"the Kansai Independent League. In June 2012, Yoshida returned to pitch for Na Koa Ikaika Maui of the North American Baseball League. In her first start on June 9, 2012, she earned the win in a 10–2 victory over the Hawaii Stars. She hurled 7-2/3 innings, giving up only four hits and two runs, as well as walking one batter and striking out another. Yoshida won her next two starts to begin the year with a 3–0 record, but then experienced problems controlling her pitches and lost five games in a row. She ended the season with a record of"
"spring training section of the league the first week. On December 15 it was announced that Japanese female pitching sensation Eri Yoshida, who became the first female professional pitcher in her home country last summer, will bring her sidearm knuckleball and participate in the 2010 AWL in hopes of attracting the attention of U.S. teams. This should be a tremendous benefit for all the players as the media attention and scout attendance should increase greatly. On February 10, 2010 the New York Mets signed San Luis Atleticos shortstop Rylan Sandoval at the Arizona Winter League and the following week, the"
"points in a Division I NCAA American football game when she kicked two extra-points for the University of New Mexico in 2003. Modern sports have seen the development of a higher profile for female athletes in other historically male sports, such as golf, marathons or ice hockey.These significant participation rise, has allowed more women to participate in traditionally male dominated sports and increased the sports popularity globally. As of 2013, the only sports that men, but not women play professionally in the United States are football, baseball, and Ultimate Frisbee. Although basketball, soccer and hockey have female sports leagues, they"
"female in an otherwise all-male league. Yoshida made her professional debut at the Osaka Dome in the opening game of the KIBL on March 26, 2009, before 11,592 fans. Yoshida faced two batters, walking the first and striking-out the second in a 5-0 win over the Osaka Gold Villicanes. The first league champion, the Osaka Gold Villicanes, left KANDOK after the first season, seceding to the Japan Future Baseball League. A new team, Seoul Haechi, was created to fill their spot. Following the model of the Osaka Gold Villicanes, the second league champion, the Kobe 9 Cruise, seceded from KANDOK"
"United Women's Lacrosse League is an American professional women's lacrosse league; both were established in 2015. Today, women compete professionally and as amateurs in virtually every major sport, though the level of participation typically decreases when it comes to the more violent contact sports; few schools have women's programs in American football, boxing or wrestling.There are exceptions to this, such as the Utah Girls Football League and Professional Girl Wrestling Association. However, these typical non-participation habits may slowly be evolving as more women take real interest in the games, for example Katie Hnida became the first woman ever to score"
"NBA Development League, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, thus making her the first woman to coach a professional men's basketball team. 2009 - The second professional women's soccer league, Women's Professional Soccer, is launched. 2010 - Kelly Kulick won the 2010 ""PBA Tournament of Champions"", where she was the first-ever female competitor in the field. This also made her the first woman to win any Professional Bowlers Association Tour event that was also open to men. 2012 - The U.S. Olympic team had more women than men for the first time — 269 female athletes to 261 men. 2012"
"in Women's and 3rd in Mixed. Ultimate in Japan Ultimate, originally called ultimate frisbee, is a non-contact team field sport played with a flying disc, invented in New Jersey, USA, in 1968. Japanese players and teams rose to prominence in the 1990s, and today are among the strongest competitors in the sport globally. The frisbee was introduced to Japan in 1969. Japan Flying Disk Athletic (JFA) was established in 1975 in Nagoya, and started meeting in 1976. In 1984, JFA changed its name to JFDA and affiliated with the World Flying Disk Federation (WFDF), which took part in the World"
"male) professionals. However, there are also major title matches and other tournaments for women only. Many of the women's tournaments are also open to the public for amateur female players who are not members of the JSA or LPSA. Until the 1990s, the strongest female professionals were considered to be roughly equivalent to 1- or 2-dan apprentices in playing strength. Now, the strongest female professionals are close to professional level playing equivalent to 3-dan apprentices. Strong female amateur players aged 25 or under who wish to become a female professional must be accepted into the JSA's ""Kenshūkai"" (研修会 ""training group"")."
