I would like to dedicate this book to strong female athletes that have experienced inequalities in athletics and persevered to achieve great things.

Ricky and Finn tried their hardest to make her better. After days of practice, Lily thought she was ready to go play with the boys at school. "Ricky! Finn! I think I am ready to play at school with the boys" Lily said confidently with her hands on her hips after she kicked the ball far.

The next day at school, Lily was thinking about playing soccer at recess all day long. During math, she could not stop looking at the clock because she was so excited to go play. She was getting fidgety and was finding it hard to focus.

At lunch time, Lily ran to get her food and sat down with her friends. She made sure to eat as quickly as possible so she had lots of time to play soccer.

As soon as she finished eating, she threw away her trash and ran straight down to the field where the boys in her class were playing.

"Hey Guys!" Lily shouted to the boys. "Can I play soccer with you?" She asked. "No!" they said while laughing and pointing at her. "Please give me a chance! I promise I'm good" she said desperately. "Fine, one chance. But girls aren't good at sports" they all told her. She got upset, but was ready to show what her brothers taught her.

She was having so much fun, she could feel the light breeze on her skin while listening to the soft sounds of the birds chirping while playing soccer. She was imagining herself standing in the middle of a stadium full of people shouting her name excitedly. "Lily! Lily! Lily!" the sound of a crowd shouting her name was in her head. 

Lily was doing really well, so a kind classmate named Thomas passed her the ball. She went to kick it and she slipped onto the grass.

"OW!" Lily screamed in pain while her knee started bleeding. Everyone started laughing and screaming. "Off the field! We knew girls couldn't play" said Bryan, the class bully. She ran off the field crying.

Lily found her friends. "Where have you been? Are you okay?" they all said to her when they noticed the tears on her face. "Do you guys want to play soccer with me, the boys don't want to" She asked. "Of course we will!" They said with a smile.

All the girls went to play soccer, but unfortunately none of them were enjoying it. "Lily, we don't wanna play anymore. Just ignore the boys and keep playing with them! You're better than them!" they all said. However, Lily did not want to play with the boys because she knew she had to get better before doing that.

Lily couldn't stop thinking about how rude the boys were, and she really wanted to show them how good she was. 

Lily got home, put on her athletic clothes, tied her sneakers and ran outside to her backyard. "Finn! Ricky!" Lily shouted loudly to her brothers. 

Finn and Ricky run downstairs, tightly tied their soccer cleats and headed outside. "Hi Lily! How was school? Did you play soccer with the boys" Ricky asked.

"I tried! They just made fun of me, and then I fell" Lily said while pointing at the red graze on her knee."Its okay Lily!

 Ricky and I will help you get better than all of those boys!" Finn said, trying to lighten up Lily's mood.

Lily smiles and kicked the ball to Ricky. They played for hours, making Lily realize how much she truly enjoyed soccer. 

Lily kicked the ball up, and watched it fly through the air right into the goal. "GOAL!" she shouted while laughing. 

Finn comes running over with his hand up for a high five. Lily throws her hand up and gives him a big high five. "Let's keep playing!" Lily says excitedly. 

"Kids! Dinner!" Lily's mom called out from the back door. "Coming mom" the kids said.

Lily went to sit at the table with the rest of the family and they all talked about their days.

"And Lily, how was your day?" her dad, Mike asked. "It was fine, but the boys all made fun of me for trying to play soccer, just because i'm a girl", Lily replied upset.

"Oh no Lily! I am so sorry to hear that sweetheart" her mom said. Lily kept eating and then headed upstairs to get ready for bed.

"Mike I am worried for Lily" her mother said with fear in her eyes. "So am I, maybe we should sign her up for a team" said Mike.

"Yes Mike, good idea." said her mother. Her mother and father walk upstairs and open up their laptop.

They looked online for girls soccer teams in their area. They find one labeled "Soccer team in Portola valley for girls 6-9yrs". They looked online for the phone number of the company, and then called them.

"

Hello, this is Mary. I have a 7 year old daughter named Lily who would like to take the 2 week trial" said Mary. "Hi Mary! Thank you for reaching out. We will register your daughter shortly. She needs to come tomorrow and on Friday from 4:15-5:45pm." said the nice lady on the phone.