For decades, women’s sports were asked to prove themselves.
asserted
sports → ask → themselves
Would people watch?
asserted
people → watch → ?
Would fans fill the stands?
asserted
fans → fill → stands
Would brands invest?
asserted
brands → invest → ?
Today, we know the answer.
asserted
we → know → answer
Professional women’s sports leagues like the WNBA and the NWSL are booming.
asserted
leagues → boom → WNBA
But as we celebrate what is happening at the highest levels of women’s sports, we should be asking how many girls will never discover what they are capable of because they never got the chance to play.
asserted
they → celebrate → chance
Somewhere among those girls is a child who could discover the sport she loves.
uncertain
she → discover → sport
Most will never become professional athletes, nor should that determine whether their opportunity mattered.
asserted
opportunity → become → ?
Sports can shape health outcomes, confidence, leadership, and a sense of belonging that lasts well after competition ends.
asserted
competition → shape → belonging
But none of us can know what sports might unlock in a girl until she gets the opportunity to find out.
uncertain
she → know → opportunity
As a Women’s Sports Foundation Trustee, I care deeply about what happens long before an athlete reaches the world’s biggest stages.
asserted
athlete → care → stages
That is why the foundation’s new research feels so important at this moment.
asserted
research → feel → moment
Our findings show us where women’s sports are thriving, where barriers remain, and where we need to focus next.
asserted
we → show → us
One of the biggest takeaways is the disconnect between girls’ interest and their opportunity to play.
asserted
One → play → interest
Girls want to participate, but too many still are not getting into the game.
asserted
many → want → game
And the WSF’s report reveals that when they do, families are spending more on their sports than they are on boys’.
asserted
they → reveal → boys
It is whether we are creating enough opportunities for that interest to become participation.
asserted
interest → create → opportunities
And getting girls into sports is only the beginning.
asserted
getting → get → sports
We have to give them reasons to stay.
asserted
We → have → reasons
The report also points to a belonging gap that is evident among teens.
asserted
that → point → teens
Among the youngest children, 80% of both girls and boys say sports are “for someone like me.”
asserted
sports → say → me
Among teens, girls are less likely than boys to say the same.
asserted
girls → say → same
Girls do not need to be convinced that sports are for them when they are eight.
asserted
they → need → them
We need to make sure that, as pressures mount during the teen years, the sports environment does not give them reasons to question whether they still belong.
asserted
they → need → reasons
What opportunity can unlock
I started running track around 12 years old.
asserted
I → unlock → track
There was no grand plan that I would become a professional athlete or an Olympic champion.
asserted
I → be → ?
I was a kid who got the chance to try something, discovered what I was capable of, and had people around me who gave that interest room to grow.
asserted
who → get → room
That opportunity ultimately took me to Harvard, where I competed and studied neurobiology and global health, and eventually to the Olympic podium.
asserted
I → take → podium
Along the way, sports helped shape not only the athlete I became, but the person I became and the possibilities I saw for my life beyond the track.
asserted
I → shape → track
Every girl deserves the opportunity to find out where hers might lead.
uncertain
hers → deserve → opportunity
No athlete makes that journey alone.
asserted
athlete → make → journey
Behind every woman competing inside the world’s biggest arenas are years of access, coaching, resources, and people who reinforced that she belonged.
asserted
she → compete → access
And that path matters at every level.
asserted
path → matter → level
Industry leaders surveyed for the WSF Sport Report overwhelmingly see progress at the professional level.
asserted
leaders → survey → level
But the picture changes at college, the only part of the pipeline where more say progress has declined than improved.
asserted
progress → change → pipeline
That contrast should get our attention.
asserted
contrast → get → attention
Protecting the path forward
College sports are a critical bridge to professional and Olympic competition.
asserted
sports → protect → competition
As college athletics undergo historic changes to athlete compensation, revenue sharing, and name, image, and likeness opportunities, decisions being made now will help determine who benefits from this new era.
asserted
who → undergo → era
We cannot celebrate the destination while allowing the road to it to narrow.
And at a moment of such significant change, the WSF Sport Report points to a troubling disconnect around one of the protections that helped make today’s opportunities possible.
asserted
opportunities → celebrate → protections
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
