The Place Many of Us Learned to Lead

Sport gave many of us our first taste of leadership.

By playing, we learned how to listen, when to speak up, and how to make decisions that affected more than just ourselves. It’s where we figured out how to show up for a team — even on the hard days.

For many of us, sport unlocked parts of ourselves we didn’t even know existed.

Confidence. Community. Opportunity.

Playing required us to walk into unfamiliar gyms and stadiums — sometimes welcomed, sometimes not. It meant competing, adjusting, losing, trying again. Over time, those experiences built something deeper than skill.

They built backbone.

Sport teaches you to trust that you deserve to be there — even when someone would rather see you go home packing. 

Sport showed us that we belonged in rooms we hadn’t entered yet.

That’s why National Girls & Women in Sports Day matters to us.

Not as a one-day acknowledgement—but a reminder.

The next generation is learning some of the most valuable life skills right now, on fields, courts, rinks, and sidelines across the country. And those lessons compound.

Our job is to make sure they’re seen.

That women’s sports and athletes are funded.

And that doors stay open—and open wider each year.

Today and always, we’re showing up for the women who are learning to lead by playing.

Join us at SHE’S GOT NEXT.