Photo from the WLL Instagram
The snow was done falling. School had already been cancelled for the following day. The kids had their tubbies, and we all had eaten dinner. It was time to relax and unwind. My daughter crawled onto the couch with me as I took the remote and opened the ESPN app to turn on the very first Maybelline Women’s Lacrosse League game between the Maryland Charm and the New York Charging.
Lizzie Colson was the first face to pop up on the screen. I guess it wasn’t what my daughter was expecting because her head snapped back and turned to me. With a mixture of surprise and excitement, she asked, “Daddy, are those girls playing?!”
When I assured her it was, I could sense the interest in her voice, and I saw her eyes lock back on the screen. She asked me why they wore goggles (she called them glasses). She talked about their jerseys (she liked the California Palms jerseys, the white ones with the trees), and she liked when they scored goals.
As my daughter, she’s been around lacrosse before. She’s come to a couple of the high school games I coach. She’s been in the room when I’ve watched PLL games, and she’s even sat on my lap while I’ve been in post-game press conferences on Zoom. I’ve never seen her this interested in watching the game, however.
I wasn’t the only one that had this experience either. PLL writer Hayden Lewis wrote about the top social media reactions to the first ever WLL game, and he pointed out several other parents that shared similar other moments where their daughters showed excitement over seeing the women playing. Even California Redwoods head coach Nat St. Laurent shared a photo of his daughter watching the California Palms game against the Boston Guard on the second night of the tournament.
It’s been beautiful to see all these young girls feel excited and inspired. It’s been the perfect example of why representation matters. It’s been opportunity to not just see someone that looks like them on television but to see someone like themselves doing something incredible that stretches their understanding of what is even possible.
That was the message the WLL ambassadors hammered home at the initial press conference in the fall.
“For the kids now that get to see this and see us up here and the league becoming a thing, it’s really exciting,” Izzy Scane said. “So, don’t sell yourself short. You could end up on a stage like this one day as well.”
It’s not just the young girls the league is hoping to inspire, either. Much like the catchphrase Togethxr — a media company launched by Sue Bird, Alex Morgan Chloe Kim, and Simone Manuel — made popular on shirts worn by Jason Sudeikis and Dawn Staley, everyone watches women’s sports.
Dre from The Dre Lax Podcast, who has been in person since the start of the Championship Series, tweeted during the Charm-Charging game, “The coolest part about this game is seeing all of how hyped all of the boys and girls in attendance are to be watching this game. The next generation of players is being inspired by the current players on the field. Incredible.”
It’s not just young girls that think the WLL players are cool; it’s young boys, too. When I interviewed Alex Aust Holman in November for an article with USA Lacrosse Magazine about the launch of the WLL, that’s something she said she’s noticed during the past couple years and wants to continue to inspire.
“That was the coolest part about being at the All-Star Game this summer with the PLL and having our Unleashed Pros there. Little girls always come up to us and ask for autographs, but there were also little boys coming up to us, asking for autographs, asking to take photos with us, knowing who we were as athletes,” she said. “It’s really cool to see. Growing up, I always watched men’s sports. Those were my heroes. It’s so cool sports transcend all genders, race, and it is that common denominator.
“Where lacrosse is specifically, we’re kind of in this together,” she added. “It’s not one of those big five sports that everyone knows about. Spreading the game and growing the game is kind of our mission across all genders and wanting to put a product out there that can be accessible to as many young athletes as possible, girls or boys.”
I remember what it was like watching and following the United States Women’s National Team at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. I remember the excitement of how well they were doing throughout the tournament, culminating in the exhilarating championship game won in penalty kicks. I’ve been a fan ever since.
I also saw over the years how that team served as such a positive reinforcement to girls everywhere about what they could achieve. I see that even more as a girl dad, now. I am more in tune with how much strong women can inspire the next generation.
My daughter loves “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, and she’s watched a little bit of The Eras Tour concert movie. She got both a microphone stand and a ukelele for Christmas, and she will ask me to play “Shake It Off” while she stands in front of the microphone, doing her best to sing the song and hold the ukelele (she doesn’t actually play it yet) like she’s seen Swift do.
My daughter also (obviously) loves her mom, who is an assistant principal. At the beginning of the school year, when we asked our daughter what she wants to be when she grows up, she said “A boss, like Mommy.”
Now, maybe she’ll want to go out and hold her little lacrosse stick like the athletes she saw during the first WLLL game.
Maybe she won’t.
But at the very least, she now knows it’s an option available to her. And as her dad, there’s nothing more I can ask for.
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