Riley Hill,
West Chester, PA
For me, growing up I was just a little tom boy girl that loved to play sports and be outside. I realized at a young age that I was not a girly-girl and I cared a lot about sporty stuff. I started playing soccer when I was younger and then continued on to play Division 1 for college. Looking back on my childhood, the gender stereotypes have not gone away, they simply have changed. Back then, I was never thought to be great at a sport because I was a girl. In gym classes, the boys were always picked first. However, when I was a D1 athlete, I realized the gender discrimination was even worse. Men’s soccer created a much larger crowd and then earned much more money for funding compared to the women’s soccer team.