"the mid-2000s, Christie Van Hees and Rhonda Rajsich were the dominant players, but Paola Longoria finished #1 at the end of the 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 seasons. Held annually in October, the US Open is the most prestigious professional racquetball event. First held in 1996, the US Open was in Memphis, Tennessee until 2010, when it moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. In men's play, Kane Waselenchuk (Canada) has won the most US Open titles with thirteen ahead of Sudsy Monchik (US) with four, while Jason Mannino (US) and Cliff Swain (US) have both won the title twice, and Rocky Carson (US) once."
"national teams are competitive internationally. A twenty-team professional league, Major League Soccer, plays from March to October, but its television audience and overall popularity lag behind other American professional sports. Boxing and horse racing were once the most watched individual sports, but they have been eclipsed by golf and auto racing, particularly NASCAR. Other popular sports are tennis, softball, rodeo, swimming, water polo, fencing, shooting sports, hunting, volleyball, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, Ultimate, Disc golf, cycling, MMA, roller derby, wrestling, weightlifting and rugby. Relative to other parts of the world, the United States is unusually competitive in women's sports, a fact"
"National Basketball Association, and league play began in 1997. The regular WNBA season is June to September (North American Spring and Summer). Most WNBA teams play at the same venue as their NBA counterparts. The top tier professional Basketball league for females is the WNBA. It is not as popular as its male counterpart. Women's NCAA Basketball is also popular, although less so than men's basketball. The women's national team has won eight Olympic gold medals and ten FIBA World Cups. Basketball in the United States Of those Americans citing their favorite sport, basketball is ranked second (counting amateur levels)"
"teams and went nationwide, but folds shortly after ""due to lack of attendance"". 2000 — The American Women's Baseball League (AWBL) took women’s baseball team to Japan to play Team Energen, the Japanese women’s national team. 2001 — The first Women's World Series (WWS) was played at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; countries that participated included the United States of America, Australia, Canada, and Japan — the U.S. won the gold medal. 2003 — Pawtucket Slaterettes all-girls' baseball league celebrated its 30th season of all-girls' baseball. 2003 — Women's baseball became an official sport (39th) of the AAU; this"
"Lizzie Murphy Mary Elizabeth Murphy (April 13, 1894 – July 27, 1964), known as ""The Queen of Baseball"", was the first woman to play professional baseball, competing with male athletes in 1922. She played baseball for seventeen years as a first baseman; she also played on several all-star teams and was the first person of either sex to play on both American and National league baseball teams. Murphy was born April 13, 1894 probably in Warren, Rhode Island, though some sources indicate that she was born in Canada. Her parents were Mary (née Garan) and John Murphy; her father was"
"was announced, and ultimately launched in 2009 as Women's Professional Soccer. That league folded after its 2012 season, with the current National Women's Soccer League established later that year and beginning play in 2013. As of 2015, the only sports that men but not women play professionally in the United States are football, baseball, and ultimate. The Women's Professional Soccer league, formed in September 2007, began its league play in March 2009. In its final season in 2011, there were six teams in the eastern United States. The WPS canceled the 2012 season when the number of teams dropped to"
"thus becoming the first non-Japanese to be awarded full professional status. Styczyńska's first win as a professional came on March 16, 2017; it was her second official game since becoming a professional. She was promoted to female professional 1-kyū on April 1, 2017, for winning seven or more official games during the shogi year April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017. Since 2013 Styczyńska has attended Yamanashi Gakuin University, living in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture. In March 2018 she finished her master's thesis and graduated. She currently lives in Tokyo. Her hobbies are computers, manga, and music. Styczyńska was one of"
"the more traditional way of ""gaining professional status"", i.e., being promoted from the : leagues of strong amateur players aspiring to become a professional. Rather, it is a separate system especially designed for female professionals. Qualified amateurs, regardless of gender, may apply for the ""Shoreikai System"" and all those who successfully ""graduate"" are granted ""kishi"" status; however, no woman has yet to accomplish this feat (the highest women have reached is ""Shoreikai 3 ""dan"" league"" by Kana Satomi and Tomoka Nishiyama), so ""kishi"" is de facto only used to refer to male shogi professionals. The JSA is the only body"
