For many years, female athletes have been shunned from the spotlight of male sports, only now becoming as watched as men’s sports do. However, women do not get as much recognition from the public view as male’s do, which is an issue that needs to be fixed, and is addressed by some students here at Ayala.
The Project Lady Bulldogs Club here at Ayala High School, which was created by juniors Katie Trinh and Amrita Sivanesan. This club advocates for better female sports representation for our bulldog female athletes, providing students service opportunities and work tasks to ensure all bulldogs find themselves with full stands at their games.
“The main goal of our club is to, obviously, acknowledge female athletes and to just give them the motivation they need to keep going despite any other obstacles that get through their minds,” Trinh said. “I think students should join this club because it gives great service hours and opportunities. The more of a community we build for boys and girls and female athletes, the better overall experience for all students.”
Both officers hope to build positivity towards female athletes throughout the school, hopefully changing the way people view them, compared to men’s sports.
“I have played sports for all of my life,” Sivanesan said. “When I played soccer I would see there was barely anyone in the stands. Compared to football games, if you go to one, you’ll see so many people in the stands but it’s not as much when compared to ours.”
Members of the club have numerous opportunities for service hours such as helping female student athletes get recognized by taking photos, attending games, and advocating for tryouts. Reaching towards female athletes here at Ayala, and making them proud of being a student-athlete is another goal that the Project Lady Bullog Club is striving towards this year.
“Last year we were a relatively new club,” Sivanesan said. “However, this year we are going to focus a lot more on fundraising for our school’s female athletes to provide them with the money they need for equipment, jerseys, and other materials.”
Whether or not you are a female athlete at Ayala, joining Project Lady Bulldogs is a great opportunity to support friends and classmates around the school who may need the support you can provide. Female student-athletes themselves also have the opportunity to join this club, and support their own teams, whether it be making posters for senior night, attending games to take pictures, or helping fund equipment they can utilize throughout the year.
“Some benefits of joining this club is that you just get a lot of support,” Trinh said. “When you support other sports, those sports will support you back and overall just have each other’s backs.”
Sivanesan adds that the support can always encourage our female athletes to keep persevering through difficulties since our female sports aren’t as supported as male sports, not just at Ayala, but at many other schools as well.
“It’s good to support women around the school because it’s nice for our athletes to know that they have people who support them around the school, which can overall create a positive mindset for not just athletes, but boys and girls as well,” Sivanesan said.
The Project Lady Bulldogs Club is a great opportunity for a learning experience on skills such as fundraising, making posters, and advocating for certain causes, specifically the recognition of our female athletes. Joining this club will help create a more positive environment here at Ayala for our women athletes, and joining the club will provide service hours and support for players across the school.
