Though many of us were heartbroken by the U.S. Women’s Soccer team loss last week, it’s hard not to be excited about what the women’s world cup may have done for women’s sports in general. And hopefully, what it did was show people just how exciting it can be.
Millions of people tuned in on Sunday to watch the U.S. team play Japan (and ultimately lose). Finally we’ve got women dominating the small screen because they are tough enough, talented enough and smart enough to make it to the world cup. In this day and age it feels like it is getting harder and harder to turn on the TV and find inspiring young women who are every bit as talented as men playing any sport. But the recently the U.S. Women’s Soccer team changed that by making themselves one of the most talked about pop culture, sports and news items of the last week.
I want our young girls and boys out there to see that women’s sports are every bit exciting as any men’s sports. I want them to see that a young woman does not have to plaster on makeup and tight clothes to get on TV or make the cover of a magazine. She can do it in a soccer uniform with a little sweat on her brow, and send a much more positive message than you’d find in 20 years of watching reality TV.
"I think we did something pretty special for women's soccer here in America," said Megan Rapinoe, a midfielder from California. "Hopefully this has kind of opened people's eyes a little bit to how beautiful the women's game can be."
Aside from the positive message it sends to young girls and boys across the nation, the surge in popularity will also hopefully prove that women’s sports in general can be a force to be reckoned with.
Schools across the United States still bend the rues and fail to comply with rules regarding women’s sports set out by Title IX regulations. In fact in Idaho a report filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office For Civil Rights against 100 Idaho schools that allegedly are not providing equal opportunities for female high school students to play sports.
Idaho isn’t the only place coming under fire for not living up to Title IX. But maybe, just maybe, the sudden hyper focus on women’s sports could help schools at all grade levels start to see that maybe they should be making girls sports a much higher priority.
Yes, losing to Japan was a huge disappointment to us U.S. women’s soccer fans, but in the win for women’s sports in general helps make it well worth it.
