Women's sports are at a prime moment right now.
Considering my daughter is a budding athlete, I couldn't be happier.
Obviously, the current standard-bearer is Iowa sensation Caitlin Clark, who was recently selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft.
We must not forget the amazing efforts of contemporaries such as Angel Reese, Camila Cardoso, and JuJu Watkins, to name a few.
We must also remember the pioneers who came before them.
Perhaps the first women's sport to transcend the mainstream was women's tennis in the 1970s and 1980s.
Women's golf may also be in contention for rights.
Gymnastics happens all the time, but America only seems to care about it once every four years.
Speaking of America, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team started in 1999 when they won the World Cup and have continued to advance the women's sport in the 25 years since.
Now that basketball is moving further into the realm of women's sports, I wonder what the next big women's sport will be.
My candidates are:
Volleyball grows as a professional sport
The second team I covered as a student journalist was the University of Florida's women's volleyball team.
In 1999, he was in the top five for most of the year. The orchestration of volleyball at this level is nothing short of amazing. I had never seen anything like it.
Unfortunately, the women's volleyball world has never had a stable professional league to speak of.
Maybe now is their time.
In January, the new Professional Volleyball Federation will begin operations with seven teams, with three more expansion teams planned if all goes to plan.
In Florida, the Orlando Valkyries are one of the first teams. There's some work to do to catch up to the best team in the league, the Atlanta Vibe, but hey, it's a start.
Flag football backed by the NFL?
It wasn't that long ago that flag football became a powder puff game.
However, it is now a full-fledged sport that has spread to high schools across the country.
![Menendez quarterback Jesse defends Stanton's Laila Cromitty, 29, and Courtney Brown, 26, behind during the FHSAA Region 2-1A high school girls flag football first round playoffs on April 17, 2024. - Lott (9 years old) gains yards. [Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union]](https://www.tallahassee.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/04/18/NFTU/73365094007-041724-stanton-menendez-4.JPG?width=660&height=494&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Although it may take some time for it to become mainstream, it is an interesting sport that proves that female athletes can also acquire soccer skills.
I can already hear the cavemen saying, “If you want to be a soccer player, you have to tackle each other, otherwise it's not real soccer.”
Let’s unite, throw that attitude in the trash, and step into the 2020s so we can support these women.
Do you think I'm crazy? The NFL is also starting to get involved.
This summer, the NFL will introduce a new and elevated championship tournament format to celebrate the best of the best across the national and global youth flag football landscape, according to the NFL's website. The NFL FLAG Championship, the first-ever tournament hosted by the NFL, ESPN, RCX Sports and Omaha, will be held July 19th and 21st at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, bringing together the best teams. Youth flag talent for girls and boys.
Look, this is just the beginning.
Pro wrestling has experienced astronomical growth.
No, it's not pro wrestling. mattress ring.
But how many girls know the name “Fabulous Moolah”?
Times have changed a lot, but she was the champion of women's professional wrestling for nearly 30 years.
She was the most recognizable name in women's professional wrestling from the 1960s to the 1980s, but Chyna arrived on the scene in the mid-'90s and changed the way the world viewed women professional wrestlers.
It took another two decades for women's professional wrestling to develop into a respected art form, but women now have main event cards as regularly as men.
Professional wrestling and amateur wrestling may not be related, but the history of amateur wrestling is also similar.
There was a time when high school girls sometimes participated on boys' teams. In 1990, there were apparently only about 100 female wrestlers in Japan.
Women's wrestling is currently sanctioned in 45 states.
According to statistics from the National Federation of State High School Associations, there will be approximately 50,000 female wrestlers in the United States as of 2023.
I'm a journalist, so I'm not good at math, but going from 100 people to 50,000 people in 34 years seems pretty significant.
I think some of these girls aspire to become Olympic champions. Some, like Fabulous Moolah, may aspire to become pioneers.
Pickleball has a court
Pay attention to tennis. Pickleball is coming to take it all from you!
The sense of recreation is no longer just for village grandmas.
Pickleball has spread across the country, taking over tennis courts everywhere, and in many cases now has its own courts built.
There's also Major League Pickleball. That's right, MLP.
Not ready to get serious?
What if 1996 Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel had only recently been drafted into the league?
Do you think someone as competitive as a national champion would do something that isn't taken seriously? Then you should be, too.
Technically, I think this is the fastest growing sport for women and women and Male, but it's definitely worth mentioning.
It's strange to think that women were only given the right to vote 104 years ago. These days, not only can they vote, they can also dunk on you.
Walters is sports editor for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville and Florida Today in Melbourne. Please contact us at twalters@gannett.com.
