The addition of professional women’s sports teams in the Bay Area has created positive representation for younger girls.

Over the past few years, the Bay Area has welcomed new women’s sports teams, including Bay FC, the Golden State Valkyries, Professional Women’s Hockey League San Jose and more. Art teacher Neta Ravid, a hockey coach and player, as well as an avid PWHL fan, believes these players can be role models for the next generation, as exposure to professional women’s leagues can inspire younger girls to see the possibility of an athletic career. 

“Being able to see people who look like you, whether that’s your skin color, your body type, your gender, and seeing them succeed in these roles lets you understand that it’s at the very least a possibility,” Ravid said.

Sophomore Sam McCord, who plays soccer and flag football, stated how seeing professional female athletes play helped her build confidence.

“[Its helped with] playing school sports and not being afraid to be watched by people in the audience, or having ideas where I feel like I can actually achieve it,” McCord said. 

As women’s leagues become more popular, the stereotypes surrounding women athletes have also become more positive. Ravid mentioned how it was unheard of to be a girl playing hockey when she was growing up.

“There was a very strong stigma that girls shouldn’t play rough sports like football and hockey,” Ravid said. “And so I wanted to play hockey as a teenager in high school, but between the stigma and my parents kind of believing that stigma because they didn’t know what hockey was, I wasn’t allowed to play hockey until I grew up.”

According to ESPN, the WNBA has seen a record-breaking number of viewers during the 2025 season, with 1.3 million over 25 games. Senior basketball player Audriana Aguilar finds the viewership of the WNBA to be inspiring.

“I’ve never seen so much support for women’s basketball, especially because at schools, it’s hard to get support,” Aguilar said. “But then seeing these professional players have stadiums sold out every game is so cool to me to see.”

McCord talks about the influence of more professional athletes and the impact it may have on the future of young girls.

“They are all so talented, and I think that watching the greats—the people that are the absolute best at it—I think that if anyone’s going to get you to do it, it’s gonna be the women,” McCord said.

Aguilar attests to the effect on younger girls as she noticed the increased attendance of kids at the Golden State Valkyries games.

“Representation is super important for young girls because at these games, I see so many little girls wearing different jerseys, and they’re so happy [to be] there,” Aguilar said.

As the popularity of up-and-coming female professional sports leagues increases, hopes of lessening stereotypes and emphasizing the equality of the genders continues.

“It’s important because it’s proving to people that not all sports have to be dominated by men, and that women can play sports and be good at them,” McCord said.

Images from Hydrapeak, Wikipedia and ESPN