Skip To Content

    What It Was Like Playing Sports In High School As A Girl

    You may have had a losing record, but at least your socks were tie-dyed!

    First of all, if you forgot to pack a sports bra, your day was literally ruined.

    Sometimes you wore your practice clothes to school so you wouldn't have to change later.

    You often had to tell your friends, "Sorry, can't go to the mall after school. Got practice."

    This got passed around the locker room like a black-market drug.

    You wore prewrap on your head more than anywhere else on your body.

    You hair was 100% part of your uniform.

    You might've tried to use cramps to get out of practice with a male coach, but with a female coach...

    Boob sweat. It happened.

    You had actual concerns about what your uniform was going to do to your tan lines.

    You dealt with a lot of ignorant commentary like, "All [insert sport here] players are lesbians."

    You knew there'd be serious ramifications if you didn't wear your bow/tie-dyed socks/lucky eyeblack on important game days.

    You couldn't forget the words to cheers even if you tried.

    View this video on YouTube

    youtube.com

    "HEY, PITCHER! LOOK AT ME. I'M A MONKEY IN A TREE — AH-WOO-AH-AH-AH."

    You knew girls who matched their nails to their jersey.

    You were never sure about the vague sexism that came along with being called the "lady" version of your team name.

    Or the less vague sexism of having to wear a skirt as part of your uniform.

    Pink sporting equipment ignited heated debates amongst your teammates.

    You sometimes resented the boys for getting a lot more recognition for working equally as hard as you...

    ...but at least they were good eye candy.

    BUT using equipment/facilities after the boys was seriously nauseating.

    You can think of more than one loss you suffered because two of your teammates were silently fighting.

    After a hard loss, you could expect sports-themed baked goods.

    Team sleepovers were for bonding.

    You were in the best shape of your life...

    ...yet you spent all of your free time snacking.

    You felt really cool when you got to leave school early for the State Tournament.

    You were oddly proud of your scrapes, scars, and bruises.

    There were definitely some tears on Senior Day.

    Because at the end of the day, your teammates were your sisters.