BLAM! POP! SHIMMER! FADE

The Atlanta Beat Game on Sunday, August 10, 2003 was fan appreciation night and Atlanta Beat’s spectators were treated to a post-game fireworks display that left some WON members—whose names shall go unmentioned here—cowering in the upper deck behind outstretched hands. The fans watched on as fiery pyrotechnical bursts were launched from positions on the field that seemed almost as if they were meant to be shot into the stands themselves.

The WON sponsored outing to the Atlanta professional women’s soccer team’s last regular season championship game against the NY Power was superbly organized by Cara Emery with a showing of 16 strong.

Although the Beat’s performance bristled with brilliance like the fireworks themselves as Atlanta struck first, in the 13th minute, when Charmaine Hooper calmly volleyed the ball over the head of the New York Power goalkeeper to give Atlanta an early 1-0 lead, the game’s resulting 1-1 tie came up just shy in the Beat’s bid for the regular-season title. However, the tie game did not prevent the Beat from advancing to the playoffs and a crack at the 3rd Founder’s Cup, the Super Bowl of women’s soccer.

Women’s soccer has virtually erupted since it was introduced as a medal event at the 1996 Olympics, leading to a United States professional women’s league (WUSA) as well as a first ever Women’s World Cup tournament. During this era, other sister sports such as softball and basketball have exploded with national popularity resulting in the formation of other professional women’s sports leagues and nationwide television exposure. All of this has created a whole new generation of sports opportunities for women, as well as female sports heroes, such as Mia Hamm, that are tenacious, fierce, and savvy like their male counterparts.

While for years boys have boasted to be “like Mike”, girls now have their own set of sports heroes and can aspire to be “like Mia”. Perhaps the game touched the hearts the most of the many WON members who discussed earlier times. Women were offered few sports to play as children and even fewer sports were supported at the high school and college level. Several WON members, now known as “pioneer athletes”, shared stories from early times in women’s sports when they used inferior or hand-me-down equipment from boy’s teams, they played on boy’s teams because women’s teams didn’t exist, and they used men’s locker rooms because women’s locker rooms didn’t exist.

Now is the best time ever for women in sports. Come support the magic: WWW.THEATLANTABEAT.COM