The Houston Dash and the Utah Royals put on a show Tuesday morning in their opening Challenge Cup clash, scoring six goals between them in a back and forth contest that ended in a 3-3 draw.

Here’s a recap of how it went down:

34’: Diana Matheson puts the Royals on the board off an Amy Rodriguez cross
45+1’: Rachel Daly responds, leveling the game in first-half stoppage time
47’: Rachel Daly, AGAIN.
61’: Rachel Daly scores her third — but it’s disallowed for goalie interference. On a day where each team fill up the score sheet, it’s a goal which doesn’t count that ends up being the most talked about play.
67’: Even with Daly’s goal taken off the scoreboard, Shea Groom looks like she’s put it away for the Dash when she blasts one from distance into the net.
82’: That is, until Verónica Boquete decides she has something to say.
89’: Then, in the 89th minute, Tziarra King, the rookie out of NC State, heads in her first-ever NWSL score, completing the comeback and tying the game.

Next up: both teams play Saturday, July 4th.

Utah play Sky Blue FC at 12:30pm EST, and Houston takes on OL Reign at 10pm. You can stream both games on CBS All Access.

A member of the U.S. Volleyball and Beach Volleyball National team, Kathryn Plummer is the only player in history to have won FIVB World Championship medals in both beach and indoor. In 2019, Plummer was part of the US national team that won the Pan American Cup in Peru. An alum of Stanford University’s volleyball and beach volleyball teams, Plummer is a three-time NCAA champion and a recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award, which is annually given to the best American amateur athlete. Most recently, she played for the Italian professional volleyball team Saugella Team Monza. 

After graduating from Stanford shortly after winning your third NCAA championship title, you chose to join a professional volleyball team in Italy. What made you decide to play overseas?

For women’s volleyball, there’s not much opportunity to play professionally in the United States as of now. The Italian professional volleyball league is very competitive – I knew I would be surrounded by the best players in the world. I wanted that challenge.

Playing Italy was definitely a challenge. First of all, it’s a challenge in and of itself to be away from home: You’re in a whole different culture, people are speaking a different language. You’re being coached in a different language. Additionally, the process of transitioning from a collegiate athlete to a professional player is quite a process. From finding an agent to finally negotiating a contract there were various steps involved before I finally got to visit the team. Between the NCAA semifinal and the championship during my final season at Stanford, I squeezed meetings with four or five agents in my hotel room all while preparing for the national championship.

With all this said,  I’m glad I got to go to play overseas. I’m young, and I want to learn new things.

How was your season affected by the pandemic? What are your plans moving forward?

By the end of February, our games started to get postponed, and competing seemed no longer to be an option. At that point, pretty much all we could do was just practice, and I ultimately made the decision to return home in the United States. The league was officially canceled when I arrived back in the U.S.

Hopefully, I will be able to play next season, but with various international tournaments that were originally planned for this summer have been canceled much is up in the air.

Ok. So let’s backtrack a little bit to when you first started playing volleyball. Did you grow up playing both beach and indoor volleyball in high school?

Growing up, I was the “sporty” girl. I played basketball, soccer, softball – everything that you could imagine.

I grew up in Southern California, where men’s volleyball is a big part of the culture. My older brother played volleyball. I was the little sister that wanted to go to everything, all the practices, all the games. In a way, I was kind of forced into watching it. I decided to try it myself and first started playing volleyball when I was 10. I really loved it, and soon began to exclusively dedicate my time to the sport … Although I guess in high school, I was on the track and field team, but it was more of a hobby than anything else.

Were you really tall as a kid or did you hit a growth spurt later on?

Yeah, I was really tall. My parents are 6’8″ and 6’3″, and my brother is 6’7″. We’re a very tall family.

You were recruited by various universities. What made you ultimately decide to go to Stanford?

My recruiting process started pretty early – I got my first offer in the seventh grade. Academics and athletics are most important to me, and Stanford excelled in both.

But the thing that drew me in the most was that when I visited Stanford, I felt that I could be myself. Everyone at Stanford is kind of quirky, and weird – they all have their own little thing that makes them unique. At other schools, I felt like I was trying to put on this facade to fit in with their program, but at Stanford, everyone was different in their own ways – I felt like I could really thrive there.

Well you definitely did thrive over there! You started your Stanford athlete career by winning a national championship your freshman year. What was that experience like?

I’ve talked about this with my teammates from class many times –  it was kind of a blur. I think we were just immensely joyful.

The other championships that we won together throughout our Stanford experience felt different than our first. Our freshman year was one of just pure happiness because we were giddy freshmen that didn’t really know the gravity of what we had accomplished. We were following a lot of senior leadership.

What type of expectations did you set for yourselves following such a great first season?

As a team, we talked about trying to not listen to the expectations that other people were putting on us. The next three years, I think we pushed ourselves for a strong season because we knew that we could hold ourselves to high standards, as opposed to pushing ourselves to meet any sort of external pressure cast upon us.

In your second season at Stanford your team’s campaign to the finals was cut short after losing to Florida 3-2 in the NCAA semi-finals. What was that experience like?

Pretty much throughout my entire sophomore season, our team breezed through. We had a tough preseason – we did really well. We had a tough conference – we did really well.

I think by the NCAA championships, we let the expectations that were set upon us starting from our successful 2016 season creep in a little bit. We didn’t feel like we were just playing a volleyball game – we felt the pressure to follow up a championship win from the previous year.

We just weren’t a cohesive group. Both Florida and Stanford played good volleyball, but our competitor was more of a cohesive team than we were.

Following the season, we sat down and really tried to bring together our whole team. We sought to find ways to support every member of our team  – I thought this was really important and allowed us to have a lot of success the next two years.

You won three national championships during your time at Stanford. Is there one that is most memorable?

I definitely think my senior season was the most special. All of the seasons were really awesome, but senior year was most memorable because it was the last time I was in a Stanford uniform, the last where my parents watched me play in college and the last I was going to get to play together with my teammates. It was a very bittersweet, happy yet sad moment. My teammates and I were crying because we were happy that we won the championship, but also sad because we knew it was over. Our whole four years – and everything we built in those times was over.

Why do you think your class on the team has been so successful as a unit? 

We were best friends off the court too, which is nice, but that is by no means necessary to have a successful team. I think we embraced different leadership roles on our team. As for myself, I tried to lead by example – I tried to figure out how to score. Other people had different types of leadership styles: For example, Morgan Hentz was a leader that kept everyone accountable; She made sure that everyone was doing their job. Jenna Gray was the goofy one that lightened the mood when it was too tense. Audriana Fitzmorris was the very intellectual, analytical one. Everyone came together to form a very cohesive group. We worked really hard to figure out ways to support and communicate if people were struggling. There were many tough conversations in the process, but I think it came together at the end.

What was your academic experience like at Stanford? Stanford is a very academically competitive institution as it is athletically – was anything particularly challenging? 

