When asked to write a blog from a women's perspective, I thought, “Well my perspective isn't really the one all women have about soccer.” and that's okay! For me, my perspective on all this has been different and everyone's will be! What I can tell you is while FC Cincinnati has given me so much, my favorite scarf isn't from any FCC match. The scarf I will treasure most is from the USWNT match at Nippert.

I took the entire day off for that match. I helped set up the tifo at Nippert beforehand and seeing all the pomp and circumstance for women blew me away. This wasn't something where women were the sideshow, they were the main event. Usually, when walking around during an FC Cincinnati match, you usually see little boys running around in kits. At the USWNT match I saw more girls in those kits than I thought possible. To be cliché, those kids are the future of our national teams, which I hear the men's team has some rough spot it's going through. Those women who play for the US are fighters. They fight for equal playing conditions, equal pay, and equal exposure. The fight on and off the pitch to show what is it and what it isn't to be a woman. A woman's perspective on soccer usually is limited to the sideline reporters interviewing coaches at halftime.

My perspective on soccer is this: it is for everyone. Young, old, man, woman, nonbinary people, gay, straight, somewhere in-between, rich, poor, whatever political party, it is for you. Whether you understand the game, or don't really even know who Messi is, it is for you! That is what made me fall in love with The Pride. If they can have me, someone who still doesn't really understand how formations work, on their executive board, it is truly for everyone.



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Abbey Witzgall