#cockblockcrew

Women’s soccer is the only women’s team sport to ever gain this much national support. Sure we have sports stars like tennis players Serena and Venus Williams and the gymnasts Gabby Douglas and Shawn Johnson, but these are individual sports and athletes.  

The team’s success now is in part to the trailblazers of the 1999 World Cup Team. Those women fought for the funding to compete, attention of fans and equal treatment from FIFA.

Stars like Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Kristine Lilly, paved the way for girls across the country to start truly competing in an organized team sport.

I went on to play soccer for 12 years of my life. It was one of the most empowering, rewarding experiences of my life and it shaped who I am today. I can still remember when I got to choose my soccer number for the first time. I had to wear number nine. I had to wear it so I could try to be as good as Mia Hamm someday.

Without Mia Hamm and that 1999 World Cup team, I would never have had the opportunity to play at the competitive level I did. Thank you for that. Thank you for the fight. Thank you for showing girls they can be successful by working hard and being themselves.

Now, as I watched Carli Lloyd score a hat trick, the fastest in World Cup history man or woman, my eyes swelled up with tears of joy. That same sense of amazement still overcomes me when I watch these women play. I am still inspired by their strength, perseverance, passion and unity.

Players on the current team, like Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan and Hope Solo, have major sponsorship deals and a level of stardom that other female athletes don’t. They also have a stage to talk about women’s issues, especially when it directly affects their careers. 

FIFA implemented turf fields for this year’s women’s world cup. Not only does this completely change the pace of the game, but it makes temperatures on the field dangerously hot and causes turf burns. Players were able to stand up to FIFA and raise awareness of the blatant, institutionalized sexism amidst all the other corruption.  

The women’s team received $2 million for winning the World Cup, and Germany received $35 million for winning the men’s tournament last year. Every single team that even participates in the men’s World Cup receives $1.5 million. Despite shattering the record for amount of American viewers of any soccer match EVER, the women still receive less.

It’s clear that today they can have an even bigger impact on young girls and on the sport. I hope that girls look at them and are inspired to work towards their biggest dreams with a fierce, fiery competitive edge. They taught me that when someone tells you no or tries to set limits on you, to shake it off and keep working. Starting at a young age women are constantly limited athletically, academically and professionally.

There is an age where boys and girls play soccer together; some call it “munchkin” league. But there is an age, maybe around six years old, where girls are told they are no longer good enough to play with the boys and have to form their own team. It’s great that they have their own league, but the idea behind telling a girl at the age of six that she can’t run as fast as boys or compete at the same level is just wrong.

Really who is a super star soccer player by 6 years old anyway? I digress, it’s little institutionalized instances like this that show just how easily girls can be discouraged from pursing a passion.

I think this video from the Always “Like A Girl” campaign pretty much sums this point up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhB3l1gCz2E