I studied Human Biology. My sophomore year was tough, because I was taking the core classes for my major which was hard.

But after that, I really liked my courses,  because I could take the classes that were very applicable to my interests. I’m very interested in how the body works in exercise and sports. I took a bunch of anatomy and human performance classes, which was really cool. As an athlete, I started to understand my own body better at the biological and molecular level.

You also played on the Beach Volleyball team as a freshman and sophomore at Stanford. How did you balance playing two sports?

It was tough to play competitively for two seasons in one academic year, but it was also nice to be able to get a little breath of something fresh. It was really tough in the winter quarters, because I was practicing for both indoor and beach.

I eventually made the decision that I wanted to start my professional career in indoor and maybe transition to beach later on in my career, because beach is a lot more forgiving to your body when you’re older. So, following my sophomore year I solely focused on playing for the indoor team.

What are your future goals for the sport? 

Since I was little, it has been my dream to go to the Olympics. I’m going to be playing professionally at least until 2024. There’s a lot of things that will unfold up until that point, but I want to try to make the Olympic team. Then we’ll see what I want to do, but that’s way far away. There’s always a professional career in beach volleyball –  you can get paid for that, which is nice. I also just might have a normal job and work in an office. Who knows?

Ngozi Musa is a graduate of Harvard University, where she was an All-Ivy League sprinter for the Crimson’s track and field team. She is the founder of Aesthetics & Athletics, a platform and podcast designed to inspire and empower women in sports. We spoke with Musa about the importance of the current moment, why sports can be a platform for social change, and how she’s had to adjust her mindset since entering the professional world. 

How have recent events influenced your work, both professionally and personally?

We’re in the midst of a double pandemic. There’s COVID-19, obviously, but we’ve also been in a racial pandemic for over 400 years. Growing up, I put a lot of pressure on myself being a Black woman in an all-white neighborhood. I didn’t fully embrace my Blackness until I was 20 years old. I ran away from my Blackness because I felt like society told me I had to. Everyone has different Black experiences and you can’t blanket an entire group of people. So in terms of everything going on, I’ve had to take a step back.

Two weeks ago, I was supposed to upload a podcast episode on Friday right when everything with George Floyd happened. I had to pause and ask myself, “Okay, why am I doing this?” What value does this podcast add to this moment?” I had to ask myself, “How am I amplifying Black voices?” As a Black woman in sports, I lie at an intersection. I want to create a place in sports for Black women to feel empowered and inspired.

I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how to do that. Two weeks ago, we did a Zoom event where we had a group workout and then had a cultural conversation afterwards. It’s all about the conversation and bringing people together from diverse backgrounds. We have to be willing to meet people halfway — if we stay on our separate sides, we will just keep repeating history. So, I plan on continuing to use my work with Aesthetics & Athletics and with these podcasts to address the current climate.

Can you tell us about the No More Names campaign?

No More Names was started by Chris Egi, who was a Harvard basketball player. When Trayvon Martin was killed, he realized that was the reality for Black men in America and started No More Names in 2018. The idea is that there should be no more names, no more hashtags.

Chris realized that, as a student athlete, you have a platform — no matter how big or small your school is. So, he decided to get former and current student athletes together with No More Names. Now, we have over 2000 student athletes in the GroupMe and have built out onto Slack. No Mores Names, for student athletes, is a way for them to figure out how they can make an impact in their daily lives. It can be overwhelming to think about the whole world changing and how you can play a part in that change. But, if we can all start with our sphere of influence where we can add the most value, then we can continue to adapt and transform the world. Now, we’re talking about, you know, what does this look like in conferences? What does this look like in the NCAA?

Why do you think sports are such a powerful platform for change? 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said something to the effect of, “Sports are the only place where all races can come together and truly have meaningful dialogue.” I remember being on a club soccer team where I was one of three Black girls on an all-white team. But we didn’t even notice. In that moment, I didn’t even notice race because we were all playing the same sport, we all had the same goal, and we were all working together. In those spaces, I was able to connect with people I probably would have never connected with outside of sports.

We recently celebrated Juneteenth, as a country. You posted about your family history and about being a descendent of slaves. Can you tell us a little more about how your family background has influenced you? 

During my senior year, I took a class called Ancestry. I went into the class thinking it would just be a fun class, but it transformed my life. We talked a lot about slavery and the movements of the slave trade. I had known about my family’s ancestry before the course, but I remember one time in class I came to this deep realization that my ancestors were slaves. I knew it, but I was so disconnected from it. I realized that slavery is my history — it’s a part of me.

I started thinking, “Where do I go from here?” Yes, my ancestors walked through the gate to freedom, but we, in America, are still not free. There are still pain and scars and shackles from the slave trade that need to be released. Yes, Dr. King started the Civil Rights movement, but the Civil Rights movement didn’t begin and end with Dr. King. It’s still going.

I am not ashamed of being a Black woman. I am not ashamed to be a Christian. For me, personally, it’s all about having a hope in something greater than myself and having a hope in eternity where we are all equal. Maybe that won’t happen in this world, but we will make progress. We have to continue to fight.

What can people do right now to keep the conversations and progress going? 

A lot of people are asking that now. We see it being a social media moment, but how do we make it a social movement? We have to engage, reflect and act.

For me, one of the biggest things is reflecting — you have to reflect on your experience as a human being. What spaces and places are you in? What does it look like? I went to a predominantly all-white school. I’ve lived in a predominantly all-white neighborhood. I have had Black privilege a lot of my life. How am I helping people that look like me but might not have the same socioeconomic background as me?

And then, engaging. It is important that we engage in conversations, not only with Black people, but also with people who aren’t Black and who might have different perspectives than us. Civil discourse is important. I 100% agree that we should amplify Black voices, but I don’t think that means silencing people who disagree. If we silence people who disagree, we are never going to be able to reach across the aisle and reach an agreement.

It’s not about choosing sides or choosing parties, it’s about choosing people. It could be as simple as what are three actions items I am going to do this week to help the movement? It could be reading, it could be engaging in conversations, it could be listening, it could be donating. That’s how we sustain this movement.

You ran track for Harvard. What was it like being a successful athlete balancing your career with Ivy League academics? 

If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t like Harvard my first six months. I struggled mental health wise. I struggled being so far from home. I struggled making new friends. My coach was very hard pressed on academics. My athletic talent had always been praised and I always thought of myself as a perfectionist. To be in a situation where everyone is good at what they do and you are no longer the best at your sport or the best in academics, can be a big transition.

I had to develop a growth mindset and realize that it’s all a process. I had to change my mindset from perfectionism to progression. And that’s a big thing at Harvard — having a transformative mindset. I had to learn that I was going to make mistakes, but that’s how I was going to learn and grow. Overtime, I started to enjoy the experience more because I had a new mindset.

Is that mindset something that you have carried with you? 

