WNBA star Breanna Stewart: Women ‘know what it means to step up to the plate’

Back in 1972, only 54 years ago, it was way harder for women and girls to play sports. Resources were scarce, there weren’t the same legal protections as today, it was socially discouraged—and coaches even often found themselves transporting entire teams themselves in their own cars, mopping courts and floors after a match, and funding the purchasing of uniforms and sweats.  Before Title IX—the landmark legislation that ended sex-based discrimination in sports passed in 1972—girls and young women who wanted to go to college for athletics sometimes found they simply couldn’t. Maybe the admission requirements (which were different than they were for men) were too steep; perhaps the school they wanted to attend didn’t even have any women’s sports teams, let alone the sport they hoped to compete in. But today? It’s difficult to turn on the TV or open up a smartphone without seeing a powerful woman in sports: whether that’s an athlete who is at the top of her game, or an analyst who is