As a woman in sports, I believe National Girls & Women in Sports Day on Feb. 1 is something to celebrate. This year San Antonio Sports took the opportunity to recognize our female i play! afterschool coaches who make up over 65% of the entire coaching staff for this program.
Having grown up in an environment with male coaches and leaders, I will never discount what the men in my life have meant to me personally and my journey through sport. However, it’s more important than ever to celebrate diversity through inclusion, opportunity and recognition. We should all celebrate that for the first time, both teams in the Super Bowl were represented by Black starting quarterbacks (both from Texas, mind you, because #FridayNightLights).
If you celebrate sports as a part of our everyday culture, you also celebrate diversity because there is no better melting pot of America than in a locker room…no matter what age and what level of competition. I’ve personally witnessed it on the teams I’ve competed, through my professional lens as a spectator and organizer, and now as a parent, helping coach a seven-year-old basketball team that measures success by knowing which direction to run up and down the court. Teammates at that age don’t see color, where they come from or the shoes they are wearing. They see fun, hustle, celebrating teamwork and practice paying off.
Despite all the challenges ahead in our industry, sports continue to be a shining example of what brings us together, what motivates us to be better and how we can all use it for good.
May you all find your inner seven-year-old self that will stop and cheer like crazy when your team scores one of five buckets for the game. That passion sees no gender and no color and that is the way we should all live and lead.
Game on!