You are walking down the street and an interviewer comes up to you; “Name one professional basketball player.” Even if you are not an avid sports watcher, the task is not too difficult. You might say Lebron James, Michael Jordan, or Stephen Curry. But now the question is changed, “Name one professional female basketball player.” Most people are left answerless. The sad reality is that women's sports have been overlooked and overshadowed for centuries, heavily due to a lack of media coverage and lack of equality in the field. Not only does this go on professionally, but in all levels of women's sports internationally. This problem occurs within my very own high school. I am a member of the girls basketball team, and through hard work and dedication we earned the number one seed in the playoffs and were the conference champions. However, there is barely any school recognition for the girls team. The boys team, which has the exact same record as the girls, has been widely recognized by the whole district. Clubs that I am apart of offer their members points if they attend boys games, hoever never even mention the girls. Both teams have worked extremely hard during the long treacherous basketball season to achieve the high rank that they did, and therefore both boys and girls teams deserve equal recognition. Our school's news channel even devotes whole episodes to the boys team while the girls team hardly ever gets even a short mention. Despite all of this, my team went onto win both the county championship and the Long Island Championship and went onto compete in the state championship. We long outlasted the boys team in our season, however were still not given the light of day or any  recognition. This ongoing inequality within all womens sports has had a detremental effect on society. Young female athletes are discouraged and feel as if it's impossible to succeed in their field because of this discrimination. There is also only a select few female athletes that have been given enough recognition to act as role models to these young and aspiring girls in sports. As a society we pride ourselves in how much “progress” weve made in achieving equality, however there is still clearly much work to be done. Another alarming example was when the NCAA provided the men's basketball team with a fully equipped and luxurious weightroom, but left the girls team with a few lousy weights and yoga matts. These women who have worked extremely hard, putting hours of physical and mental work into their sport, couldn't even be properly supplied for their tournament due to the lack of equality for women's sports. We must change the stigma around women's athletics starting as early as possible. High Schools should be required to supply boys and girls teams with equal resources and equal recognition. College and professional level athletics should make sure both gender teams get equal media coverage as well as equal facilities and resources. With each reform that we make, one more female athlete will finally be able to get rid of this stigma and let her hard work and talent shine and be recognized.