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.

As the world of women’s soccer approaches 2026, the last year may well be remembered for its dynasties.

Chelsea won a sixth straight WSL title, Euros champion England and Copa winner Brazil retained their continental crowns, and Gotham FC lifted a second NWSL trophy in three years.

The winds of change also began to blow in new directions, with Arsenal upsetting Barcelona to win the Champions League final, top NWSL talent departing the US for opportunities overseas, and Kansas City reminding everyone what happens when regular-season dominance meets playoff vulnerability.

Through it all the game continued to grow, with increasingly interesting results on both sides of the pond, as the ramp-up to the 2027 World Cup and a new slate of regional competitions coincide with an ever-shifting economic landscape

So instead of looking back, we’re keeping the spirit of progress alive by presenting five bold predictions for women’s soccer in 2026.

Sophia Wilson’s return: A top contender for 2026 NWSL MVP

News of USWNT Sophia Wilson’s impending return to the Portland Thorns gave NWSL fans a boost earlier this month, with the Triple Espresso forward signing a single-year extension with her original club team.

Expect Wilson to hit the ground running as she comes back from pregnancy. The 2022 NWSL MVP has been very consistent throughout her career, and she’ll be joined by other returning Thorns attackers to bolster her opportunities in front of goal.

Fellow extended Portland star Olivia Moultrie will be paramount to the 25-year-old’s MVP campaign, especially as Wilson looks to challenge two-time reigning MVP Temwa Chawinga.

Don’t bet against Wilson showing shades of Alex Morgan’s 2023 Golden Boot run. That's when the USWNT legend blew past expectations for what new mothers could achieve in their first season back on the pitch.

No repeat champs: Why the women's soccer guards are changing in 2026

Reigning WSL winner Chelsea’s repeat bid is already shaky, with Everton snapping their 34-game unbeaten streak earlier this month. And they’re preparing to enter the new year six points behind Manchester City in the league table.

Blues manager Sonia Bompastor has seemed to prefer a static roster rotation. Of course, she’s charged with managing players from two eras: ex-coach Emma Hayes’s success and the team’s modern iteration. If there was a time for a changing of the WSL guard, 2026 is the year.

Stateside, 2025 NWSL Shield winners Kansas City continue to navigate offseason changes. The Current will start 2026 under brand new leadership, after former head coach Vlatko Andonovski announced he’ll move to a Sporting Director role.

ESPN recently reported Kansas City’s plan to hire former MLS head coach Chris Armas in 2026. But without a formal announcement and the offseason clock ticking, the Current might run out of runway to set up a repeat bid.

2025 NWSL champion Gotham has both FIFA and Concacaf Champions Cup commitments this year, complicating their quest as they maneuver a jam-packed season. The club landed one major re-signing in Midge Purce, but forward Ella Stevens departed for expansion side Boston. Thus, the team is left relying on a title-winning core with an average age over 28.

Arsenal hasn’t looked too terribly far off their Champions League game yet. But the subsequent resurgence of Barcelona and OL Lyonnes could see the WSL on the outside looking in once the tournament reaches May's final.

Despite having a few worthy clubs — including strong newcomers Manchester United — the UK league’s chances of claiming another UWCL title appear overshadowed by mainland Europe’s renewed dominance.

Emma Hayes's USWNT: Expect major roster overhauls in 2026

USWNT coach Emma Hayes embraced change in 2025, giving 43 players their first national team cap this year — the most since 2001.

Though the approach came with some speed bumps. The US matching the single-year total loss record with three dropped matches.

Considering Hayes’s approach, it seems that the future of the USWNT has arrived much sooner than expected. And looking back, those losses actually made an emphatic argument for more lineup overhauls — not less.

The team’s November loss to Portugal showcased a veteran midfield trio in Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Heaps, and Sam Coffey. The lineup exposed the old guard’s weaknesses as the team looks to hold ground among the world’s elite.

Remember — Hayes made the call to leave Alex Morgan off the gold medal-winning 2024 Olympic roster. In doing so, she laid the groundwork for even bigger calls as the US gears up for a tough World Cup qualifying run in 2026.

The global talent war: NWSL salary cap faces European threats

The NWSL closes 2025 with flashy off-field headlines and waning on-field enthusiasm, as it attempts to grapple with a rash of overseas departures.

They’ve even gone so far as to institute a new “High Impact Player” rule allowing teams to exceed the salary cap for top talent. The move comes after rejecting the Washington Spirit’s blockbuster play for superstar striker Trinity Rodman.

Viewed as a half-measure to circumvent larger salary cap issues, the NWSL Players Association has come out against the newly approved mechanism.

The union is advocating for the league to raise the base salary cap across the board. This will help clubs keep up in an increasingly competitive global market without destroying parity.

Whether or not the two parties will reach a compromise remains to be seen. Meantime, it leaves NWSL fans to hope for a solution as wealthy European clubs continue to draw top free agents away from the US league.

Of course, money isn’t everything. Raising the salary cap won’t guarantee NWSL favorites remain Stateside, as another league’s pull features more than just a pay bump. Thoughugh should the NWSL figure things out in time, US clubs might bring in a few big names themselves.

Regardless, expect more players to test their abilities in new environments when the transfer window opens back up in January. And it's especially pressing considering the looming World Cup and its national team implications.

