Being an athlete may look glorious or easy from the outside world; It may look like a free college education, a lot of traveling, or cool sponsorships, but truly, being an athlete, especially at the higher levels is anything but glamorous. It's hard work, sweat, blood and tears, and once you're successful, maybe those "glorious" things will happen. However, if just being an athlete is tough, imagine being a female athlete.
I've learned that nothing gets handed to you in a world of competition, and that I need to work my butt off for everything I want, but I've learned that's even more true because I am a girl, because chances are, I won't be taken as seriously as if I were I guy. I just finished my four years as a collegiate tennis player, and along with my fellow female athletes, you could say it was a different experience when it came to our sport, as say, a football player.
What's wrong is that nobody wants to watch women's sports, let alone, women's tennis. So the lack of support we get is definitely disappointing, The amount of fans I remember having in my four years would barely fill up one section of a basketball stadium. Although this doesn't discourage us from playing our sport, it does make us wish we had the kind of support our Men's Basketball and Football teams have.
Not only this, but as female athletes, we are looked at much differently, especially in the Pro's where female's are more in the lime light. Professional female athletes are judged by what they wear, how much they weigh, and it actually becomes a topic of discussion. This would never happen to a male athlete because nobody cares what they look like, or how much they weigh, they simply care about their sport.
And let's not forget about the pay difference when it comes to being a female athlete compared to a male athlete. The average woman who plays professional soccer gets paid between $6,000 and $30,000, while in the top Men's league, they get paid anywhere from $50,000 and up. It's unfair that in a world of "equality" men and women are still not being paid the same for the jobs they do.
While being a female athlete is an awesome experience, there are still some qualities that prove to be less than or not as good as men in sports. In time, hopefully this can change, so that men and women are equal in sports.
