'When I Play' | espnW | ESPN Stories

espnW's women-created and produced short film gives voice to every woman and girl who sees their movement as a movement. Click "Show More" for the powerful poem by Allison Glock.
To Whom It May Concern:
What I am doing here is not for you
Not for your judgment or your appraisal
Not for your assessment or your arousal
No boy I know has ever been told he shouldn't play
Couldn't play
I am no longer interested in shouldn'ts
Or couldn'ts
Or rules not written for me
I am not worried about getting too big or too strong
Or too fast
Or too full of myself
I do not agree that "playing like a man" is a compliment
What I am doing here is not
For You
Movement
Is a movement
My effort, my ambition, my desire
For me
For every woman, every girl
Who dares to see herself as something more
Than a body to be rated
A score to be kept
When I play, I keep my own score
When I play, I know who I am
When I play, I forget how it feels to be boxed in
To be boxed out
When I play, I feel no shame
When I play, I remember
How it feels To be free
This court
This field
This world
Too small to hold me
When I play I know I won't be undone
I won't be unsung
My humility
My humanity
My movement a movement
This is not the end of my dream
This Is where I
Wake Up
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[@lisabozza]

I really agree with you. Women's can play all sports that they want. They are not men's sport or women's sport. Really beautiful poem that we are studying at school

[@pavledrakulic9456]

LOL

[@and__lam1152]

Just can't sell tickets

[@nozzatron01gaming11]

a lot of boys have been told they “couldn’t play, shouldn’t play”

[@miam7452]

Getting made fun of for playing a sport is stupid. I got made fun of for playing basketball. People would always pick me and my friends last because we where girls and we would never get passed the ball. Girls should not have to be experiencing any of this.

[@yukio2904]

Same :'(

[@lockandloadlikehell]

I felt the same thing as one of the shortest kids I guess that was misogyny, too, huh And then I began my growth spurt and gained over 200 pounds mwahaha

[@relentless_athletics_]

THIS IS AWESOME and needs to have more views!!

[@elchefe7701]

I would encourage everybody to get up and exercise. It's healthy! But if this is about pro-athletes, "What I am doing here is not for you Not for your judgment or your appraisal" is just what most people think when it comes to women in sport. They don't watch it. Good to know that this is exactly what female athletes want.

[@tsifblak9028]

the sad thing is that women need a campain to learn something a boy learns by himself when he is 6 years old... i will never forget in my mid 30's told a girl friend i was going to meet up with friends to play a football (soccer) match, she kinda teased me "you like playing at this age"...... who knows in the next 10 years women might discover the wonderful world of gaming (which they constantly mock) open your closed eyes and brains girls

[@misharitter3342]

Wish I never stopped playing soccer. But when you're told that you not good eoungh to make the team and the only way to make it is to pay your way on by your own family for an few years but stop believing

[@Quasi13]

Just work harder

[@miam7452]

Quasi it’s a lot easier said than done.

[@brodyvaughn9504]

Plenty of men have been told they couldn't play (IT, pedroia, TB12). If that stops you from pursuing your dreams in sports, you are a weak willed person

[@Brettfavre44]

Couldn't put it any better.

[@Al3jandr0101]

You see, I think these women shown are strong and were raised to be strong willed. Just like any boy, a girl learns to be strong willed. I find it is a concept that has an obvious solution, but arriving at that solution is up to that person themselves. The concept is "What can I achieve?" The solution is "anything you put your mind to."

[@thegemscamp3400]

Can I use this as a citation in a lesson on girl sports in STEM that I am developing?

[@julianparra8065]

Wich is the Camera?

[@chloecourtnagetennis]

my teacher made me watch this

[@nozzatron01gaming11]

in our school the whole entire school was made to watch it

[@BenitoElDuce]

I have a young daughter, and as her father, im her biggest advocate. However, i feel like this video was written by someone who grew up in the 80s or 90s. From what i see today, my daughter can do what she wants. My wife makes more money than i do, and im lucky for it. Maybe it's time we stop playing the victim.

[@gusavila6797]

Background music?

[@jankakontosova8720]

So powerful and truth

[@leafart1817]

Nice

[@and__lam1152]

Fatherlessness

[@johnthebaptist9795]

I have a daughter and I think the world of her, but what I refuse to do is lie to her. If she wanted to play basketball I would give her the best coaching I could, but because her muscle mass is smaller then men it is going to be nearly Impossible to beat men in basketball.

[@valentinrochereau6926]

Trop bien

[@lonewanderer420]

Ain't nobody care

[@tonyperkis420]

What a joke