i know most of the wnba fans on here are more casual watchers, but it's still something i think everyone who pays attention to the league should be aware of because it's astounding how many comments i've seen saying that the players should just suck it up because that comes with the territory and all athletes have to deal with it. while it's true that this problem is by no means unique to the wnba, that doesn't mean it's okay or that players should have to tolerate harassment and bigotry (i swear every single one of these comments is overtly racist, misogynistic, and/or homophobic)

And while national team opportunities have improved in recent years, here is an excerpt on what it was like for former Team USA veteran player Malaika Underwood to train with the team (source)

“After the national team trials in June, Underwood invited teammates who also lived in the Southeast to spend weekends at her house in Jacksonville so that they could practice together. They also met up in Atlanta. All the training and travel happened on their own dimes. When they could, players sent videos of their pitches and swings to their coaches, who would try to make adjustments remotely.

“It’s all on us,” Underwood says. “In terms of time and personal investment, we’ve all given up a lot to be here. Guys make sacrifices to play baseball, too, but there’s just a much clearer path for them.”

Basically I say this because I know there’s a lot of people coming over from being recent wnba/pwhl/nwsl fans, and particularly if you watched the latter two leagues, understand that the WPBL is coming at it with significantly less infrastructure in place in America. There’s no ncaa programs, no high school programs, the only previously attempted league after the AAGPBL was the amateur league, North American Women's Baseball League, which existed for five years. The nwsl and PWHL all had several attempted leagues before if, several overseas leagues, college programs, and stronger national team programs that appeared in major tournaments like the Olympics they were building off of. I also don’t want to entirely compare to wnba, because I think the time period and how it came about puts it in a different cultural context, but even they had a few attempts at pro leagues and several decades of organized college play.