I’ve got a daughter who is a collegiate athlete. I’m not sharing that to brag (but I am a proud mom!) but to indicate that I have been to no less that a 30 bazillion games of hers. I have been to many high school soccer games where the only people there to watch share the same DNA as one of the girls on the field. There are no cheerleaders and MAYBE one high school administrator there to support (read: required attendance). At some games, the representation of the student body only came by way of a boyfriend, a best friend or the newspaper/yearbook student required to cover the event. I’m not saying that ALL girls’ games are like that because we’ve had some wonderful friends and neighbors come to support our daughter over the years.

You go to a boys’ athletic event and it is a completely different scene. There are cheerleaders, the high school mascot, and it’s standing room only. The world revolves around mens’ sports if you watch any sort of television. Research states that only 4% of sports media coverage in the U.S. is dedicated to women’s sport. WTAF?

Sure, the speed of play, dunking, smack talking and overall physicality is more on display at boys’/men’s sports a lot of the time so there is a certain “entertainment” factor with all of that. However, I think the tide turned when the U.S. Women’s National soccer team began kicking ass around the world while the men looked like a bunch of whiney toddlers. If I had to watch one more player flop to the ground and have to be carried off only to run back on after wasting the appropriate amount of time, I was going to freak the freak out. So rather than suffer through another game, I stopped watching. The women got their due and became huge events with tickets going for a premium. Why? They played HARD—full of passion, camaraderie, and a combined intensity that helped them dominate.

By giving these women athletes the highly visible television coverage they did, my little girl began dreaming of a bigger for herself. They were role models but if they hadn’t been given so much television coverage, my daughter wouldn’t have been able to envision herself playing on a bigger field. Our girls are chasing their dreams, too. They need to see their role models in action.

What if we showed the same passion, support and recognition for girls’ sports as we do the boys’? I guarantee we would see girls become more confident women, more women leaders and a better world. We already saw a taste of it with the USWNT but we need more.

That’s why I love that on International Women’s Day (March 8), Adidas did something about it. They announced they are starting a continuing their She Breaks Barriers Initiative with Twitter and Intersport with their @3StripeLive coverage for girls’ high school sports.

Beginning in April 2019, their partnership with Twitter and Intersport will feature women’s high school teams from across the country and will continue throughout the year. All six games in the @3StripeLive series will be streamed globally on Twitter and be produced by Intersport.

This is HUGE! I hope you check out their social media and give them a follow. Share it with your daughters, nieces, grandchildren, friends, and neighbors. But perhaps more importantly, share it with the boys, fathers, brothers, uncles, sons, and grandsons in your life. We need ALL to get behind this initiative because it is the right thing to do for all. This isn’t a women’s initiative. This is an ALL OF US initiative.