You would think that as a student athlete, you carry that mindset throughout college and then it automatically applies to the real world. After I graduated though, I went to work for a company in New York and I struggled a lot with this idea of being perfect again. I think you constantly have to reevaluate your fixed and growth mindset — you always need to be learning and editing and trying to reach that growth mindset.

After moving to New York, you started Aesthetics & Athletics. What was your inspiration? What are your hopes for the platform? 

I think I was always meant to be an entrepreneur. Realizing that I needed to pivot was the hardest part. I ended up moving back home to Seattle a month before COVID hit. When I got home, I had to think about what I wanted to do. What is my identity? What are my hobbies? I did track for 13 years. That was all I did. I had to transform my mindset and realize that I can be an athlete at any stage in life.

I realized that the two things that most informed my life were female empowerment and athletics. Aesthetics & Athletics started out of those two concepts. I want to inspire and empower the athlete in every woman. From my experience as a student athlete, I saw the gap in resources for mental health, for body image, for nutrition. I don’t want a girl to go through the same thing that I went through. I want to change that loop and ensure that we are supporting people so that they can be their best selves.

Would you like to add anything else?

The importance of this movement is overwhelming. I think it’s important for people to understand that as much as this moment is overwhelming, people have been living these experiences for years — their whole lives have been overwhelming.

Also, in order to enact real change, we need to take steps to meet people where they are at. People are upset, people are uncomfortable. We have to be able to engage and meet people where they are at and have grace. That is something I’ve even learned in the last couple of weeks. At first I was upset because some of my friends weren’t posting anything. But you have to give people grace to process things on their own time. At the same time, though, just because you give grace, doesn’t mean you can’t hold people accountable.

As we approach the anniversary of the USWNT’s historic journey through France to capture their 4th World Cup, I can’t help but think back to one of the most euphoric moments leading up to the tournament, which ultimately foreshadowed what was to come.

I’m talking about the USWNT vs. Mexico send-off match, the final game the national team would play on home soil before heading across the Atlantic.

It was ridiculously hot at Red Bull Arena. I showed up two hours before kickoff and was greeted with packed parking lots and a nice long walk to the stadium. It was at that very moment, as I strolled past one of the most decorated tailgate scenes I had ever seen, that I knew we were all about to witness history.

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26,322 fans came to this World Cup Send-Off to shower this team with love and support in their last hurrah stateside.

The game itself was over before it even began. With the crowd rocking out, Tobin Heath got the party started in the 11th minute. What ensued afterward was just sheer dominance. Mallory Pugh chipped in a goal at the 76th minute and Christen Press added the cherry on top in the 88th. Mexico didn’t even get a shot on goal and was outshot 25–3 when it was all over.

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At the time, it was just pure bliss to be in this team’s presence. Everyone in that arena and watching from home knew that this squad was special… they just had no idea what would be in store over the next few weeks as they continued their dominance en route to their 4th star.

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If you’ve taken the time to read this essay and look through these pics, be sure to catch most of these incredible athletes, as well as the dozens of other amazing footballers in the NWSL, as they take part in the 2020 Challenge Cup beginning this weekend.

Details on how to watch: CBS All Access

On Saturday, two-time defending champion North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns FC will kick off the NWSL Challenge Cup, month-long tournament that will mark the return of professional team sports in America. All 23 games will be held in the Salt Lake City area.

Each team will play in four preliminary-round games that will conclude on July 13. From there, the eight clubs will be seeded according to their point total and advance to the knockout round. The single-elimination tournament will culminate in the July 26 final at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Every game is available to stream on CBS All Access, and both the final and this weekend’s opening tilt between the Courage and the Thorns will also be televised on CBS. Fans outside the US and Canada can watch the entire tournament on Twitch.

To get you ready for soccer’s long-awaited return, we’ve picked a player from each team to keep your eye on this tournament, listed in order of their team’s draw.

Chicago Red Stars – Yuki Nagasato

The Red Stars’ biggest test this tournament will be trying to piece together an offense without reigning league MVP Sam Kerr. Last year, with the help of Kerr’s 18 goals, the team finished second in the league in goals scored. Kerr, the league’s all-time leading scorer, helped carry the Red Stars all the way to the league championship, where they fell 4-0 to the Courage.

Replacing Kerr’s production will require a group effort. Expect Yuki Nagasato to lead the charge. A 2011 World Cup champion, Nagasato was the team leader in assists last season with eight, but will need to grow into an even bigger scoring role for Chicago after totalling eight goals in 2019. Playing on the wing last season, Nagasato flourished, but her position for this tournament is more uncertain. Last year, Kerr was on the receiving end of seven of Nagasato’s eight regular season assists — Casey Short scored on the only other one. Nagasato went on to be an MVP finalist, but now the question is whether she will be able to maintain that form without playing next to Kerr.

This pass from Yu016Bki Nagasato to Sam Kerr is one of the best ones I've seen in recent times. Exquisite is an understatement.pic.twitter.com/n6sW3AQ3lY

— Adi (@AdityaQuadros) September 22, 2019

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Washington Spirit – Andi Sullivan

The Spirit have been in a bit of a rebuild over the last few seasons. After finishing near the bottom of the table in 2018, they retooled their roster with a bevy of young players and just narrowly missed out on the playoffs in 2019. And while Rose Lavelle’s brilliant World Cup made her a household name last summer, it’s her midfield partner Andi Sullivan who sits at the center of the Spirit’s young core.

Since winning the MAC Hermann Trophy and being drafted first overall, Sullivan has done everything and more that’s been asked of her by the Spirit. Her technical ability and poise on the ball is must-watch and her pass accuracy has been 84% over the last two seasons. After spending time with the national team in the spring before the shutdown, Sullivan will return to a much different situation given the youth of the Spirit. Sam Staab impressed as a rookie defender last year and should continue to shore up the backline in front of Aubredy Bledsoe, last season’s NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year. But in Salt Lake City, it will still be up to Sullivan to make the most of her recent living room training as she tries to lead the Spirit on a deep tournament run.

Houston Dash – Rachel Daly

The Dash had a difficult 2019 campaign, finishing seventh in the league, but a bright spot for the club was the play of Rachel Daly. When she was on the pitch, the team’s goal differential was -9, much better than the team’s overall -15, and the best of any player with more than 1,000 minutes. Daly’s five goals tied for the team-high with the since-departed Sofia Huerta. Even these numbers were a slight downtick for Daly, who in 2018 was named team MVP after pacing the club with 10 goals. If the English striker can recapture that form, the Dash will be a formidable threat to make a run in the knockout run.

Utah Royals – Amy Rodriguez

The news that the entire Challenge Cup would be held in Utah was welcome news for a team that netted ten more points at home (22) than on the road (12) last season. With USWNT forward Christen Press sitting out the tournament, the Royals will once again turn to Amy Rodriguez for goal scoring production. After 132 national team caps — with the last coming on September 3, 2018 against Chile — including a World Cup championship and 2 Olympic gold medals, Rodriguez was left off the USWNT World Cup roster for France last summer. This allowed Rodriguez to start all 24 games for the Royals last season. She took advantage of the spotlight, scoring a team-high nine goals. Each goal came in a separate match, two were game winners, and two were voted the league’s Goal of the Week.

