With moist palms and a butterfly-filled gut, I opened the doors to the court and felt comforted by a wash of familiar sounds: the squeaking of newly waxed floors, the cheers of the crowd, the swish of the perfectly made shot. Then, I noticed the odd glances the seated spectators gave me. Just like that, my moment of peace broke. I was the only female, save a few moms, in the entire complex.

Attempting to be confident, I smiled at my coach and jogged over to the guys, who were warming up. They gave me a good once-over. I took my warm-up shots and noticed the opposing team was gawking at me.

The ref tossed the ball high in the air for the start of the game. Once we got the jump, the brutality of the game overwhelmed me. I loved every second of it, but I did not expect the pace and level of physical intensity to differ that much from female basketball. Girls tend to play more neatly than boys. I realized the guys on my team were not passing me the ball, even though I was clearly open and ready for a drive. The other team would not pass it to the guy I was guarding, either. They thought that because I was a girl, I couldn’t make the shot as well as a guy could, or the chances of me being a good player were lower. That guys were so much better than me when it came to the game. That because I was a girl, I was physically inadequate to them. I was enraged by the way they ignored me.

Finally, I was given a moment of mercy when a guy, out of desperation, passed me the ball. I didn’t hesitate. I felt the familiar stretch of my arm pass through my body and into the very tips of my fingers as I let the ball be released from the curl of my follow-through. Before it even reached the net, I knew it was a swish.

From then on, the boys passed me the ball. From then on, we played as an equal team. After the game, the same spectators that had given me doubtful looks in the beginning, now took me by the shoulders and said, “Hey, great job out there.” It felt good to be identified as a good basketball player, not just a good girl basketball player.