Back The Team Celebrates National Women & Girls In Sports Day
Women’s sports are the moment.
The Olympic stage will once again belong to extraordinary women who compete with strength, grace, and grit. But beyond medals and podiums, they will model something even more powerful: possibility. If you can see her, you can be her.
As these athletes push the limits of what’s possible in 2026, they are also laying the foundation for 2030, 2034, 2038, and every Games to come. The girls watching today are the Olympians of tomorrow.
This National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we celebrate the women who dared to dream, the women who paved the way, and the next generation who will carry that legacy forward.
Dream Over Doubt
Before the dream of going to the Olympics ever existed for Emilea Zingas, she remembers that the sport helped cultivate her own Olympic dream, which she said formed around age five or six. “People told me, ‘You will never be successful as an ice dancer,” Zingas admitted. “And I said, you know what? You can say that, but I’m going to try.
“You have to take a risk on yourself,” Zingas said. “Have the courage to take that chance. Don’t let what other people say make you doubt yourself.”
After all, Olympians aren’t superheroes. They’re people like us who have had to bet on themselves in the process of chasing after their dreams.
Team USA Hockey goalie Ava McNaughton appreciates this too. “The Olympics and the people who you're watching play in the Olympics are not as different from the young kid and yourself as you think they are,” McNaughton concedes. “Everyone in the Olympics is a person, too, and they're struggling with similar things that everyone else in the world is struggling with.”
Being an Olympian doesn’t mean you suddenly become immune to difficulties. If anything, the larger spotlight amplifies the struggles.
Alpine ski racer Jackie Wiles has become trained in dealing with the outside noise. “We’re constantly bombarded with negativity,” Wiles says. “It’s so easy to let one bad day or one bad comment get in your mind. But if you fully believe in yourself, there’s literally nothing you can’t do. Having that belief is so important.”
The one thing these Olympians have is a relentless belief in themselves. No matter the difficulty or challenge, they keep showing up. Believing in yourself has that ability to transcend any obstacle in your way.
Freestyle skier Grace Henderson knows exactly what it means to keep showing up. Henderson has faced two knee surgeries, a broken collarbone, and multiple concussions before she made her first Olympic team this year.
“The dream of becoming an Olympian has really fired me through it all, because that's been my biggest goal in life ever since I was a little kid,” says Henderson. And to the advice she’d give to younger athletes, Henderson adds, "I'd say to never give up, and be patient. Good things will come your way.”
It may take time, but embracing your unique journey and letting it run its course will pay off in the end.
Sacrifices and Sisterhood
But there’s no sugar-coating it. Chasing an Olympic-sized dream involves lots of sacrifices. Henderson experienced that first hand – missing out on her senior prom, taking college classes online, and not getting to live with her best friends post graduation.
She turns to her mindset the time to affirm herself that she’s not missing out by pursuing her dream. “Look at what you're doing, look at where you're going,” Henderson tells herself. Comparison will always be the thief of joy, so it’s up to us to reframe our mindset. We can choose to focus on the good and recognize the positive aspects of elite athletics.
So on this National Girls and Women in Sports Day, let us aspire to be women who dream big. But let’s also take the time to reflect and appreciate the women who’ve come before us. And encourage those who will come after us or alongside us. We are what makes women’s sports a sisterhood.
Join us behind-the-scenes of the Winter Games for daily drops and real conversations about mindset, pressure, and performance with the world’s best athletes. We will be live from Milan as the action unfolds. Join Back The Team and follow along!