Rodriguez’s brilliance was on full display against Sky Blue, blasting home a long-distance strike which went on to be nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award and was selected by her fellow teammates as the Utah Royals FC Goal of the Year.

North Carolina Courage – Lynn Williams

The two-time defending champs remain loaded from top to bottom. Even with a sizable portion of the roster away on national team duty last year, they rolled through the regular season and playoffs. A big reason for that was the play of Lynn Williams, who had 12 goals and six assists on the season. Crucially, Williams continued to perform even when the national team players returned.

No American woman scored more professional goals last year than Williams. No American woman has scored more pro goals the past two or three years combined than Williams, either. Williams herself was off to a hot start with the USWNT in 2019 under new coach Vlatko Andonovski before everything was shut down. Playing in seven games, and starting four, Williams three goals and added five assists. Now, she will have the opportunity to build on that momentum as the Courage seek to extend their remarkable run of success.

Sky Blue FC – Kailen Sheridan

Sky Blue will be playing without team leader Carli Lloyd (knee injury) as well as fellow national teamer Mallory Pugh (hip injury), who GM Alyse LaHue traded four draft picks to acquire in the offseason. Lloyd is a big loss on the offensive side, after accounting for eight of the team’s 20 goals last season.

The loss of those two scoring threats, in addition to the offensive struggles all of last season, will put more onus on the defense, led by goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan. Last season, Sheridan shared the league lead in total saves (86) and save percentage (77%). On top of that, Sheridan proved she has a knack for phenomenal saves when called upon, as evidenced by her three Save of the Week honors last year. Expect the Canadian’s excellent tactical skill and positional awareness to be on full display in Utah.

Portland Thorns – Sophia Smith

After last season’s playoff run ended in the semifinals, the Portland Thorns took the opportunity to perform some serious offseason retooling. The decision to hit the reset button surprised many, but the Thorns knew they needed to think big to have any hope of dethroning the Courage.

The Thorns’ many offseason moves included trading away second-leading scorer Midge Purce for Raquel Rodriguez, acquiring Becky Sauerbrunn, and swapping Emily Sonnett for the first pick in the 2020 draft. That pick turned into Sophia Smith, the Stanford standout who declared for the draft after only her sophomore year. Smith was the only player with remaining college eligibility to train with the USWNT in its January training camp, is one of the all-time leading scorers for the under-20 national team, and scored a hat trick in the semifinals of the College Cup. Though Smith will reportedly be on a minutes restriction due to a minor injury, her debut is still among the most hotly anticipated in recent memory. And with Tobin Heath sitting out the tournament, the Thorns will need Smith to provide a spark upfront whenever she steps on field.

OL Reign – Lauren Barnes

The new-look Reign will be led for the first time by coach Farid Benstiti, who will look to rely on veterans such as Lauren Barnes. Since the team’s inception in 2013, Barnes has been a stalwart at center back. Despite a rash of injuries and absences last season, Barnes was the key to a Reign backline that conceded the third-fewest goals in the league. She finished third in Defender of the Year voting, after having won the award in 2016.

Especially important in a tournament setting with minimal time for rest and recovery, Barnes played the full 90 in 24 appearances last season, missing just one match due to yellow card accumulation. She won 10 tackles last season and conceded only nine, won 72.2% of her tackles, and led the team by winning over 59% of her 113 attempted duels. While the Reign’s previous possession-based system may change with their new coach, last year Barnes led the team with 1,609 touches and 1,323 pass attempts, third-highest in the league. Anyone wanting to study positioning at the center back position ought to focus on Barnes, who seems to always be in the right spot.

Aleshia Ocasio is a professional softball player for Athletes Unlimited, a new, player-focused pro league coming to the Chicago metro area this August. A graduate of the University of Florida, Ocasio helped lead the Gators to the 2015 WCWS Championship. Below, she spoke with Just Women’s Sports about what it means to her to be a LGBTQ athlete, why she signed on with Athletes Unlimited, and the importance of using her platform to push for social change.

What does it mean to you to be openly part of the LGBTQ community in sports?

I think for anybody it is important to stay true to yourself, and understand that you are unique, and that what’s normal in other people’s eyes is not necessarily always the case. I feel like, more now than ever, people are normalizing being in the LGBTQ community because you look at history and you look at how it was taboo to even speak about being gay, lesbian, bisexual. So I’m openly bisexual and I’m proud to be in the community and to be playing a sport that is so open. There’s a lot of representation in the game of softball as far as LGBTQ. I’m happy to be part of a sport that is open arms.

Do you think that being an athlete helped give you the confidence to come out and to be true to yourself?

I don’t necessarily think so. I have a great support system. Before anybody knew, I told my parents, and that was it. They were so open. They were like, I love you. I don’t care who you love. And I think that gave me the confidence to kind of be more open to living in my own truth. When you have a support system that welcomes you with open arms and unconditional love, I think that lays the foundation for you being comfortable with who you are.

How do you think attitudes towards LGBTQ athletes have changed during your lifetime?

So I came out openly in college and I don’t necessarily remember anybody talking about being gay, being lesbian, as necessarily a bad thing. And I’ve known plenty of people that have been in the community growing up as well. It’s never been something that was frowned upon. I just feel like I found myself growing up and figuring out who I was and what I liked and what drives me. So I feel, like I said, in softball, there’s a wide community of LGBTQ athletes, and I’m just happy to be in a place that has open arms.

In a recent Athletes Unlimited video, you talked a lot about how there’s a wide representation of LGBTQ athletes in softball but how there’s also a lot of stereotypes. Can you speak to that? 

I think that growing up, you look at softball, you look at basketball, and you automatically think, well, they’re gay. Like that’s the stereotype, no matter what you look like or even if you are straight. Cool, but, you know, there’s always a stereotype there. Even in high school, I remember people coming up to me, “You play softball, so you must be gay.” And at that time, I wasn’t fully aware of who I was. So I’m like, you know, whatever. I never really fought against it. I was just like, “You know what? You think what you think.” I know that there is a wide representation of both straight and LGBTQ women in the sport. And I hope that people are open to understanding that not only in softball are there LGBTQ representations, but in every sport, whether you know it or you don’t.

I do see in the world that it’s becoming more accepted. As I grow older, I realize that. I feel like people are starting to understand that every sport, including softball, has large representations of both straight and LGBTQ athletes. So I don’t necessarily see the stereotyping as often as I used to. But like I said, in high school people would tell me I play softball, so I have to be gay.

How inclusive do you feel like softball is as a whole? What can it do to improve?

