1979, the Coe college gym in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We were playing pickup basketball on the main court. Shooting for teams. Winners would keep defending the court until another team won. A woman had walked into the gym, came right over and sank her shot to be #5 on our team.
“Dammit, the chick is on our team!” I heard one guy mutter to another behind me. I turned to them and said, “That is Molly Bolin. She plays professional basketball and leads the nation with 35 points a game. Just make sure she touches the ball every trip down the court and we will win all day.”
At first the didn’t believe me, ignored her a couple times down the court, but when she got the ball and hit two in a row, it was game on. Draining shot after shot we won easily. The next team put their best defender on her. No more shots over the top of an easy zone. Molly let her elbows fly (hard to complain when a girl was schooling you). She slashed to the basket again and again, layups and dishing off. Then cutting back out for easy jump shots. We won game after game that day.
It was fun to win. It was fun to watch her play. She was good, not just “for a girl”, she was good. Maybe she was a pioneer for women’s sports. I didn’t see it. I just saw another person who loved playing basketball.
Years later I told that story to my young daughters. I wonder if they remember now as adults? My older daughter earned her black belt in American karate at age 9.I don’t think anyone ever told her she kicked like a girl.
My younger daughter played “boys” tackle football when she was in sixth grade. She was fast, not just for a girl, but fast. She played wide receiver, safety, and kick returner. And she could take a hit… and pop right back up. When she was 14, she started varsity at 2nd base on her high school softball team.
I still see these well meaning articles and comments on social media amazed that a woman can throw hard, Talk about people saying “throw like a girl, run like a girl, hit like a girl.”
I haven’t personally heard someone say that since the 70’s. It is time for well meaning people to retire the whole “look at the amazing girl/woman” thing. Disparaging women may be a thing somewhere, but not in the mainstream in the USA. It is 2019. Females have been playing and excelling in sports for decades. Succeeding in business. Succeeding in life. It is not a side show carnival act. Stop being surprised. You are damn lucky to have “the chick on your team”.