'When I Play' | espnW | ESPN Stories

espnW's women-created and produced short film gives voice to every woman and girl who sees their movement as a movement. Click "Show More" for the powerful poem by Allison Glock.

To Whom It May Concern:
What I am doing here is not for you
Not for your judgment or your appraisal
Not for your assessment or your arousal
No boy I know has ever been told he shouldn't play
Couldn't play
I am no longer interested in shouldn'ts
Or couldn'ts
Or rules not written for me
I am not worried about getting too big or too strong
Or too fast
Or too full of myself
I do not agree that "playing like a man" is a compliment
What I am doing here is not
For You
Movement
Is a movement
My effort, my ambition, my desire
For me
For every woman, every girl
Who dares to see herself as something more
Than a body to be rated
A score to be kept
When I play, I keep my own score
When I play, I know who I am
When I play, I forget how it feels to be boxed in
To be boxed out
When I play, I feel no shame
When I play, I remember
How it feels To be free
This court
This field
This world
Too small to hold me
When I play I know I won't be undone
I won't be unsung
My humility
My humanity
My movement a movement
This is not the end of my dream
This Is where I
Wake Up

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