Bria A. Smith has over fifteen years of competitive softball experience, as well as years of experience in sports administration. Photo: bvisports.com

Bria A. Smith was among 8 women in sports who were honoured by the Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (GEDI) Commission. Photo: YouTube/JTV Channel 55

The Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (GEDI) Commission is under the BVI Olympic Committee. Photo: BVIOC

Bria A. Smith, honoured at the recently held ceremony, said she has over fifteen years of competitive softball as well as many years in sports administration and has learned that sport is a mirror.

“I stand before you first as a woman who has lived sports. Who has felt the thud of a softball into a glove after a perfect throw; who has measured a season not only in wins and losses, but in bruises and injuries, early mornings and late-night practices; who has nurtured teams and programs from the field to the boardroom.”

Sports, she added, reflect women’s grit and grace, limits and limitless potential, is a reminder that pain and pride can live in the same body, excellence is forged in the fullness of repetition, and that peace is sometimes the sound of their own breath just before walking out on that field. 

“Being a woman in sports is an exercise in paradox. We are asked to be fierce and tender, competitive and collaborative, powerful but polite. We carry the weight of expectation sometimes set by men who love the game but don’t always understand what it means to live it in a woman’s body.”

The bridge to leadership

Many women, she said, were introduced to sports by coaches and mentors who were good men who pushed them, believed in them and set standards they fought hard to reach and even dared to exceed, but are still often met with raised eyebrows and reduced headlines. 

“We’ve competed through monthly cycles, through pain that is invisible to most, we have missed moments with family, we have returned to training too soon after life-changing events because teams needed us, and opportunities do not always wait. We have been told to smile more and want less, we have had to negotiate our place again and again at tables that we helped build, and yet, we are still here.”

Sport Smith continued is “a sanctuary and a catalyst”, giving language for ambition, order for chaos, community for solitude, and purpose and peace. 

“For so many of us, sport became the bridge to leadership. We learned how to organise, how to advocate, to fundraise, to govern, to create safety and opportunity for those coming next.”

The other women in sports honoured were Medita Wheatley (Netball), Juliette Penn (Softball), Andrea Gumbs (Basketball), Rose Adams (Athletics), Franka A. Pickering (Football), Winnette Lawrence (Archery), Cynthia Skelton-Martin (All-rounder), and Cassandra Gregg, aka 'Coach Cass' (Football).