NewhouseSports SMC: Women in Professional Sports

VIDEO LINK

Audio Link:

https://soundcloud.com/ashtyn-hiron-47254534/women-and-professional-sports

Transcription:

Women’s sports are more often than not put on the back burner. Whether it’s lack of funding, lack of financial and social support, or maybe people just haven’t yet accepted women to be of caliber as professional athletes. This is a norm I hope to change, lucky for us it slowly is changing.

As an athlete that has competed on the world stage, I know what it’s like to have to self- fund to represent your country, or to not have complete coverage of a world event so your family or friends can watch from home. When we all know that if the tables were turned and if it were men who were playing in these events, the story would be written completely differently.

A few months ago the National Rugby League in Australia known as The NRL announced they were adding a professional women’s league to their organization. This is the second major sport in Australia to do so in the past few years, the first was Australian Rules Football league. AFL is the main sport in Australia. Football and Rugby are very male dominated sports where people are willing to give money, support, give their time, attention to and they’ve never associated this professionalism with woman. They’re the only two professional sports really that the nation as a whole pays attention to. I think that in the past few years, adding these professional leagues is paving a pathway that woman can be professional athletes. Although it’s small, they don’t have as much funding as the men, they don’t have as much support as the men, everything has to start off small and this is a great way to start.

Some people may see this news and not blink an eye. But this is a big deal for woman in sports. These moves are acknowledging women as proper, actual athletes. people are seeing that woman can compete on a professional stage and it is entertaining. They are extraordinary, they do work just as hard as any other athlete, it doesn’t depend on their gender.

Growing up as a little girl playing lacrosse, I never thought there would be an opportunity to play at a professional level. As I came up the ranks in college I saw that, wow, this could be a reality for me one day.

Here in the united states, Professional women’s lacrosse is a few years deep and the effect it’s having on young lacrosse girls is incredible. You can see a direct effect when you watch them watch professional players and know that it is a reality and The professional players are focusing on building strong women who empower other woman that they belong and that their worth as a player and an athlete doesn’t rely on their gender, it relies on their hard work and integrity.

I feel that as these programs keep growing and as there’s more publicity and more money and advertising and backing thrown into these programs, that it can only be better for woman in sports. People will get more exposure to the hard work, the athletic abilities of these woman. They will see that woman do belong on the big stage just as much as men, and this will happen.