Americans will witness history in three months as NBC broadcasts the first game of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) on Saturday, June 21. The game will feature the Los Angeles Sparks, with star Lisa Leslie, and the New York Liberty, with star Rebecca Lobo.
Leslie and Lobo were gold medalists on the 1996 Olympic team. Both have skyrocketed to fame as Olympians and because of people like them, the popularity of women’s sports has been on the rise.
In 1996, some of the most memorable moments in sports were the female athletes. Women like Leslie, Lobo, softball player Dot Richardson, soccer player Mia Hamm and swimmer Amy Van Dyken wrote the headlines all year.
Well, it is about time.
For years women have competed but have not gotten much recognition. The only professional sports in the United States for women that received any notable attention were tennis and figure skating. There is an existing women’s professional basketball league in the United States but it has not received much publicity and many players have previously left the United States to play professionally in Europe or Central and South America.
Now, the American women are taking a piece of the pie. It is becoming common to see female athletes with many endorsements for shoes, cereal and shampoo. There is the newly formed WNBA and in 1994 women started playing professional baseball at the minor league level for the first time since the All-American Girls Baseball League folded in 1955.
The Colorado Silver Bullets began its inaugural season May 8, 1994. It was the only all female professional baseball team to be recognized by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.
The Silver Bullets play primarily exhibition games against minor league ball clubs, colleges and community teams around the country.
Many of the Silver Bullets started playing baseball as children but were forced to give it up and play softball in high school and college because girls were not allowed to play baseball at these levels.
It is not fair that women and girls had no other choice but to leave the country to play somewhere else or were forced to give up a dream and a game they love because it was not allowed.
One woman who chose not to give up and broke through the barrier is now pitching for the Whittier College Poets.
Ila Borders gained national recognition a few years ago when she became the first female to pitch at the collegiate level at Southern California College, but because of coaching changes at SCC she transferred to Whittier.
“All I’m seeking is an opportunity. I’m constantly going out there [on the field] and proving myself,” said Borders. “There’s a lot of people that didn’t want me. I picked and chose where I wanted to go and where I was wanted.”
Borders took the opportunity to pick and choose and now has the chance to make her dreams come true because she has been scouted by major league teams.
“My ultimate goal is to play in the major leagues,” said Borders.
So now that the women are gaining more recognition in a sport that has needed it for a while and the women have been holding their own in what has been traditionally a man’s sport, it looks like the future of women’s sports is in good hands.
Look out guys, you are in for some tough competition.
