These are the female athletes changing the way we look at women in sports
This year, the women have been at the forefront of many of sports’ celebrated highlights—soccer, baseball, tennis, swimming, ballet, wrestling, phew!—and their victories have been chipping away at the dated assumption that men are more athletically-inclined. While we still have a long way to go in terms of equality, let’s give these hustlers divas the recognition they deserve: Women in sports are having a real moment.
Mo’Ne Davis
One year ago, Mo’Ne Davis made headlines as the first female player to earn a win and pitch a shutout in Little League history. The only girl on her team and the only African-American girl to ever play in the series, she conquered the traditionally male-saturated sport with talent and confidence. Although her team was eliminated in the semifinals, Davis went on to grace last August’s cover of Sports Illustrated, to win an ESPY for best breakthrough athlete in July 2015—beating out golf darling Jordan Spieth—and has granted rights to Disney to develop a movie on her young yet storied life. She told The Hollywood Reporter that it’s important for women’s sports to gain more traction on TV so more girls will join.
Becky Hammon
The celebrated WNBA veteran was hired last season as an assistant coach for NBA champions the San Antonio Spurs. Business Insider marked Hammon as the first full-time female coach in any of the four major U.S. professional sports leagues. In her first year, she has lead the Spurs to a Summer League title in Vegas, and made playoffs. Hammon’s consistency has her colleagues seriously considering her potential as a head coach; former Brooklyn Nets executive Bobby Marks said his “first call would be to Becky Hammon,” were he leading a team.
Jen Welter
In February, Welter was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as a “training camp and preseason intern.” In other words, she is officially the NFL’s first female coach. Welter has played 14 seasons of pro football and coached for the Texas Revolution indoor football league. She wrote for NFL analysis website MMQB: “Being a woman is part of who I am. It’s not all of who I am, and I’m not here just because I’m a woman. I’m here as a football coach.”
USWNT
The U.S. Women’s National Team won their third FIFA victory this summer after star midfielder Carli Lloyd kicked three goals in the first 16 minutes of the game, leading the team to a landslide win over Japan. Sports Illustrated reported the final drew in 25.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched soccer game in U.S. television history. The athletes have had quite the summer off the field—from being the first non-New York team to earn a ticker-tape parade to being invited on stage with Taylor Swift to earning a Sports Illustrated cover for each member of the team—meaning USWNT were clearly this summer’s #squadgoals (sorry, Taylor). Thanks to these ladies, we’ve all been losing our minds.
Misty Copeland
Okay, ballet is technically not a sport, true, but there’s no doubt that Copeland is a fierce athlete. In June, she became America’s first black female principal ballet dancer. A 14-year veteran of the American Ballet Theatre, the dancer was bestowed ballet’s highest honor and is the de jure lead dancer of most prominent productions produced by the Theatre. Copeland’s tenure has come with a wide set of detractors—namely because of her curvier, athletic build and her skin color. Despite being extremely cognizant of her race and body throughout her career, Copeland successfully fought the odds and hopes her promotion will serve to recognize dancers for their art over their aesthetics. And now? She will will perform in Broadway classic On The Town running from August 25 to September 6.
Ronda Rousey
Rousey has been in the mixed martial arts game for well over a decade, yet she resurfaced on our radar this summer after knocking out her opponent, Bethe Correia, just 34 seconds into the first round of the UFC 190. Lucky for Correia, she lasted 14 seconds longer than Rousey’s last two UFC opponents. Rousey is breaking bones and boundaries in a sport typically thought of as hypermasculine. Oustide the ring, she has consistently championed her athletic physique and shut down critics who think she looks manly by simply stating: “There’s not a single muscle on my body that isn’t for a purpose.”
Katie Ledecky
USA Swimming cites Ledecky to have won three world records and five gold medals from the 2015 World Aquatic Championships among the plethora of accomplishments that span well over two pages of the website. As Outside Online aptly puts it, Ledecky’s consecutive accomplishments at the championship are the equivalent of an athlete setting a record in a 5K, then setting one in a 800-meter sprint, followed by winning a championship in the mile—all within the span of a day. Her career is already going more than swimmingly—and she’s only 18 years old.