Every year, Women’s History Month takes place in March. This month is used as a time to honor the significant contributions that women have made throughout society, including in sports. Women’s sports have made massive progress in recent years, but work still needs to be done.
Historically, women’s sports are less appreciated than their male counterparts and are often watched and publicized less. This year, women’s sports have made tremendous progress. It is projected that revenue from women’s sports will surpass one billion dollars, a 300% increase from 2021.
Female athletes have not only had success on the professional and collegiate level but also at Stoughton High School. Our girls’ sports teams have had tremendous success this year. Our girls’ teams had terrific seasons, from playoff bids to state qualifiers.
SHS senior and Girls Volleyball Captain, Brooklyn Radecke, said the volleyball team’s success came from their encouragement.
“We encouraged each other, which made us grow and continue to do well in practice and games,” Radecke said. “We would encourage each other by being loud and getting excited. When one person gets loud, everyone gets loud, which makes it more fun.”
Volleyball is one of many sports that had success during the past fall and winter seasons. The SHS girls’ swim team sent five girls to their state swim meet. Senior Captain Kylyn Lovell said that the environment was one of the reasons for their success.
“I made sure there was a connection between the group. We needed to be [each other’s] biggest fans,” Lovell said.
But it wasn’t just volleyball and girls swimming that had success during their seasons. Girls’ tennis had many girls attend the conference match and just missed qualifying for sectionals. Girls Cross Country had top finishers at many of their invites. Girls Golf had one athlete who received Badger Small Conference honors.
The winter sports season just recently ended, and our girls basketball team had a fantastic season. They achieved a playoff bid, made it to the second round of the playoffs, and had three Badger Small All-Conference honors.
Radecke believes the girls’ teams may have had some very successful seasons, but their achievements were underappreciated.
“[Women’s sports] are recognized, but male sports are perceived as more [interesting and] talented in their sports,” Radecke said.
All sports deserve recognition, regardless of whether the athletes competing are male or female. Not appreciating girls’ sports as much as boys’ harms young girls starting sports. Joining a sport can be a difficult thing to do.
“Just do it,” Radecke said. “Don’t be afraid to meet new people and enjoy what you are doing, and don’t let anyone bring you down.”
The spring sports season started this month, so watch out for news about our girls’ soccer, softball, and track teams!