When I think of softball and inclusion, I automatically think how much equipment is needed in order to even play the game. So my head automatically goes to adolescent kids who don’t necessarily have the means to buy these loads of equipment. We have the opportunity to play it, but some lower income areas don’t necessarily have the funds in order to provide the equipment to play the game. I’ve had talks with multiple people throughout the past couple of weeks about diversity and inclusion. And I think it starts with our youth. I think we have to give them the opportunity to play these team sports that require so much equipment.

You look at softball and you see your one or two black players on a softball team. I hear people talk about it all the time, the tokens on the team. We have to be above average to be considered average on a team full of our white counterparts. We’re stereotyped in our own community. We’re on a team and we’re looked at as the fastest. And some of these stereotypes aren’t necessarily negative, because a lot of times we are the fastest, but we’re put into a bubble of what we have to be because of the color of our skin. You see that a lot. I saw that a lot. I’ve heard that a lot. I’ve dealt with it a lot. But as far as inclusion, to get more diversity in the game of softball, I think it starts with our youth and giving them the tools in order to be able to play in the lower income areas. We have to focus on equity. We have to infiltrate those communities with the equipment, so they know that it’s accessible.

Do you feel obligated as an athlete to use your platform to speak out about these issues?

I feel more than obligated. I feel like it’s a priority to be able to, and it’s a privilege to be able to use my voice, and I’m taking full advantage of it. Being a woman of color, being in the LGBTQ community, it is so important that I’m able to use my voice so that I can represent people who look like me and feel the way that I do. Having a platform as an athlete, it’s so important to be the voice for people who don’t necessarily have one, so they can know they have somebody to look up to.

And I have seen a lot of people speak up in the softball community. A lot of our white counterparts are reaching out and they’re educating themselves. I see a lot of talk on social media. I see a lot of forums and Zoom calls going on, but I just want to challenge everybody to remember that this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. And we’ve got to have stamina to be able to create change. But I think now more than ever, the timing matters… As far as this movement and then Pride month, I think that they’re both important. I feel that we’re both communities that are lacking. So I’m running with my BLM. I’m advocating for my LGBTQ community. Right now, I feel like my calling is to educate people and to allow them to see the systemic racism and the underlying, the overt and covert racism that plagues our community as much as COVID does, as much as anything else does and even more so.

I wanted to switch gears and talk a little bit about Athletes Unlimited. What are your thoughts about the league and what are you excited about?

I was really skeptical at first to sign my name on the dotted line just because of the dynamics of the league. We talk about team sports and, you know, we’re on a team for a season, for multiple games, and you look at Athletes Unlimited and we’re switching teams every week. So I was initially skeptical, but after talking with other players and hearing the investors speak about this, I feel like this is a good opportunity to change the game.

I really have high hopes for this league. I feel like it’s going to bring on more viewership as opposed to how the NPF has been the past couple of years. And two, we talk about equal pay. Your average person on the NPF was making, I think like five to ten thousand, and I think the base compensation for Athletes Unlimited is around ten. So you have so much room for bonuses and to earn extra money. And granted, we’re still not where we want to be because our MLB counterparts are making… well, they have no salary cap. We’re talking about just a tiny step in the right direction. But again, I really hope that this takes off. It’s going to be a little bit different, but I’m excited to see how it all pans out.

What has training looked like for you right now?

With quarantine, it’s been kind of tough to stay motivated. It’s been challenging. It’s easy to kind of lose yourself when everything is on lockdown. But I have a bunch of equipment at home. I have tees, nets, softballs. Anything you can imagine, I have. I’ve been setting my tee up and my net outside, getting some hits in. I’m actually going somewhere today to hit in the cage for probably the first time in months. But I’ve been doing what I need to do. I got my Apple watch and my activity logs on it. So I’m making sure I’m tracking my workouts.

I really think that this quarantine was a good time to kind of take a step back and think about the passions I have beyond softball. But I for sure have been working out and staying active. I think it’s really important to be able to stay in shape even if we’re not playing because it makes the transition back so much easier.

As a last question, if you don’t mind me asking, what are some of those passions that you have outside of softball?

I’m actually working on an apparel brand. I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be just women’s fitness gear, if you need sets and sports bras and stuff. I’m coming out with a couple of pieces. We’ll figure out when the date is. I would like it to launch it August 15th, on my birthday. But the way things are going with COVID, it’s a little bit slow. But I’m really excited about that. I even bought a sewing machine and everything.

Alana Cook plays as a defender for Paris Saint-Germain and has also appeared with the USWNT. The 23-year-old is currently on loan from PSG, after signing on to play with OL Reign in the upcoming NWSL Challenge Cup. We spoke to Cook about what went into that decision and how she’s feeling heading into the Cup. 

You’ve now been in camp with the Reign for a couple weeks. How is that going? 

It’s been going really well. I think one of the awesome things about Reign is they have quite a few established veterans who are, I think, very vital to the team culture, the team environment. And I think everyone kind of follows their lead, in terms of looking after each other, helping each other be better. I’m enjoying the time here, and I think I’ve learned a lot. I’m continuing to develop under another staff and the leaders here.

When did you first realize there was an opportunity to play for OL Reign and how did that come about? 

We kind of just had to monitor the situation as the pandemic evolved, to see what the French league was doing and if there was going to be a NWSL season. Almost as soon as this tournament was put together, we were able to put together some of the terms of the loan deal and get it worked out with both Reign and PSG. Speaking with Bill [Predmore, OL Reign owner], it was clear that this was a win-win. We’re both hoping I can contribute and help the team, and that playing with the team can help me continue to develop as well.

How long have you been back in the U.S.? 

I think the French season was officially canceled maybe in May. But we had been suspended since probably the first or second weekend of March. And once things started to get a bit crazy in France, when they started looking at doing a total shutdown, I decided it was best to just come home. So I’ve been home in the U.S. since I think March 12 or 13. Right when things started to really pick up in France with the pandemic.

After you got out, were you just training at home and waiting to see what would happen?

I think when they first suspended league play, they were very much taking it day by day, week by week. We were told to be ready to come back at any time to continue playing. So I was just at home in New Jersey, doing my best to kind of train, and if there were any fields open, try to go to those. Obviously, New Jersey was hit pretty badly with its proximity to New York. So most of the public parks and everything shut down, so then it was kind of just, how much fitness can I do in my backyard and in my basement?

How much were you able to do? I can’t imagine your basement had enough space for full on soccer workouts. 

It was a bit difficult. I mean, I used all the online resources I could to find workouts and all that kind of stuff. You know, you make it work, you do what you can.

How does PSG feel about you playing in this tournament? 

I think they’re happy for me to be able to continue training and continue developing. And hopefully if I get some game time I think that will only benefit me when I go back to playing with PSG.

After a few practices with OL Reign, are you seeing differences in the French game versus the American game? 

