt like we all won the championship. For the first time ever, the NCAA Division I volleyball finals were aired on ABC…on a Sunday afternoon…in the middle of the NFL season…and scored over 1 million viewers. This historic event was the perfect ending for an amazing year of women’s sports. I’m so glad that my team will only know the days of seeing people that look like them on the screen and can’t wait to see how this translates into the 2024 Summer Olympics.
If you are interested in learning more and involving yourself in the promotion of women’s sports, we strongly encourage you to check out LetHerPlay.org. Let Her Play is a national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the mission to engage and enroll more girls in sports programming because of the proven life skill benefits they gain from participation. We are proud to be their partner and support the work they do.