For a short season, my home state had a WNBA team, and I got to go and see a few games up close with my siblings. I was in my early twenties, and I sm
For a short season, my home state had a WNBA team, and I got to go and see a few games up close with my siblings. I was in my early twenties, and I smiled the entire time. I was smiling before the game started. The energy!
I’ve always been one of those people who smiles easily and for seemingly no reason sometimes anyway, but this was different. The stadium wasn’t packed with fans, but it was thrilling to see women representing and playing with so much heart. They inspired me to see myself beyond who society told me that I was and could be as a woman. “Girl, think bigger and put some more passion in it. For yourself.”
My favorite female basketball players include Cheryl Miller, Angel Reese, Pamela McGee, A’ja Wilson, Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Lisa Leslie.
Fun fact: Living Single and Martin are favorite shows of mine, and my two favorite episodes of both shows are when the women’s basketball players appeared. It was my brother who broke down what made Cheryl Miller so great as he was talking to me about what her brother Reggie Miller (one of his faves) had to say about her skills. So after our conversation, I became a fan of Reggie Miller, and he kept digging deeper into fanning Cheryl Miller.
Of course one of the advocates for women and girls that I admire is Lucy Diggs Slowe, a former tennis champion. Lucy Diggs Slowe won the first national title awarded to Black women by what became the American Tennis Association in 1917. That wasn’t simply a sports achievement. At the time, Black women faced barriers because of both race and sex. Stepping onto a tennis court required confidence before she ever hit the first ball.
Slowe didn’t simply play tennis. She competed, won, and then spent the rest of her life leading. She became the first Dean of Women at Howard University, advocated fiercely for women students, and helped found organizations that expanded opportunities for Black women. The tennis court wasn’t the destination. It was one of the places where her leadership muscles were exercised.
Think about what competitive sports teaches women and girls:
You learn to perform under pressure while everyone is watching.
You learn that losing one point doesn’t mean losing the match.
You develop emotional control after mistakes.
You make decisions quickly instead of freezing.
You become comfortable competing against people who expect to defeat you.
You discover that criticism doesn’t stop you from showing up again.
Those aren’t just athletic skills. They’re leadership skills.
When Slowe later became the first Dean of Women at Howard University, she repeatedly challenged administrators on behalf of women students. She insisted women deserved proper housing, resources, and a meaningful voice in university life. She was known for standing her ground, even when it put her at odds with powerful men.
Many Survivors first believe courage suddenly appears before difficult conversations or hard decisions. As we grow and heal, we learn that more often, courage grows through repeated experiences of doing difficult things. Every boundary held. Every “no” spoken. Every time you return after disappointment.
Sports can become a rehearsal for life.
Lucy Diggs Slowe may have believed she was becoming a better tennis player.
History reveals she was also becoming the woman who would help transform higher education for generations of Black women.
Some people think that the biggest lesson for girls is that they learn to accept others. That’s a great lesson, and yet many girls get that lesson drilled into far more than boys.
When CSI: Vegas attempted a show revival, I thought that they did something smart. They made the new leader of the lab a former female sports competitor and champion. Maxine “Max” Roby, played by Paula Newsome in CSI: Vegas. Before becoming a crime scene investigator and director of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, she was a basketball coach.
Women and girls need the other life lessons that sports offers:
Sports teach women to stay calm under pressure.
Sports build resilience after disappointment.
Sports teach women to trust their own judgment.
Sports develop leadership and confident communication.
Sports create the courage to enter spaces where women are underrepresented.
Sports reveal strengths women may never have discovered otherwise.
So when you ask women’s rights advocates why the issue of team sports for women and girls is so important, it is because we know that such settings offer much-needed leadership skills for us. Whether the women become champions or not, the lessons are in the game, in the team, in the preparation, and in the discipline. As a kid, I couldn’t stand physical education, but NOW I am forever thankful that I was pushed harder than I wanted to go. I was a kid. I couldn’t foresee what I would be missing out on.
Lucy Diggs Slowe: She Protected Us in Silence So We Could One Day Speak – WE Survive Abuse
On the Grounds That We Are Human: Why Women and Girls Need Single-Sex Spaces – WE Survive Abuse
10 Surprising Facts and Statistics About Black American Girls – Rosa’s Children
Pam Taught Us Some Things: Why Tichina Arnold Always Deserves Our Love – WE Survive Abuse
Why We Test: The Hidden History of Fairness in Sports—and in Women’s Lives – WE Survive Abuse