It’s kind of the stereotype we all kind of assume between the French game and the American game. I think here it’s a little more athletically based. There’s a lot more, I would say, focus on counter-attack and the transition game. Whereas I think over in France, maybe Europe in general, it’s a little more, I don’t know… not necessarily possession based, but I think you’re less looking to strike on the counter-attack. Less looking to use your athleticism and speed to get behind unbalanced defenses.

Having grown up in the U.S., something I’ve noticed is that I think we focus a little more on just the tactics. And I think we spend more time specifically nailing down every detail of a defensive scheme, how things work. And I think over in France, maybe it’s just a little more ingrained in how they grew up playing. They don’t necessarily focus on it as much in training. It’s more assumed that you understand the relationships between the positions and stuff like that, and I think it’s just assumed that you then can apply that to different formations and different tactics.

So I would say here we’ve spent more time just slowing things down. We’re in our spots, looking at what we’re doing. Whereas in France, if you get told we’re playing a 3-4-3 or 4-4-2, you’re kind of expected to just know how that functions.

Would you say you’re more comfortable in one style? 

I mean, I’ve played at lot of 4-3-3. At PSG, we played some 3-4-3, 3-5-2. So I think either way, I’ve gotten used to those formations and I feel comfortable. And I think a lot of my coaches have done a good job teaching me the relationships and how to apply them in any formation. With that said, I am a big fan of a 4-3-3.

How are you feeling heading into the tournament? What are your thoughts on going into the bubble?  

I feel good. I think we’ve been doing really well in training, and I think the coach has been happy with the progress we’ve made. Obviously, it’s not a long preseason. We had to put the pieces together as quickly as possible. But I think we have a really good chance of doing well in the tournament, so I think morale is pretty high over here.

In terms of the bubble, I think everyone is doing the best they can to keep all the players safe and make sure the proper environment is maintained so that we can just play. With that said, I think everyone’s a little uneasy about being so secluded. I think we’re all willing to try to make it work. But it will definitely be an experience. There may be some character building along the way.

Evann Smith is a goalkeeper for the UC Santa Barbara women’s soccer team. Following the police killing of George Floyd, Smith and a group of fellow athletes created a GoFundMe fundraiser in the hopes of raising $1,000 for Black Lives Matter. They ended up raising almost $80,000. Below, Smith spoke with Just Women’s Sports about her experience over the last few weeks, and how she’s working to create change in America. 

Can you walk me through these past few weeks and how things have developed for you? 

When I saw the video of George Floyd’s murder, I was really sad and angry. It was really hard to see that happen. And then I saw the protests. I felt frustrated and helpless because I couldn’t attend any big protest in Los Angeles because my parents thought it was dangerous. Then, I got a text in our team group chat that Lauren Moss and Hannah Wendelken had come up with the idea to run for Black Lives Matter. That idea morphed into ‘Athletes for Changes.’ Our initial goal was to raise $1,000. It blows my mind that we have $79,000 now. I feel blessed to be a part of it and blessed that the team was able to organize together.

Have your teammates and coaches been supportive throughout this process? 

Oh, yes. I feel like it’s a difficult conversation because we were raised to not be controversial. Before we started the fundraiser though, Hannah was texting in our group chat about how we should support BLM and how all of the white players on our team can be allies — how they should check their white privilege. I was astonished because I’ve never heard any of my teammates in my entire history of playing soccer ever say that. It made me feel so welcome and loved and supported. I’ve had conversations with the black girls on my team, and they feel just as supported as I do.

Our entire team is built on love and support. We have a black coach, named Goffin Boyoko, and he was so emotional about what we were doing — he said his wife was crying about it. He texted us saying how grateful he was and how much love he felt.

Why do you think it’s important to speak out? 

I think it’s important to speak out because if we don’t speak out and have these uncomfortable conversations, then nothing’s ever going to change. We need to have these conversations because Black lives do matter. It is insane how many Black people are being killed and not getting any justice. It’s been going on for over 200 years. We are the generation that can change things. We have the platforms to change things.

What do you think specifically needs to change? 

I think it needs to start with the education system. It’s important to accurately teach youth about systematic racism and how many struggles Black people have actually gone through — how many barriers have been implemented by the government.

We also need to educate ourselves about who we are voting for at the local level. Change starts at the local level. Everyone needs to go out and vote in November because this election is super important for our democracy. You need to be the change that you want to see. Now is not the time to be docile, to be silent.

Why do you think it is important for athletes, in particular, to speak out? 

Athletes are like heroes. People listen to athletes because athletes are like Captain America, but realistic. I do think that athletes should use their platforms because they do have opinions and people, especially fans, respect those opinions. The past few weeks have also made me realize that activism is not just about going to protests. You can use different avenues to support positive change. I think we chose athletics as our avenue because it’s what we knew best.

Can you talk me through the process of how you and your team started the fundraiser? 

As I said, Lauren had the idea that we should run and raise money for the Black Lives Matter movement. That was a stepping stone in the process. We then created ‘Athletes for Changes’ and, in the future, we are hoping to promote change throughout the athletic community. We are now in the works of making a website. We used athletics because it’s what we know best and because a lot of people can relate to it. People ask, “Wow, you’re about to run 8.46 miles. For what?” When we say that we are doing it for Black Lives Matter, they understand and want to get behind it. It really shows how far you can go to do something for a good cause.

How did you decide to donate all of the proceeds to the Black Lives Matter organization? 

Initially, we were going to donate to a couple of different organizations. There was a problem, though, because the NCAA doesn’t let you donate to organizations that aren’t 501C3s. And then there was a problem because GoFundMe doesn’t allow you to divy up the money — it all has to go to one beneficiary. After all of this, we chose Black Lives Matter because we felt like they were so strong on both a national and worldwide level. We thought that they were the strongest organization to get the money and do something with it.

Did UCSB help you in any way? 

It’s actually a crazy story. One day, after we had set everything up and created the GoFundMe, we got a text in the group chat saying, “What about compliance?” At that point, we had already raised about $2,000 and we realized that we hadn’t reached out to compliance, yet. We went and talked to our coach, Coach Paul Stumpf, and he got in contact with Sean Strauch and Kelly Barsky from UCSB immediately. The two of them were such a great help. They worked with the legal team at NCAA and figured out how we could make the fundraiser legitimate. I know when I got the email saying that everything worked out, I literally jumped for joy. I was crying the whole day.

Did you ever expect to raise as much money as you did? 

Not at all. When we were setting up the GoFundMe, we had to create a goal. My teammate Hannah said a hundred dollars. I said a thousand dollars. I felt like that was the limit. I thought that if we raised a thousand dollars, it would be amazing and we could give $330 to each organization that we were planning on donating to. But then, in the first six hours, we raised almost $3,000. It was awesome. We saw the potential in how many people appreciated college athletes stepping up and trying to make a difference. So then, I thought, let’s make this bigger. We went onto the national level and that’s when it went crazy.

How did it feel watching the donations numbers keep climbing and climbing? 

