Representation for women’s sports in America has always been lackluster; the games are scheduled on inopportune days and receive less publicity than male-dominated sports. This discrepancy between girls’ and boys’ sports isn’t just an issue for the big league teams, but a problem at Liberty. However, this might be about to change.

For the first time in recent history at Liberty, Friday evenings weren’t just reserved for football. Before the smoke rolled in last Friday, the girl’s soccer team was scheduled to play under the Friday night lights before the big homecoming football game. This brought hope that their games would garner a larger crowd. 

“I think that’s a good way to get more publicity for the games, especially with them being at a more reasonable time,” science teacher and boys soccer coach Eric Warlick said.

Unfortunately, even before the smoke, this didn’t appear to be the fix soccer wanted it to be.

‘’We don’t hear anything about girls’ soccer, and it makes us feel like we don’t matter,’’ senior varsity soccer captain Lily Richardson said.

Scrolling through the Liberty High School Instagram page begins to show the cause of the issue. No announcements have been made about their games. This makes it very difficult for students to know when and how to attend the games.

The student turnout at girls’ soccer games is low, even for their varsity matches. This can be very demoralizing to see, especially as spring rolls around and the boy’s soccer team amasses a larger crowd.

Besides the one attempt to move girls’ soccer to a Friday when students would be at school for the Homecoming festivities anyway, the soccer game has received no major publicity. For every Friday football game, there is a spirit day that matches the theme of the football game. This can be seen in the official Liberty Instagram. On September 29th the account posted about remembering to wear neon to school and to the game that Friday to show “Patriot pride.”

As of the Sunday before the game, there had yet to be any announcements about the girl’s game. Despite posts about the spirit days, this prominent change received little to no publicity.

However, it is important to note that not all football games have posts dedicated to their themes and dates. Information about football spreads through word of mouth and seems to be well-known to the student body without additional posts or announcements. The community that surrounds football is what allows this news to travel, as the students are already well-versed in the customs of football. This is not the case for girls’ soccer.

“The guys’ sports are more well-known and upbeat. Everyone is aware that they are happening. The girls barely get any representation. It feels like we are never relevant,” soccer player Yasmin Peitl said.

To increase the representation of girls’ soccer, it is incredibly important to amplify their games so that the news of it can spread as it is at a disadvantage compared to more talked-about sports at Liberty. A true change requires a lot of effort, something that Liberty needs to do better with.

The student body is also crucial to change. While not an official Liberty account, @libertyhsbarstool is a popular student-followed sports page for Liberty. Since October 2021, there have been 13 posts highlighting girls’ sports and 60 posts about men’s sports posted to the Liberty Barstool Instagram account. This helps to outline the problem: women’s sports at Liberty are not only swept under the rug by the people in power at the school but also by the students themselves, whether intentionally or not. 

This issue also expands past girls’ soccer to other predominantly female sports. 

Liberty is not only a school but a community that strives to promote inclusivity and nurture a sense of belonging. As a whole, we can show our student-athletes support by showing up for all games. From golf to soccer we can make everyone at Liberty feel recognized and appreciated.