Being involved in sports from a young age has given me so many opportunities that others do not always have the chance to have. I have gone all over the country, been in numerous leadership positions, and met people from different parts of the world. I think my growth in leadership has been one of the biggest things that sports has done and continues to do for me. Standing up for the right thing even when its not popular or doing the hard thing when everyone else wants to take the easy route is something that athletes have to learn quickly to be a great leader. Living this out daily has allowed me to grow strong in my personal values. Advocating for gender equity means fighting for girls and women to have the same opportunities that boys and men have in the sport world. When I was a child we didn’t have girls lacrosse in my area and so the only option was to join the boys league. Lacrosse is a sport that is harder to get access to for some communities so part of me being a coach now is reaching out to the schools and community groups to give young girls the chance to learn a new sport and having my current college athletes help with it. This allows them to also help encourage and show the next generation of female athletes that they can do it.