Steph and Steff.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite athletes was German tennis superstar Steffi Graf. Along with track superstar Jackie Joyner-Kersee, I watched these women perform - or more accurately, read of their triumphs - at the top of their sports and was wowed by their prowess, ferocity, power, and grace, although I may not have articulated it as such at the time. I just saw that they were athletes who were really, really good, and they were really, really beautiful and graceful. Reading and watching them was one of the first cultural touchstones I remember for observing the differences between genders when it came to sports, and how in real life, how often it was that I’d hear derogatory remarks thrown out such as “…you throw like a girl,” or “don’t let a girl beat you,” and shit like that.

It jogged some neurons in my brain in a broader sense; jogged them in a way that took some years to coalesce and find articulation, but that helped give me a cultural baseline for the differences - not in a positive way - that girls and women were treated, particularly in the sports arena. Steffi and Jackie gave me an early public awareness that these women were powerful, amazingly athletic, ferocious, competitive, and not out to be diminutively compared to anyone. It was cool.

And now I have a tennis buddy that is kind of my own version of those women, and certainly no less an amazing person, although to be blunt she’s slower than Jackie in her prime and definitely lacks Steff’s backhand. But she is a worthwhile competitor, she talks smack and makes it fun, and sadly, tragically, horribly, she sometimes beats me.

So it goes.

Also, when I refer to tennis buddy, I should probably make it plural. If the photograph is any indication, the shifting rules we play by are ones that would likely give a line judge a coronary in three seconds flat.

We are athletes. And I am so proud to know women who inspire girls…

…and also inspire boys and men.

like me.
Respect.