Sports No Longer an All Boys Club

By NICK NATALE

OAKLAND, N.J. –  Over the past few years, the growth and popularity of women’s sports has been brought to the forefront. Discussions about equal pay and the growth of professional women’s sports leagues have been main talking points for sports media, but it is at the high school level where the change is taking place.

High school sports has been a staple across the country and has brought people all throughout different neighborhoods together. Whether it be Texas state football games on a Friday night, or late night hockey games in Minnesota, people all around the country gather to watch their local high school teams compete. In recent years, girls have decided to try their hand at playing different predominantly male sports such as football and hockey.

Locally, at Indian Hills High School, Lindsey Williams, who graduated in 2018, played all four years on the hockey team and even got some time on varsity. Despite being one of the smallest players on the ice, she was still able to score some goals and contribute to a winning season.

“Being the only girl on the team, I though things were going to be weird, but after I got time to adjust it felt pretty normal. I was scared because I wasn’t sure how I would be playing against boys, but as the years went on I realized I was just as good, if not better than some of them,” Williams, 19  said.

Women Sports on the Rise

Female sports are growing at a rapid pace and participation has gone way up considering where it was at just a few years ago. While sports like basketball and baseball offer girls their own leagues, football and hockey don’t offer such. According to research done by the National Federation of State High School Associations 42.7 percent of high school sports participants are girls. The same report showed that there are just under 10,000 girls who participate in high school hockey across the country. Also, reports done by the NFHSA have shown that female students playing tackle football have reached an all-time high in 2018-2019. Last year, there were a little over 2,400 girls who played football, up from about 500 in 2008.

When Kobe Bryant wasn’t busy building an iconic NBA legacy, he was working to lift up women in sports pic.twitter.com/B96Dx9is1u

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As important as it is for female athletes to participate in male dominate sports, it is almost equally as important for coaches and players to make them feel comfortable, in what can be typically uncomfortable situation.  The coaches play a huge role in integrating everyone into the team, as well as making all the players feel included, and this is particularly important if a girl is on the team. One of the most important ways teams bond is in the locker room, but girls have to dress in separate rooms, making it that much more important for coaches to make the, feel like they are part of the team.

D.J. Campbell, a former assistant coach of Indian Hills ice hockey team, worked closely with Williams during her time on the junior varsity team.

“ It was the first time I’ve ever had to coach a girl before so we (the coaching staff) wanted to make sure we got it right. The coaches just wanted to make sure she felt as comfortable with the team as possible,” Campbell said. “We weren’t sure exactly what to do at first because we didn’t know if she could keep up with the boys, but after a couple of practices we came to a quick conclusion that she’d have no issue keeping up.”

Williams and other female athletes around the country, are continuing to not just play, but succeed in male dominated high school sports. However, despite the growing numbers in participation, there is still plenty of room for girls to make some noise in high school sports.