This one’s for the girls in the sports world
Mary Margaret Ellison, Sports Editor
The year 2020 was a year full of change both good and bad. It was also the year that women in sports decided to take a stand and show their knowledge, talent and capabilities.
History has been made and is continuing to be made by women in the sports world. Women are stepping up, accepting challenges and proving that they deserve to have a seat at the table.
Courtesy of Twitter @sarahfuller_27
On Nov. 28, Sarah Fuller made her historic debut as the first woman to play in a Power Five college football game. Fuller, a senior at Vanderbilt University, kicked off for the Commodores to start the second half of the game against the University of Missouri.
Fuller received praise from ESPN, athletes and millions of fans, but she also had to deal with hate from those who feel that football is only a “man’s game.” Fuller took the comments with a grain of salt.
“I hope it becomes the norm. As a woman in sports, and knowing other women in sports, I know we work hard,” Julia Morris, WYFF 4 sports anchor said. “We are just as capable of doing a job or playing a sport that men do.”
As the first woman to play in a Power Five college football game, Fuller inspired generations of girls who have wanted to be kickers. She accepted the challenge head-on and revealed that women can play male sports.
Men have taken the executive roles in the sports industry for years, but the Miami Marlins changed their line up in the front office and hired the first female general manager in MLB history, Kim Ng.
Kim Ng was no newcomer to the baseball industry. She had been working in and around baseball for almost 30 years.
Courtesy of Twitter @marlins
Ng, 51, accepted the job of the Marlins general manager with lots of experience under her belt. She served as an assistant general manager for the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. She also worked in the MLB headquarters.
Women have been stereotyped for as long as anyone can remember in sports. Men who are in sports have been known to single out women by saying if they haven’t played the sport, they don’t know anything about it.
“Just because you haven’t played something doesn’t mean you don’t know it in and out. There are men who know a lot about football, but have never played it,” Morris said. “It shouldn’t be a thing that is held against women only.”
Ng has shocked baseball fans around the country with her knowledge of the game of baseball. She is already one step ahead of the game because she has a winning record with the Marlins CEO, Derek Jeter, who played with the Yankees as Ng was with the organization.
The name Sarah Thomas should ring a bell to sports fans.
Thomas is another trailblazer that has proven the nay-sayers wrong with her knowledge of the game of football as well as her work ethic.
On Feb. 7, Sarah Thomas was the first-ever female to step foot on an NFL football field and proudly say that she was one of eight on-field officials in the Super Bowl.
Courtesy of Twitter @sportsmedia__
“Sometimes women are put in bubbles of expectations of what we are supposed to be, and what we can and can’t do,” Kasie Thomas, NGU Athletics announcer, said, “because it is so male dominate [the sports world], being able to step into a higher role and do great at it as a woman is amazing.”
She had shattered another glass ceiling. Sarah Thomas’ mere presence on the sideline was changing the world before she knew it.
Thomas is a shining star to many girls and women around the nation who have been afraid to step out of their comfort zone because of the male-dominated sports world.
Thomas said, “Just because we are a certain gender doesn’t mean we can’t be strong or even stronger than the opposite gender. We mean business just like men do.”
Women are rising up, and just like the song “Rise Up” by Andra Day that Sarah Thomas knows like the back of her hand, said, “And I’ll rise up. I’ll rise like the day. I’ll rise up. I’ll rise unafraid.”
When will another glass ceiling be ravaged? And who will be the next woman to do it?
Morris said while talking about what the next breakthrough might be, “I would love to see more women coaches in male sports. You see males coaches in women sports. Let’s change that.”
Women are continuing to earn the respect that they deserve in the sports industry, one historical step at a time.