The 2026 Men’s World Cup will transform women’s soccer

International soccer’s largest event lands in the US next year, as the 2026 Men’s World Cup promises to reshape football fandom in this country and beyond.

The NWSL remains bullish on the tournament’s ability to convert soccer fans across gender lines. Though the competition itself is subsequently bound to have a serious and immediate impact on the women’s game.

The NWSL plans to pause for the duration of next summer’s World Cup. This is in part due to infrastructural strains, as the tournament takes over venues shared between men’s and women’s club teams. The USWNT’s World Cup qualifying campaign will also hit the breaks, rendering the team’s summer international windows largely meaningless.

And with Concacaf qualifiers kicking off immediately after the 2026 NWSL Championship, top players will have to balance commitments at the end of a long year.

No matter how the 2026 World Cup ends up influencing US soccer culture, it will inevitably present some challenges as the domestic women’s game pushes to be more than an afterthought alongside the sport’s biggest stage.

No. 3 South Carolina basketball suffered a blow this week, as top transfer Ta'Niya Latson exited the Gamecocks' 96-55 win over Providence with a lower leg injury on Sunday.

"She's smiling," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said of Latson immediately following the game, offering an optimistic injury update. "She got treatment all through the second half."

The star senior guard, who turned 22 years old last Friday, joined South Carolina after leading Division I in scoring with Florida State last season.

This year, Latson's 16.9 points per game trails only sophomore forward Joyce Edwards's 21.4-point average on the Gamecocks' scoresheet.

While the full extent to Latson's injury and her potential time off the court is still unknown, any absence exacerbates the team's injury woes, as South Carolina lost standout forward Chloe Kitts to a season-ending injury before the 2025/26 campaign tipped off — with the Gamecocks battling additional availability limits throughout their roster all month.

That said, with the recent returns of forward Madina Okot and guard Agot Makeer from concussion protocol, the Gamecock bench is significantly less sparse, with both returnees impacting Sunday's South Carolina victory with a double-double.

Even more, Staley's squad will see additional roster relief when 18-year-old French center Alicia Tournebize joins the team midseason.

How to watch South Carolina basketball this week

The No. 3 Gamecocks will open the new year by tipping off their SEC slate on Thursday, when South Carolina hosts unranked Alabama at 2 PM ET.

The clash with the Crimson Tide will air live on SEC+.

The world's tennis stars are preparing to open 2026 play in Australia this weekend, with top WTA and ATP leaders on Team USA gearing up to defend their United Cup title starting this Friday.

The two-time champion US enters as the No. 1 seed in the fourth edition of the hard-court tournament, bolstered by the return of world No. 3 Coco Gauff to lead Team USA's six-player United Cup contingent.

With each tournament bout consisting of one WTA singles match, one ATP singles clash, and one mixed-doubles competition, Gauff notably claimed a straight-sets victory over Polish phenom No. 2 Iga Świątek to secure the 2025 title for the US.

"I'm super excited," the 21-year-old star said prior to this year's United Cup. "I had such a good time in my first year playing with the team, and I'm looking forward to going back."

With the 2026 Australian Open beginning in less than two weeks, the United Cup pits 18 national teams against each other as players from both the women's and men's tours tune up for next year's Slams.

Fellow WTA Top-10 stars Świątek and Italy's No. 8 Jasmine Paolini will join Gauff on the 2026 United Cup court, while fan favorite No. 16 Naomi Osaka will feature for tournament debutant Japan.

Also battling for national pride will be two winners of last season's WTA awards, with 2025 Newcomer of the Year No. 18 Vicky Mboko joining Team Canada and 2025 Comeback Player of the Year No. 11 Belinda Bencic competing for Switzerland.

How to watch the 2026 United Cup

The 2026 United Cup runs January 2nd through 11th, with live coverage airing on the Tennis Channel.

The No. 3 Minnesota Frost are looking to skate up the PWHL table, as the reigning back-to-back champs hope to make up ground before the third-year league breaks for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Eight games into the 2025/26 season, the Boston Fleet top the PWHL standings with 19 points, trailed by the No. 2 Toronto Sceptres with 14, while the No. 4 Montréal Victoire sit one point behind the Frost with 11.

"Our league is good. Every game is going to be close," Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said last week. "It's just about getting better and keep accumulating points."

With the league's original six teams largely off to a hot start, there's only a few weeks left before players hang up their PWHL jerseys for February's Winter Games.

Teams outside the current playoff chase are also making a statement, as New York Sirens forward Casey O'Brien scored her first pro goals to power the sixth-place squad past the No. 5 Seattle Torrent 4-3 on Sunday — becoming the first rookie to record a hat trick in PWHL history in the process.

"We've been putting in a lot of work in practice and video, focusing on the little things," O'Brien said postgame. "Tonight felt like the payoff."

How to watch this week's PWHL action

The puck drops on the final 2025 PWHL matches on Tuesday, when the No. 3 Minnesota Frost visit the No. 2 Toronto Sceptres at 7 PM ET, airing live on Prime.

Closing out the year on Wednesday, the No. 6 New York Sirens will host the No. 7 Vancouver Goldeneyes at 1 PM ET, with live coverage airing on MSG Network.