Steph Houghton Quotes

It will be important because every country is looking forward to getting more girls to play the sport. And if you have another World Cup of, say, Under-19 or Under-21, it gives an opportunity for young girls to compete at that level because there's something to look forward to.

When I was growing up, you didn't know there was a women's national team. Now girls grow up dreaming of playing for Canada.

There's apparently soccer leagues that they've set up with young Indian girls.

Girls, in particular, benefit from sports.

I'm very privileged to be a professional footballer, and I want to encourage more young girls to play.

Just playing with the lads in school, really, and having a kick around, and I ended up at a Sunday club just for girls, and there was only about 15- 20 girls there, and I just moved on to a club from there.

Women's sport is growing, becoming powerful, and we want to continue to raise that platform for the young girls at home.

We're doing a lot of work in schools getting girls to play football, breaking down any taboos there might be, and we're seeing them get interested and bring their families along, where they have such a good match day experience that they're coming back.

It's always in our mind-set to encourage young girls to get playing. The only way we can do that is being positive off the pitch, trying to engage as much as possible.

Football is the biggest sport in Norway for girls and has been for years, but at the same time, girls don't have the same opportunities as the boys.

Young boys and girls should be given the chance to play football.

I think sport can play a really positive role in young girls' lives and be great to see as many of them playing sport as possible.

We don't really compare ourselves to the men's game or what they do. For us, it's about trying to get more people involved in the women's games.

Girls Incorporated of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey continues to advance their cause and to strengthen their community by aspiring to open a Girl's Center for Philadelphia.

There is no life for girls in team sports past Little League. I got into tennis when I realized this, and because I thought golf would be too slow for me, and I was too scared to swim.

I want to do what I can to give the next generation of athletes added advantages in the game.

The Women's Sports Foundation holds a unique position in developing opportunities for girls and women of all abilities to be active whether recreationally or competitively, and I'm excited to help lead the organization to impact even more lives. It is an honor to continue to build the legacy created by Billie Jean King and all of our leaders.

Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.

We started with that, basically to help kids, and then we created a pole vault school, which is part of the club and exists to this day. The club and school exist.

I won't be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat.

Investing in girls can actually move the needle in communities... and can actually benefit boys, because girls are the mothers of boys.

In recent generations, women's sports have been a blessing. Some of us can remember the bad old days in the '50s, when we would discover in casual schoolyard play that a girl could outrun most of us or hold her own in basketball or hit a softball - but there were no teams, no coaches, for girls.

I think training of better Youth Coaches is essential.

The Women's Sports Foundation has empowered so many young girls and women across the U.S. I benefitted from WSF with a travel and training grant when I was 12 years old. It really helped my family financially.

I think a lot of sporting organisations are really sitting up and taking notice, putting in some great programs and investing a lot into women's sports.