I remember it exactly. My brother came home on Sunday night and I was telling him how we were at $18,000 earlier in the day, but we had reached $25,000 at that point. It was insane. The day before we were only at $5,000. The next morning, I woke up and we were at $50,000. I just kept thinking, “There’s no way.” I would go to my phone and see all of these people tagging us on Instagram. It was so amazing. There were people in Nebraska tagging us and I remember thinking, “That is so awesome — that is the most random state ever.”

What was your reaction to seeing how many people participated in the workouts honoring George Floyd? 

I started crying. I was so overwhelmed by how many people were actually doing it. People were doing it in groups and they were expanding on the concept. I saw one athletic trainer who was doing 8.46 workouts and circuits. It was incredible to see people take our 8.46 mile run and put it in their own realm. It inspired me to do more and to keep pushing. We’re going to keep on moving forward and forward, until there is actual change in this country.

How do you hope the BLM movement will use your donations? 

Black Lives Matter does a couple of things: they focus on legislation, they do positive outreaches, and they spread the word. For me, personally, I want the money to go towards changing legislation. That way there is actual physical change — something concrete — that is happening. It’s great to keep protesting and spreading the message, but for there to be change, we need to enact concrete laws that stop all of the injustices and inequalities.

What’s next for ‘Athletes for Changes’? 

We are taking steps to become a nonprofit so that we can receive donations directly. I don’t know exactly what we will do with the donations yet because we have so many ideas. There are so many potential avenues that we can go down with this. I think the next step is trying to create change in our own communities — in the athletic and collegiate communities.

Do you have anything else you would like to add? 

I would just like to be clear that this is a team effort — it’s not just me. I would love to say that this was my idea because it is ingenious, but it wasn’t. Natasha and Darrian and Hannah have helped to make this bigger and more attainable for other people to join. I don’t want to take credit for it because it wasn’t just me.

Haylie McCleney has been a member of Team USA Softball since 2013. She was a four-time All-American at Alabama, where she ended her career as the program’s all-time leader in batting average (.447), on base percentage (.569), walks (199), and triples (16). She spoke to Just Women’s Sports about how she’s handling the Olympics’ postponement and what it means for the future of her sport.

Softball gets put back into the Olympics for the first time in years. And then Tokyo 2020 is pushed back. Walk me through that. 

It was definitely better that it was postponed instead of canceled. Those two terms carry very different weights. I do think that we have a lot of really smart people in this world that are going to make health a priority at the Olympics, not only for the athletes, but for the fans and families that hopefully get to attend. I would have been a little bit nervous if we would have continued to go on tour and continue to compete and try to make the Olympics happen in a time where we’re under a global pandemic. So there’s a little bit of gratitude there.

Obviously from a completely selfish standpoint, there was an initial period of disappointment because your entire life is built around this week in July. I mean, I was supposed to get married after the Olympics, and now I have no idea when that is going to happen. Other players were going to move or buy houses or maybe retire and pursue a career outside of softball. All those plans have come to a halt.

But I think the more we just accepted the fact that it was going to be delayed, there were a lot of really cool opportunities and stories that came out of it. Most other Olympic athletes are waiting four years in between Olympic games. For softball, it’s a little bit different. We’ve been waiting 12 years and now we’re going to wait 13. So I don’t think patience is lost on us at all as a sport. We’ve had to deal with the adversity of not knowing if or when we’re ever going to be in the Olympics.

There has been some talk that the sport will be included in the 2024 and 2028 Olympics, but there’s no guarantee. Does that make this time even more important for the team?

For us, it’s this Olympics or nothing because we don’t know what the future holds. Some of us still could be playing in 2028, but that’s if softball even gets back in. For us, it is critical that, for the survival of our sport, it needs to be in the Olympics. It needs to be talked about, it needs to be discussed. International softball needs to be covered not only in our country, but countries across the world. That’s why I think that we are so scared of the Olympics being canceled. Our one and only shot could be taken away from us. And obviously we understand that the priority is people’s health and safety and well-being. We do understand that. That doesn’t make it any less difficult to think that the Olympics could still be cancelled if things do not get better. We’re in a tough spot. For us, we might not be back, with or without next summer’s games. We don’t know.

Your team was one of the first to name its entire Olympic roster prior to the cancelation. And it has since been determined that the 2020 roster will remain intact for 2021. How do you feel about that decision?

We’re very happy with it. Very pleased with it. We had formed a bond as the Olympic roster, and softball is very culture driven and team driven. It’s not necessarily always about talent, but it’s about how a group of 18 can work together. And we were just starting to figure out that process when our tour was suspended. So I think it was the right decision by USA Softball. I think it was the right decision by the United States Olympic Committee to allow us to keep that same roster because we all earned the title of being an Olympian.

We’re meeting every week and talking with each other and continuing to build some of those relationships. Before the postponement it was six months to prepare for six games and I really liked our chances. Now you’re giving us 18 months as a unit saying, “Hey, this is our roster. This is what we’re sticking with. It’s up to you. Let’s get better. Let’s find a way to become closer. When we’re given our opportunity, let’s not waste it, let’s make the most of it and go for a gold medal.” I really like our chances.

There are a few players on the Olympic roster, including Bubba Nickles and Rachel Garcia, who will return to UCLA in 2021 to play out their final college season. Do you think that having some teammates miss training leading up to next summer will affect the team?

They took 2020 off already so I think you don’t want to take away from their college experience for two entire years. And I think having them play highly competitive college softball is going to help them and us in the long run. I don’t think it’s going to hurt them. They’re still going to be involved in our team meetings. They are just going to basically be training at a different location is how I’m looking at it. What’s good is that we did get to know them quite a bit. I mean Rachel has been on the team before. Dejah was on the team in ’19 and we have gotten to know Bubba while we were on tour and training so much together.

So I don’t think it’s going to be an issue whatsoever. We’re still trying to figure out as an organization what our tour even looks like. For us to be uncertain, it wasn’t really fair for them to sacrifice another year of missing out on a college softball season when we weren’t even sure what our training camps and schedule for training as a team is even going to be.

What happens now. Any talk about what training will be like leading up to 2021?

I’m still training completely on my own. So I’m at home. I’m not going to the gym. I’m not going to a park or anything like that. I’m trying my best to stay at home and still follow all of the guidelines. And I think the majority of the team is that way also. Some people are starting to get back into their facilities. I personally am not. I’m also in between houses right now. So it’s a little bit more complicated I think for me. But yeah, I mean, we’re used to this. We always train on our own. We’re usually on our own for nine months out of the year and then go compete for three months out of the year. So it’s not something that we are not used to. We are having team meetings every week, which I really, really enjoy. Just because it allows me to get to know my teammates a little bit more. We’re actually doing mini TED talk Tuesdays where one person on the team presents for 10 to 15 minutes on something that they’re passionate about outside of softball. It’s been cool to hear what people are interested in. But as things start to open back up, I think you’re going to start to see us kind of get back into that normalcy of what we’ve been used to for the past five, six, seven years of you’re on your own training, do what you need to do, be ready when your report date is. And I have all the confidence in the world that everyone on the team is doing their best to stay ready to compete at a high level still.

