Sports isn’t just a man’s world anymore.

Just about every sport has a women’s team nowadays, who put just as much blood, sweat and tears into their craft.

Freshman soccer player Jaci Sievers, 19, said she had a trainer that told her stories about not being allowed to play certain sports when she was growing up because she was a girl.

But Jaci’s experience has been a very different one, because sports have been her world her entire life.

“My parents were collegiate athletes and my sister was, so in my family, it is more expected than anything else,” she said.

More importantly, sports are an amazing way for women to build confidence, according to the female student-athletes of Eastern New Mexico University.

“I think that it is important for women to get into sports, so they can see how it can empower them,” said 21-year-old junior and volleyball player Desiray Anderson. “When I was growing up, my parents wouldn’t let me play sports. Sports are the reason I am in college. It really helped shape me into how to deal with situations more maturely on and off the court. Now as I head out into the working world and applying for a master’s, it has really helped prepare me.”

Sievers said she feels there can be some misconceptions at times about female athletes as well.
“I think a lot of times people think girls will play with more finesse … People see the more physical (female) athletes, and they say, ‘oh, they play like a guy.’ But it’s just a normal way to play a sport,” she said.

Fellow soccer player Mirka Zamarripa, 20, said yes, women can be more emotional but in sports, that’s an asset.

“I feel like that emotional part can help us sometimes,” she said, adding that their coach encourages them to get emotionally involved because it improves their playing.

“So I think it is getting to where it is encouraged to show your emotion as long as it’s coming out in a positive way.”

And the sports world is one that shows women can be successful on their own merit, added junior Jennifer Martinez, 20, who plays volleyball.

“It is a place where women can work hard for something and truly receive what they worked hard for,” she said. “For me, being able to get a volleyball scholarship, that showed me I can get what I work really hard for. If you can work hard for success here, you can do it again (anywhere).”