Historically, women have been pushed aside in the sports world. However, that’s drastically changed this year.
On the world stage, women’s soccer has picked up traction. Viewership of women’s matches has increased in Europe and the U.S. and the Women’s World Cup final drew record breaking numbers for the Spain vs. England matchup, with a combined 14.4 million viewers in the U.K., most ever in the country.
The US women’s team in particular has always been great and consistently outmatched their opponents as its four World Cup titles testify to, but a recent early outing in the femine World Cup showed backward progress for this dominant U.S. team.
They turned it around though winning the first ever Women’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, beating out Brazil 1-0 in the final held on Sunday, March 10th, 2024, which again being the first ever CONCACAF Gold Cup on the women’s side shows progress.
In the U.S., women’s collegiate basketball also saw unprecedented success, with players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese shining.
“I hate to say it, but the women players are kicking the men’s butts. You’ve got my Angel Reese. You’ve got all the girls from South Carolina. You’ve got JuJu Watkins, you’ve got Caitlin Clark.” Shaquille O’Neal said in a recent People interview.
O’Neal, former NBA player, has been an avid supporter of Reese and has attended multiple games in which she played.
Clark made her WNBA debut Tuesday, and the game drew an average of 2.1 million viewers on ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+, making it the most watched WNBA game in more than 20 years.
March Madness has been a great showcase for these young women athletes.
At MAST Academy, there has also been great efforts in girls’ sports.
MAST’s girls’ soccer team accomplished a lot during their season and made it to the quarterfinals of the Girls’ Soccer Championship.
MAST even started a girls’ beach volleyball team this year.
“I have seen change while I’ve been here, I joined the girl’s beach volleyball team which when I was in middle school didn’t exist … and it’s been a lot of fun.” Gabriel Duque said of being a player on the MAST girl’s beach volleyball team.
