My start with sports began at a young age. I started AYSO soccer in kindergarten, on a team that was co-ed. Back then, there was no discrimination on who scored the goal, it was all just a time to play. I was the typical daughter of the coach and he was my coach until I reached middle school. I ended up playing soccer until my senior year of high school. Shortly after I started soccer, I also picked up Basketball and Softball. Being a three-sport athlete was not always the easiest, but I could not imagine my life any other way. Through three knee surgeries, I found how quickly sports can be taken away from you, and how they should never be taken for granted while you still get to play.

I loved playing all these sports, however, basketball is my favorite. Being a starter my freshman year of high school I soon realized how in love with the sport I was. Shortly after I found myself going to tournaments every weekend with my travel team, and at the same time I was playing softball for my high school. AAU was one of my favorite parts of my life, where I gained many new friends and got to play at a higher level of competition for the first time. These tournaments made me realize that I wanted to continue playing basketball as I continued my academic career in college as well. I finally chose Sage in February of my Senior year.

Growing up as a girl in sports, you tend to realize how easily you are portrayed just for being a girl. You can see the difference in attendance from your games to the boys, and it can make you question a lot. What makes the guy's games so much more interesting as the girls? I know that there are some girls and girls teams that just plain and simple are boring to watch, but now with the normality of how the girl's games "just aren't as fun to watch" It gives girls less confidence. The only time I have ever felt the "love" from a crowd of both men and women supporters, is the last home game of my high school career. It was a sectional game, and the clock was winding down with my team being down by two. With three seconds left, my teammate drew the defenders in, and I pulled up for a jumper to put my team up by one to win the game. The energy from the crowd was unreal and I have never felt such joy in my life. Does it really take an amazing play by a girl just to get the same support as the boy's teams?

I'm not going to sit here and complain about how these women's games are seen as either, because all women's sports have come a long way even more so in the past couple of years. Getting older though, I have become more involved in tracking the source of this, and what is being done about the discrimination in sports. While I find it fair that men's professional sports get paid more than women's because of their viewers and ticket income, the way men and women are treated in sports should not be any different. Most people who have an interest in this topic know that women should not be paid equal to men. The fight here is not to be equal to the men, but to get more than what they are receiving now.

An example of this is the U.S. National Soccer teams. The men get paid much more than the women even though the women have been much more successful and have won three world cups. What gives here? The past couple of years women on the team have rallied up to fix this problem. They filed a lawsuit, but they were denied. However, just in the past couple weeks, LUNA® bar has agreed to pay the difference in the gender pay gap. Not only does this give confidence to these players on the women's team, but to any other woman in any sport. Could this be the start of a revolution?

Young women are seeing this change in women's sports everywhere. All this talk about the gender pay gap gives young girls something to look up to. Instead of just playing their sport, they can actually enjoy it, work for their dreams, all while being a GIRL. Girls are finally getting recognized for how GOOD they are and ENTERTAINING their games are and can be. Dunking cannot even be the problem for men to not watch their games anymore because that has been DONE. Granted, it might not be as amazing as the men but we all know a girl being able to dunk is still pretty cool. The only way from here is UP and the only advice I can give is that IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED A WOMEN'S GAME, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT EITHER.

Sports have been such a huge part of my life and I could not imagine going through my years without it. It is so much more than a game, the life lessons you learn along the way are unmatched