In honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, I wanted to share a little bit about what this day means. This day, powered by the Women’s Sports Foundation, is meant to celebrate girls and women in their contribution to all sports and to inspire more to get involved. NGWSD was founded in 1987 to unite organizations and athletes, and to bring attention to the efforts of girls and women in sports.

In 2020, I joined the team of The Only Colors with SB Nation – of course, our team has now moved here to Spartans Illustrated – as someone who was eager to put my thoughts about Michigan State athletics into words. When I was given the opportunity to cover my very first basketball game, I jumped at the chance. Aside from being starstruck by MSU men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo during the postgame press conference, something else I noticed was how out of place I felt. Since that day in 2020, I have gone on to cover many MSU basketball, football and hockey games, and that feeling of being somewhat of an outsider never completely went away.

After learning about NGWSD last year, I have reevaluated my feelings about not fitting in. Being able to be present in those rooms as a young woman is something I now view as my own personal glass ceiling busted open and something I hold as one of my proudest ongoing accomplishments. With that point of view in mind, I wanted to share some things from around Michigan State 's various athletics teams where female athletes and women with careers in sports are busting through their own glass ceilings.

Just recently, a few members of our Spartans Illustrated team had the opportunity to cover Michigan State gymnastics’ win at home over Michigan. Aside from a great win over a rival, this below tweet struck me as immensely important and is what inspired me to put all of these feelings into words.

The dedication of MSU gymnastics to stay after the win and the adoration and excitement in the faces of the young girls waiting in line to meet their heroes reminded me of someone else who used to wait in line to meet her inspirations. Here’s a quick throwback just to embarrass myself ever so slightly.

To take a step away from MSU’s female athletes for a moment, I wanted to highlight someone who inspired me during football season.

In the fall a piece was released about Paeton Hayes, an equipment manager on Michigan State football’s staff. While Kenneth Walker III was carrying MSU to victory after victory on the field in 2021, Hayes was working overtime and making a name for herself within a completely male-dominated position in college football. Her story as a young woman going after her dreams and shattering expectations behind the scenes is a perfect reminder about just what NGWSD is all about. Read the rest of Hayes story here, as written by Sam Sklar of the State News.

Going back into history a bit, I wanted to highlight the deep roots of women’s athletics at Michigan State. Female athletes at MSU paved the way for growth in the number and types of athletic opportunities for students and eventually filed a formal complaint with the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare resulting in increased funds for women’s athletics.

University Archives and Historical Collections at MSU have some fantastic images of these women paving their ways in athletics. View images from the 1920s and 1930s of women's field hockey, rifle teams, basketball and volleyball that transport you back to a time where women on Michigan State's campus were still fighting for their right to compete.

Find images of the Title IX era showing women's track and field and basketball, while discussing details about the funding disparities experienced by women's programs in the 1970s. Lastly take a look back into the "Green Splash," a women's swimming club created in 1927 to encourage more women to try out water sports. Take some time to look through these images, I found them to be powerful reminders of how much hard work has gone into ensuring that everyone has the right to compete.

Getting to be a part of highlighting girls and women in sports on this day and every day is an honor. The opportunity to share a bit about my own story along with the stories of other MSU athletes and professionals shattering their own ceilings has been a very reflective time that I am grateful for. Being a female voice within a profession dominated by men has been an exciting challenge and one that I hope inspires others to go after what they want, no matter how strong that feeling of being out of place may be at first.