An abridged version of this essay was printed in the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2023.
For those of us in the know - who cheer from the supporters' section of San Diego Wave games, listen to Julie Foudy’s podcast “Laughter Permitted,” follow Meg Linehan on Twitter, and read the works of the legendary Billy Jean King, Abby Wambach and Pat Summit - the connection between availability and investment in women’s sports and the popularity and money generating opportunities from women’s sports are obvious. Which is why it is so frustrating having to educate the rest of the world to catch up - and education is still so deeply needed.
As a soccer coach for a boy’s team, it pains me to still hear comments like, “We haven’t gone to a Wave game yet, but we don’t have girls, so…” Or when I offer my sister tickets to a Wave game I can’t attend, hear my sister say she doesn’t have anyone to go with, because her husband “doesn’t like women's sports.”
Although the USWNT finally got pay equity last year, women all over the world are still having to fight the battle for equality. This year the Canadian Women’s National Team, having won equal pay incentives, was offered less training time and resources than their male counterparts, thus less opportunity to achieve that equal pay, despite the fact that they won the last Olympics. In an interview on “Laughter Permitted” with their captain, Christine Sinclair, who is the world’s all-time leader for international goals scored for both men’s and women’s teams, explains how having to spend so much time off the field fighting for equality makes her feel, “Tired.”
The truth is that those of us in the know - we’re all tired of having to explain why women deserve equal treatment and opportunities in the world of sports. That valuing women athletes is valuing women in our society. It’s exhausting having the same argument with my brother for over a decade. “Women don’t watch women’s basketball,” he said again this year. Yet, an average of 9.9 million viewers tuned in to watch this year’s final game between Caitlin Clark on Iowa’s team and Angel Reese of LSU - almost twice as many as last year. The difference was that this was only the second year in a row that the NCAA marketed both men and women under the umbrella of March Madness, one of the solutions to the NCAA's findings on the disparities between men's and women's sports. As for women’s soccer, over 30,000 fans filled Snapdragon Stadium for the Wave opener this year.
It’s not just - if you build it, they will come. It’s if you build it and televise it and market it and value it - they will come. Much of Wave’s marketing, as well as marketing for women’s sports in general, revolves around women athletes being an inspiration to girls - and that’s absolutely necessary - representation makes so much of a difference. Only girls aren’t the only minds and hearts that need to be exposed to women’s soccer and other sports.
If we want to get to a place where we no longer have to explain to adults the value in women’s sports, taking the boys and men in our lives to see San Diego Wave games is just as essential to the future of the game and ensuring that the leaders of tomorrow - regardless of gender - take it for granted that these world class professionals, the best in their field, are gifts we need to treasure.
Because I take my son to Wave games, at 9 years old, he is already becoming an advocate for women’s sports. Alex Morgan and Naomi Girma are household names to him and he’s already promised to take me to Wave games when I’m in a wheelchair, just like we took my dad to Padres games when he got too frail to take us. After the opening day Wave game, my son showed off his Wave sweatshirt signed by Emily Van Egmond, Jaedyn Shaw and Madison Pogarch to his friends and they asked if it was signed by “real athletes” or “women soccer players.” He shook his head at their ignorance and explained these athletes were even better than the men. I look forward to the ripple effect that this impact will have on generations to come - who won’t have to exhaust themselves explaining how devaluing women’s sports devalues half the human population.
Your words and your attitudes towards women’s sports send a message about women’s value in our society - not just to the little girls who will grow up to be soccer players and leaders in their fields, but to the boys (and adult women) in your life as well. When you take your sons to see the best players in the world, playing right here in our city, no one will ever have to explain to them women’s value as athletes and people, they'll learn it by watching the players - and you.
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