You are playing for the Scrap Yard Dawgs this summer. Can you talk to me a little bit about the league you are playing in and can you give updates on what the summer games look like given the pandemic? 

So with Scrap Yard and the Pride, we are basically going on a tour around two different travel ball events and we’re going to be competing against each other. The Scrap Yard and Pride are not a part of National Pro FastPitch. Scrap Yard and Pride are independent professional organizations. So that’s why they decided to come together and form the tour as all of these travel tournaments and things are starting to open back up. That’s the avenue that we took to be able to compete. And we’ve been assured that there are going to be plenty of safety measures in place, testing and sanitation, disinfecting, all of that fun stuff will be a priority when we play.

Jurnee Woodward is an All-SEC huddler for the Louisiana State University track and field team. During a protest following the killing of George Floyd, Woodward delivered a speech on the need for leadership and accountability, and shared that she had considered leaving the LSU track team after not hearing from her coaches in the wake of Floyd’s death. Below, she spoke with Just Women’s Sports to clarify a few points in her message and to share what led her to speak out in the first place. 

Talk to us about the events leading up to the protest. What motivated you to speak out?

Everything happened very quickly, but it feels like it’s been 15 years. Mr. Floyd’s horrible murder forced me to sit back and listen to other people’s stories. It made me become introspective and think about things that have been repressed from my childhood. After a few days, it was brought to my attention by several of my teammates on the women’s sprint team that our coach — Coach Shaver — had not reached out to us yet. I listened as my teammates, my sisters of color, talked about how hurt they were that our head man in charge had not said anything. I had seen people on social media say, “If you are afraid of losing your job, so you decided to stay quiet, then you are part of the problem.” I saw myself as contributing to part of the problem because I didn’t know how to approach any of this. If I go back to LSU and I still haven’t heard anything from Shaver, does that make me part of the problem?

Had you planned to deliver a speech at the protest? 

No, it wasn’t planned. When we went to the protest, I felt like I was marching with my brothers and sisters of different colors. It felt like we were standing together for something. It’s true, in unity there is strength. I felt amazing and empowered. When we were sitting outside of the Hayward Police Department, they had a bullhorn and people were coming up from the crowd, expanding upon their stories. By hearing their stories, I felt empowered, but I also realized I didn’t see people like me sharing their stories. I wasn’t seeing young women like me — I wasn’t seeing any athletes. I approached it like I approach a race: there is no turning back. You have to walk down to the starting line in front of everyone and you have to commit.

I knew that my story could touch someone out there and call them to action. I got up there and the words started flowing. I definitely felt the surge of support when I went up there and got that megaphone. I’m an introvert, so it was completely outside of my comfort zone.  I spoke out of emotion. It was very raw for me. I was extremely drained after.

In the speech, you talked about how painful it had been to not initially hear from coaches. You said that had led you to consider leaving the team. Can you talk about that? 

Yes. First, I just want to clear the air. I am still at LSU. I am returning for my senior year and I’m still going to continue to train and compete in women’s track and field.

When I hadn’t heard from my coach, I had decided that I was going to write an email to him about how I felt because I knew that the girls were upset that they hadn’t been reached out to by any of the coaching staff. Then I decided that I would rather pray, sleep on it, and come to a level headed decision the next morning. I prayed for the words to come to me, I prayed for a sign. Sure enough, the next morning, I woke up to a call from Coach Shaver. It didn’t matter what he said, all that mattered was the fact that he did reach out.

What was your reaction when you saw the video of your speech? 

I wasn’t even aware that my aunt had taken a video of me. I’m not going to lie, it was a little hard to rewatch a video that was so emotional and so raw. I like to think that I’m my own biggest critic, so I was picking apart my speech. It was all so fresh and I had never done something like that before.

Were you surprised by the reaction when you posted the video on your social media? 

All I wanted was to touch someone. I didn’t expect people to reach out after my speech, but they did. I realized that if I can touch these people in my own community, then maybe I can touch people in other communities as well who might be too afraid to speak up. That’s what led me to post the video. I knew when I posted it that not everyone was going to be happy. I didn’t know who I was going to receive support from and who I wasn’t. So far, the video does seem to resonate with a lot of people — in good ways and bad ways. I said all that I wanted to say in that moment, but now I feel like there needs to be some clarification.

What is it that you want to clarify?

I know I wasn’t the youngest in the crowd, so there are some choice curse words that I would retract from my statement. I also want to clarify that Coach Shaver is not a bad man. He is not a bad coach. He has shown me and a lot of other athletes love and support, especially with our mental health. And the timeline of events might have been screwed up in my speech, or maybe people weren’t listening, or maybe they held onto one part of what I said. If I could do that speech again, rehearsed, I would. To be clear, I do not regret one thing that I said. Would I say it differently? Yes. But do I regret what I said? Not at all.

What do you think that LSU, specifically, needs to do to take action moving forward? 

The thing is, right after I posted the speech on social media, Coach Shaver and our coaching staff were wonderful in quickly bringing the team together on a Zoom call and addressing it face-to-face. Maybe there was some sort of miscommunication on both ends. My call for action was not just targeted at LSU, but at everyone. People need to hold other people accountable, no matter what. We need coaches and athletes to work together in order to lift up those voices that are unheard. After I posted the video, Coach Shaver had a talk with everyone on the LSU track and field women’s sprint team that I believe was important to have. Those discussions that we need to have on our teams and with our staff are going to be hard, but it is what needs to be done.

My words were not in any way meant to be harmful to LSU, which has done so much for me. I’m thankful for the opportunities that they have given me that have helped me to become the person that I am today — the elite athlete that I am today.

What were your coach’s thoughts about the video and your speech? 

I can’t speak for him, but in the Zoom call meeting with our team he said that the video touched him and that it hurt him to hear some of those words. Those words created the conversation, though. When Coach Shaver first called me, before the protest, he told me, “I see you as one of the leaders on our team.” In my opinion, I am doing what he asks of me — not just on the team, but also in life.

How important do you think it is for athletes in particular to speak out? 

I think it is very powerful. It is one of the main reasons I decided to go up there and speak myself. There is definitely a level of fear of being turned away by one’s peers, by one’s teammates, by one’s coaches. In my mind, though, I am willing to give up everything for what I am and for what I believe in. I’m tired — a lot of people are tired and exhausted. But, I’m not going to stay silent. I believe in standing up for what I think is right. So do my fellow athletes at LSU, which is why we’ve now created the Black Student-Athlete Association (BSAA) to help tackle these topics at our college. Hopefully other collegiate athletes will follow suit.

I do not want this narrative to get pushed to the wayside when the fall semester begins. We set a precedent for the generations that come after us. We are leaders and it’s time that we start holding ourselves accountable.