The Beginning of Athletchic

I am beginning this blog and my website (www.athletchic.com) to reach out to all of those female athletes, aka athletchics, out there.

To introduce myself, my name is Jessie, and I am a 26 year old, female, originally from Erie, PA, now living in Philadelphia, PA. I grew up in a very active family. My parents, God bless them, are runners. I remember growing up with family runs, trips to the track, and watching my parents finish the Boston Marathon. Not only were they runners but athletes. My mother grew up playing basketball, and my father, baseball. Eventually they both got into soccer. When I was very young, my parents were in charge of "Mini Booters", which was a soccer league for children in the Erie area. At 4 years old, my parents made a life changing decision to place their sweet, innocent, well-behaved, daughter in the Mini Booters soccer league. They did not know then how this would change my life and how grateful I am for that. Since the age of 4, I have not stopped playing soccer. From soccer I got into basketball, softball, volleyball, track and field, cross country, and even gymnastics. I would go from sport to sport, day to day. Eventually I settled with soccer, since it afforded me a scholarship to college.


But not only was I an athlete, I was fan of sports as well. My father is a huge sports fanatic. He is a loyal Red Sox and Eagles fan. I have witnessed him follow these teams through thick and thin. As Sox fans would say, I was, "Born into it," and that statement could not be more true. I feel like these teams are my teams. I follow them, love them, and support them, like any die hard fan. If it weren't for my dad, and being "born into" the family of Sox and Eagles fans, I do not know where my life would be like. What would I do every Sunday during the Fall and Winter? What would I go to ESPN.com everyday to read? What purpose would PTI, Around The Horn, Mike and Mike in the Morning, Sports Center, and sports radio serve?


Well after thinking about this, my life, sports, and competition, I have decided that I want to be much more involved. I need to be able to make a statement, I need to be heard, and I want other female athletes and fans to be heard as well. Being a female in athletics is tough though. No one ever comes to your games or takes you serious. You have to earn respect, and it takes FOREVER to do so. Constantly proving and re-proving yourself is hard. Everyone has ups-and-downs but when you are a female competing with males, in a male dominated field, your lows are noticed much more often than your highs. I grew up in a neighborhood full of males and never got the respect on the field, or court, or rink that I deserved, yet I was the only person in our neighborhood gang to go on to play a sport at the collegiate level. Odd since I was put down, picked last, and not respected, and why? Because of my gender! Although females are making an attempt to become more well known in sports, as we have the WNBA, the WPS (Women's Professional Soccer League), and more and more female broadcasters, athletics is still a male dominant field.

I believe that females should get more respect and more opportunity. I have played soccer my entire life and my knowledge of the game is greater than the major I received a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in. I am an expert of soccer, I have studied it longer and harder than anything else. I have lived soccer, experienced soccer, read soccer, and watched soccer. I have played with rec teams, competitive teams, coed teams, women's teams, men's teams, and college teams. So why do I have to sit back and watch men talk about soccer? Why do I have no say in my views and thoughts about players and teams?

Well I cannot be quiet any longer, and thanks to the Internet, I can express my thoughts on everything in the sports world here. And I want all of you to respond and let me know what you think. This is a learning experience and I really hope that it will be a good one. I am not the blogging type. I am an athlete and a tom-boy who wants to talk sports with all of you other female athletes and sports fans out there, and all of you male sports lovers who want to hear what a female thinks. So please let me know what you think, feel free to respond, and also feel free to e-mail me at Athletchic@gmail.com. Please also visit me at www.athletchic.com.