I was never an activist or a driver for anything. I played squash because I transferred to Wesleyan and there was no fencing team. I believe I captained an intramural soccer team because no one else out of my motley all-male crew of artists, philosophers, poets, and musicians wanted to. We lost every game. I coached some girls' soccer a few years later but only because they couldn't find anyone else, although I will say with some pride that the team took the Salt Lake City's Round Robin tournament championship. One day I overheard two mothers talking and one said disbelievingly to the other "Your girls only play part of the time in practice and do drills the rest of the time?" I admit that was an eye-opener. It never occurred to me that a 12-year-old girls' team didn't do drills. No wonder we won. Also coached girls briefly in a Bible Belt southern town where girls, unlike boys, weren't obligated to keep the ball within the sidelines...
I dabbled in a sport depending on where I lived in the country. Squash in graduate school, crew on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, equestrian and softball in Chicago. Guys with 20 years of experience in a softball league voted me umpire even though I didn't know half of the rules because no one else would do it. These were grown men who didn't want to be yelled at by their friends and I was the only woman. However, I did successfully use male peer pressure to halt illegal beer drinking in the stands. Simply stop all play in the middle of the game and wait until the beer drinkers start to squirm and the players look at their feet. And let's face it - no male umpire would have refused to resume a baseball game until the fans threw their beer cans into the trash. And when I returned home for a year, I ended up coaching 5-year-olds. Have you ever coached 5-year-olds? The title of "Coach" is a misnomer. My coaching strategy was utterly demolished by the dominant inevitability of the Piagetian stages of brain development.
Most of my "leadership" experience was by default because one else wanted the job role. Apologies, but I never really knew anything about the Wes athletics department and didn't follow its progress after I graduated. And I know really nothing of the women's teams' evolution. And while I enjoy a wide variety of sports, I never really paid attention to whether females or males were playing. I just focused on the level of play.
So you see, I'm not the inspirational figure you need with depth or insight or commitment to a cause. I just wanted to play (or rather move) and never had the dedication to a sport that true athletes have. So I think you need to find someone else for your project.
And of course, the message to young women is always the same: Never ever take advice from someone who suggests that your goal is unrealistic regardless of their expertise or importance.
