To quote Taylor Swift, ‘haters are gonna hate, but I’m gonna shake it off,’ and that’s exactly what female athletes and women’s sports have done — continued to grow despite doubters saying there wouldn’t be an audience for it. There’s been support and in large numbers.

On Aug. 30, 2023, Nebraska volleyball hosted Omaha on the university’s football field with a record attendance of 92,003 people. The crowd was the largest to watch a women’s sporting event in the United States — and the world. The previous world record was 91,648 fans for an UEFA Champions League match between Barcelona and Wolfsburg on April 22, 2022. 

College women’s basketball is also on the rise, as the 2023 national championship between Iowa and LSU averaged 9.9 million viewers with its peak at 12.6 million, per the New York Times. When UW-Madison played Iowa at the Kohl Center on Dec. 10, it was in front of a sold-out crowd. Even more, the 14,252 fans comprised the largest crowd the Badger women have had since 2006.

To open the new year, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) held its inaugural game between Toronto and New York. The game, which had a sell-out crowd, was also aired on three stations — CBC, Sportsnet and TSN — and reached 2.9 million viewers. 

Minnesota’s PWHL team hosted Montreal on Jan. 6, 2024 at the Xcel Energy Center, where a record 13,316 fans were in attendance, including the Crookston Pirate girls hockey team. I covered these girls when I was the Sports Editor for the Crookston Times. In fact, I got to traverse the Xcel Energy Center for Minnesota State Wrestling. To have that semi-local connection made me emotional. The girls I care deeply about got to watch some of their idols on the ice, knowing that one day, they too, could be in those skates. 

The growth of women’s sports hit even closer to home a couple days ago, as the Northern Woods League (NWL) announced it expanded to include softball. The league, which kicks off on June 15, includes four teams — Madison, WI; La Crosse WI; Mankato, MN; and Minot, ND. Madison’s team will play on the Mallards’ Duck Pond (Warner Park) with the installation of a turf infield, portable mound and movable outfield fence, per the NWL Jan. 4 press release. 

While I’m glad my favorite sport, at a top-tier level, is closer to home, I’m sad I can not play in the league. However, current collegiate players interested in playing can email 

madisonsoftballinfo@gmail.com. You can also become a host family by applying at https://northwoodsleague.com/madison-softball/host-families/. 

Even closer to home, though, is the growth of female wrestling. In March, I wrote an article about female wrestling and the five local girls that participated. This year, I’ve had the opportunity to watch them, and others that have joined the sport, in action.

One match stood out to me more than others, though. During Sugar River’s quad with Verona, Dodgeville and Brodhead-Juda, the Cardinals’ Alyssa Groebner faced Dodgeville’s Ava Lord in a critical spot.

Groebner, a first-year wrestler, looked to the far side of the mat often to get guidance from her coaches, Chris Hoesly and Gavin Baade. I happened to capture this moment in perhaps one of my favorite pictures. Hoesly, Baade and many teammates are collectively showing her the next move, enthusiastically standing with smiles on their faces.

Hoesly later told me, “With the kids getting behind her and the other young ones, it tells us as coaches that the little things are starting to pay off and the kids are buying in to the fact that it takes everyone to wrestle well on every night for us to do well in dual events.”

This moment — as miniscule as it seemed at the time — made me stop in my tracks and truly appreciate the local support for girls and women in sports. 

It would be easy for wrestling coaches to be hard on female wrestlers who don’t have immediate success in a new sport. It would be easy for male teammates to shun their female counterparts. Instead, local wrestling coaches are taking extra time out of their schedules to take one or two of their female wrestlers to separate, female-only invites for more experience. They are hiring female coaches to close the gap in communication. They are accommodating schedules to find female-only events. Teammates are welcoming and helping.

I want to personally thank these coaches and teammates, as well as families and fans that show up for girls’ and women’s sports. It’s the support at the smaller level that grows to the state level, which in turn grows to the national level.

I may not have had many opportunities to further my softball career, but the young girls growing up today do. They can watch their idols on TV, attend a game with a sold-out crowd or even go to their local high school to see what they are capable of. These recent movements in women’s sports makes them feel validated and seen.

— Natalie Dillon is the sports editor of the Monroe Times and can be reached at 608-324-3617 or ndillon@themonroetimes.com.