By OkayGoal 
The rise of womens sports in the last few years is undeniable. Some people attribute it to WNBA player Caitlin Clark’s rise to stardom in 2024 or the recent growth of professional womens sports leagues like the NWSL and WNBA. Both leagues have added multiple teams in the last few seasons.
However, the upward trend does not only affect female professional athletes and the leagues they play in. It has also created more opportunities for lower-level professional leagues and more importantly, recreational leagues for women.
Female-only sporting groups like run clubs, golf groups, pickleball meet ups, “hot girl walks,” and other recreational sporting leagues have allowed women to play sports alongside like-minded women. One of the many sports that has seen an increase in recreational interest is soccer.
With this in mind, Mary Reimers founded an all-women recreational soccer league out of Pasco, Washington. She noticed that the other options to play local recreational soccer were limited and all of them were coed. The hope was to create a place where women could come together to play a game they loved.
“ You want to see women blossom,” Reimers said to Oregon Public Broadcasting. “You want to see them, you know, getting more excited about what they can do versus being worried about not being good enough,”
Since starting the league, she has recruited women and girls from ages 16 to 40 and ranging in skill levels. Reimers has even gathered sponsors for the league to provide jerseys and subsidize the cost for players.
Many other cities have booming recreational womens soccer leagues. The Peninsula Women’s Soccer League (PWSL) is San Diego’s largest womens-only outdoor soccer league. The league plays year-round with seasons in the fall, spring, and summer. Similar to Reimers’s league, the PWSL accepts women of different ages and talent levels.
On the East Coast, New York City Women’s Soccer is another outdoor soccer league that allows women to come together to play soccer. They host games throughout the week and across the New York area. Games are also separated by skill level to ensure players are well-matched.
Considering the impact of recreational womens sports leagues, it is clear that the rise of womens sports has just begun. Women in sports will continue to gain momentum as the sports they play continue to grow at all levels.
Featured image via @pwslsandiego