Soon enough you’ll get tired of me going on and on about how soccer is the worlds greatest sport.  Too bad.  It is.  As a woman it gave me confidence, fostered both competition and cooperation, and taught me to see myself as part of an international athletic culture.  That says quite a bit considering I grew up on the Nebraska plains.

Nebraska was and is conservative, but is a far cry from the Islamist province in Kenya.  In Nebraska girls were not punished for refusing sex, nor was there an HIV epidemic to worry about, but there was an underlying cultural bias against female athleticism in general.  Or, I guess I should say, there was a preference that female athletes retain a sufficient amount of femininity lest their athleticism become code for something far more sinister, like lesbianism.  Whatever.  That is the topic of another post.  My point is that people are finally starting to understand the real benefit that athletics can bring to the lives of girls.  It is transformative on an individual and cultural level.  For all those corporate big-wigs who claim to back Title IX in this country– and I’m looking right at you Nike and Adidas– why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and sponsor a village team.  Who knows, you could held do something like lift a country out of poverty.