After covering the 50th anniversary of Title IX for weeks, I have learned how far we have come before my time. In addition, I have seen, learned and experienced the challenges female athletes have faced in my generation.

After all, it is amazing to see how each generation of my own family and I have different views on Title IX. My father, who focused primarily on football, played from the mid-1970s until the 1980s.

At that time, nobody would have ever thought a girl could play football. The closest they would get to the field would be cheerleading on the 50-yard line at halftime. In addition, female sports just began to grow in his hometown of Yuba City, CA, about 45 minutes north of Sacramento.

However, a few decades later, the sports landscape changed drastically. Like Keith Peden said in the second story of the series, many female athletes were not recognized for their accolades. Yet, several years later, we can look back on history and admire what they accomplished.

For example, one of my female cousins, Sonya Joseph-Perez, played softball at Western Washington University in Bellingham. She was named Most Valuable Player after leading the Vikings to their first NAIA national title. Although she headlined a historic team, it is hard to find any news about her or the team until 2014, 16 years after they won the title.

Since then, female athletes have been inching closer to equality every year. In my years of playing football, I have seen girls provided nearly every chance as boys.

My first memory was of my youth football team when I was 8 years old. We had a girl who played tackle football with us, starting at tight end and linebacker. Although we did not hit that hard, she held her own, making plays on both sides of the ball.

After playing youth football, I switched to soccer from the ages of 10 to 13. Although I focused on my teams, we would scrimmage and practice with the girls at least once a week. At that time, we had the same jerseys, shin guards, cleats and practice facilities. Even though we would usually beat them, it was always a challenge.

Despite having the opportunity to run alongside us, I still noticed it was male-dominated. As some coaches said during this series, men still coach most sports teams. I noticed that when I played soccer and football. I never had a female coach until my senior year in high school.

As for the girl’s soccer teams, most would be coached by one of the girls’ fathers.

Heading into high school, I began to grasp Title IX and its impact on female athletes.

The football team would travel out of state for games while the girl’s soccer and basketball teams would only play local tournaments and league games. In addition, California sanctioned girls’ high school wrestling in 2011.

When I started wrestling in 2014, my team had one girl out of the 20 on the team. Also, there was a stigma if a boy lost to a girl wrestler. It led to a handful of boy wrestlers being afraid to wrestle girls because of potential embarrassment. However, it became more accepting by the time I graduated in 2018 when we had around seven females on the team.

As for my 22-year-old female cousins, Des’ree and Deja, they saw their high school careers from a different point of view. During this series, a couple of coaches discussed how girls’ sports in high schools are dying because the best players often choose select club sports.

When my cousins were in high school, they had up to three girls basketball teams. Now there is one, and the talent level has dropped tremendously. They do believe, however, that they were provided nearly any opportunity throughout their careers, which included basketball, softball and more.

Surprisingly, Title IX has continued to push the needle since my cousins and I graduated high school. My 12-year-old cousin, Kailana, has the ability to compete in sports camps, play multiple sports at once and compete in male-dominated sports. For example, the middle school coach has reached out to her about playing tackle football because of her size and talent. Plus, she has been able to travel throughout the West Coast, competing in some of the highest-tier soccer tournaments for her age.

When I watch her playing soccer and basketball, she is bigger, faster and stronger than the boys. Therefore, she has earned the respect of both boys and girls. So, when I see her dominating the boys, I can only imagine what the other women had to do just to prove they were good enough to play a sport.

However, if the trailblazers of Title IX can push the needle this far in 50 years, I believe my younger cousin’s generation will be on an equal playing field soon.