Stables offer special

opportunity for females

We’re about to witness the first Olympic Games with an equal number of female and male athletes. The rise of women’s sports can be felt on a grand scale. But does this translate locally?

Do we turn out in droves to watch our daughters compete? Do we encourage our sons to attend their sisters’ events as fervently as we do the reverse? Do we embrace sports where girls can excel at the same level as their male counterparts?

Horseback riding is one sport where the answer to all these questions is yes. It’s one of the few sports whose participants are predominantly female and one of the only sports not segregated by gender. In fact, equestrian events will be the only events at these Olympics where women and men will compete side by side.

This is a sport where girls can grow, thrive and excel, unbridled by generations of exclusion and devaluation. Palatine Stables presents a unique opportunity for our communities to support girls in sports, providing a haven for hundreds of female athletes to experience a sport where they are held in equal value and respect.

I’m but one of these female athletes, driving 30 miles daily to experience the unique opportunity of this sport and of Palatine Stables. I’ve both felt and witnessed what happens when communities come together to support young female athletes. They become confident. They become leaders. They become young women we can be proud of.

I urge the Palatine Park District to listen to the community.

This is a valuable piece of developing the next generation of young women. Let’s facilitate female growth. Let’s show our young women we are invested in them just as much as our young men.

Or does our support for female athletes only extend to women we don’t know?

Marlo Knapp-Fadani

Chicago