Recently in the sports world, women have been making headlines like it’s nothing. ESPN and other large sports networks have been reporting on these historical events and how important they are. College football, the National Football League, and Major League Baseball Association have all been evolving to give women opportunities that they never had before.

The Vanderbilt Commodores’ shocked the sports world when they brought Sarah Fuller to be a kicker for their football team. Fuller was the goalkeeper for Vanderbilt’s women’s soccer team, who won the SEC Championship in 2020. The Commodores were 0-7 and in need of a placekicker to do kickoffs and PATs. Not long after the rumors started, she was brought on and first appeared against The University of Missouri, where she kicked the ball off to start the second half. Then, she made history against The University of Tennessee, kicking the extra point after a Vanderbilt touchdown. She is now the first and only woman to score points in a Power 5 football game. While their season is officially over, Fuller has forever cemented herself in the history books.

With any job, workers will miss days of work, whether it is sickness or family-related. This will create opportunities for others to step up, specifically the Cleveland Browns in Week 12 of the National Football League (NFL) regular season. The Browns tight end coach Drew Petzing was scheduled to miss the game with the birth of his first child. This allowed for Callie Brownson, who signed with the Browns coaching staff in January, to be the first woman ever to coach a position group for a full NFL game. With the league already hiring female referees, Brownson’s opportunity might have opened up jobs for women for years to come.

Major League Baseball (MLB) continued this trend of making history in Miami. On November 25th, the Miami Marlins announced the signing of their new general manager, Kim Ng. Ng is the first female general manager in the entire history of the MLB. She has been around and working in the MLB for 30 years, most recently being the assistant general manager for the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Marlins snuck into the playoffs last season, and Kim Ng will continue this success and possibly take this team to the World Series.

These historical moves show amazing potential for women in sports. It would not be surprising to see more news in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) very soon. This is also very inspirational for young women aspiring to be in sports. You can only hope for success for women being hired and working in major sports leagues.