Women’s sports have continuously been an after-thought from the high school level to the pros. The most common criticisms are that women’s basketball, softball leagues, etc., are not as exciting as the male leagues.
Many say that the skill level is not the same and that the men are far better in every metric. Whether you want to watch them or not is not my concern. What does matter is that people give a fair evaluation to the female leagues and sports that are without a doubt on par in terms of highlights, skill set, and marketability.
There are three sports where this is undeniably the case. But before getting into the main three, powderpuff football deserves an honorable mention. While the marketing of the event is ostentatiously more spectacle than sport, those girls play for keeps.
The Big 3 in Women’s Sports
The three sports on my radar are volleyball, tennis, and MMA. The difference here is, these sports express the physicality of a woman. They display unsuppressed athleticism and include movements that complement female athletes’ use of force as well as the ability to impose their will.
#1 – College Volleyball
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Volleyball is dominated by women and is my personal favorite female team sport. Whenever you hear the sport mentioned, you think of women, as is demonstrated with the colloquial use of “men’s volleyball” in America.
Not to say male volleyball players don’t work hard. It’s just that nobody cares about them because we would rather watch men play other sports.
Volleyball Standouts
Lauren Chastang is a baller. Coaches cannot expect to recruit a better outside hitter. Chastang was the Gatorade State Player of the Year out of Bay Minette, Alabama. She earned this title after scoring 2,000 kills throughout her high school career.
Her success came as no surprise, considering she played at the varsity level since middle school. During her sophomore and junior years, she was crowned MVP of the State Championship game. Moreover, she is still the top playmaker at Kennesaw State with the best form, a powerful vertical, and a lot of strength for her frame.
Watching a player like Chastang or Yossiana Pressley draw back and crush the ball into the court to clinch a game-winner is satisfying, to say the least. Pressley especially is known for jumping out the gym.
The acrobatics involved in bumping the ball from low and awkward angles are much harder to pull off than they look. The libero is an especially scrappy player despite their small stature. Bodies hit the floor, and you realize they are all wearing knee pads for a reason.
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Setters are not physical, but there is a swagger about the position that the men do not have. Setting is the only soft part of the whole sport, and it requires a lot of soft directionality. There is nothing more traditionally feminine than that. Even watching them set their hands before hitting the ball looks graceful.
The Appeal
But what brings it all together for me is when a hitter like Chastang launches herself into the air to crush the ball like an absolute animal. It just all happens so fast. The hitters tend to be slender, and the hitting motion is not tight, so it doesn’t appear violent.
However, the speed at which the ball travels makes it apparent just how much power has been put into it. Occasionally we even are treated to that alpha stare players give each other when they start to pull away. It says, “You’re not on my level. I dominate”. You can never miss it; the players are facing each other the entire time.
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The ball is constantly being crushed, coddled, sent sailing, and stopped short, almost like life itself. There are ups and downs, and half the time you think a ball is dead, the girls recover it out of nowhere.
Despite volleyball being no contact, you still get an impression of the women’s physical prowess. It’s like seeing a dolphin launch itself up then thrash downward back into the water. You just know it must be powerful.
Just like the dolphins, the girls look so fast, graceful, and deadly. These are some of the most premier athletes in sports, and you could not ask for more within the world of women’s sports.
