Abbey Hsu for the three!

 Back in January, my daughter, Maya, came home grumbling that a kid in her kindergarten class had told her that girls don’t play sports. Maya is not typically persuaded by people – anyone that has spent five minutes with her knows that she has a fiery personality. But she sort of shrugged and seemed to be accepting of it – all despite having seen her own mother play sports (and get an ACL sprain during Thanksgiving football); despite having spent all of the Winter Olympics rooting for the girls’ hockey, skating, skiing, and snowboarding teams; despite seeing our very own NetGirls Zambia program which aims to bring the sport of netball to rural Zambian girls; despite even playing ice hockey herself!

That same week, my son’s basketball coach happened to send an email suggesting families catch one of the local NYC college teams playing for a close-up experience. The Columbia Lions Women’s Basketball team in particular was having a great season. They had home games the next three weeks in a row so I found a free afternoon and got tickets to a game, thinking it would be a fun afternoon and might help our little situation with Maya. I had no idea what I was in for!

Not only did both kids become die-hard Columbia Lions Women’s team fans, I found myself quietly (and sometimes not quietly) rooting for its young stars. After watching #35 Abbey Hsu go 7 for 11 on the three-point line that game, everyone in our household shouts “Hsu for three” whenever they make a shot from far away on our little net at home. Whenever someone gets a rebound and drives the ball into the net right away, we call them #4 Kaitlyn Davis. When someone is super speedy on the court and drives the ball across the court, we say “there goes #5 Jaida Patrick”. An autographed poster of the whole team is the only poster hanging in the kids bedroom. We know the starting lineup by heart, we watch away games online, I find myself even watching the press conferences after the game when the kids aren’t even around! It’s been a joy to watch these young women inspiring our kids (and me) in all sorts of ways – and to learn about persistence, hard work, and overcoming a setback during every game.

I was exposed to so much basketball as a kid. I watched with my brother and cousins when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls became a legend. I forced my family to include me in their games and played countless hours of basketball on driveways. I even remember my brother teaching me how to make a layup in front of our home in Mississauga. When Toronto announced they would be getting an NBA team, I voted for the team name and went to the first game at the SkyDome. But even with all that interest, I never, ever watched any women play. It’s not just that there was no WNBA then or that college games were hard to find on cable TV. I’m embarrassed that it just wasn’t something that had even occurred to me to do. As I grew into adulthood, I lost interest in watching sports generally, preferring sometimes to play them instead. But watching the impact of this team on our family, I find myself wondering who I might have been if women’s sports teams were revered, funded, and supported as much as men’s teams were.

It’s led me to reflect on our own Impact Girls programs, with the goal of giving power back to rural Zambian girls to make their own decisions about their education, health, bodies, and lives. I’m so proud of the work our NetGirls Zambia program has done to provide an opportunity for growth through play and engagement in group sport. These programs truly have the power to change young women’s lives and their trajectory in our schools.

But if I’ve learned anything through this last few months with Maya – it’s that there’s still more work to be done. This Women’s History Month, I’ve been telling everyone to check out a local women’s sports team. Send me a pic if you do!