"the Japanese L. League with Takarazuka Bunnys. When the professional Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) started in 2001, Roseli and compatriot Pretinha were assigned to Washington Freedom in the inaugural draft. Washington performed poorly in their first season and bought out Roseli's contract after she failed to score in 11 appearances, only three of which were starts. Roseli was part of the EC Radar club team who represented Brazil at the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament in Guangdong and finished in third place. The Chinese press voted her into the tournament's official all–star team. At the 1991 FIFA Women's World"
"the United States, or moved on to other bowling tournaments outside of the United States. Wendy Macpherson started competing in the Japan Professional Bowling Association (JPBA) in 2004, going on to earn ten JPBA titles. In 2007, the Japan Bowling Congress (JBC) started the DHC Cup Girls Bowling International - at the time the third largest women's tournament in the world in prize money, just behind the U.S. Women's Open and the USBC Queens. Some women chose to bowl in professional men's tournaments. The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) opened its membership to women in April 2004. PWBA members such as"
"The country gained the hosting rights for the official Women's Volleyball World Championship on five occasions (1967, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2018), more than any other nation. Japan is the most successful Asian Rugby Union country, winning the Asian Five Nations a record 6 times and winning the newly formed IRB Pacific Nations Cup in 2011. Japan will host the 2019 IRB Rugby World Cup. Baseball is currently the most popular spectator sport in the country. Japan's top professional league, now known as Nippon Professional Baseball, was established in 1936 and is widely considered to be the highest level of professional"
"was born. June Peppas was nominated President. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the United States. Over 600 women played in the league, which consisted of eventually 10 teams that were all located in the American Midwest. In 1948, league attendance peaked at over 900,000 spectators. The most successful team, the Rockford Peaches, won a league-best four championships. The 1992 motion picture ""A League of Their"
"was held in 1991, and has drawn worldwide television interest. Football matches now tend to have increased numbers of women supporters at the match, as well as watching matches at home or in pubs and bars. In the United States, the Women's United Soccer Association League was formed in 2001 in response to growing interest in women's football around that country. The league collapsed in 2003, but grassroots football was not affected, and the league relaunched in 2009 as Women's Professional Soccer. The semi-professional W-League continues to operate with 38 teams, as of 2006. Japan's women's league, the L. League"
"and that the league was again hoping to start a franchise in the Boston area. Also in 2015, the Raleigh Flyers of the AUDL signed the first ever female professional ultimate player, Jessi Jones, to play in their game against the Nashville Nightwatch. Jones, who was a team USA U-23 player in 2013, was signed as part of ""Women's Ultimate Day"". In September 2016, the Cincinnati Revolution and the Charlotte Express announced they would be ceasing operations. In the 2017 season, Jesse Shofner was selected to the roster for the Nashville Nightwatch, which made her the first female player to"
"a women's league, with more than 500 registered players around the country competing in league competition and other games. Some 83 per cent of the registered players are Japanese nationals. The governing body for the sport in Japan is AFL Japan The national team is the Samurai Australian rules football in Japan Australian rules football in Japan is a growing team sport which dates back to 1910, but found its roots in the late 1980s mainly due to the influence of Australian Football appearing on Japanese television. Japan competes regularly at international level and Japan's national team has defeated amateur"
"for amateur and pro 10-pin bowling players from Europe, Asia, and the U.S. On 24 January 2010 Kelly Kulick (1977-) became the first woman to win the PBA Tournament of Champions and the first woman to win a PBA national tour event. In November 2012 after league bowling dropped from 80% to 20% of their business, AMF Bowling Centers of Richmond, Virginia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time (first in 2001), merging in 2013 with upscale New York-based bowling center operator Bowlmor (which didn't support league bowling) in an attempt to turn league bowling around, growing from"
"as well as being named to the Best 5, four times. Yoshida has been a consistent member of the Japanese national team since 2007. Since then, the Japanese team has medalled at each FIBA Asia Championship. She was named to the FIBA Asia All-Tournament Team in 2013 and 2015, also winning the Championship on both occasions. She made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Asami Yoshida (basketball) Asami Yoshida (吉田 亜沙美 born October 9, 1987) is a Japanese professional basketball player for the JX-Eneos Sunflowers of the Women's Japan Basketball League (WJBL). Yoshida"
"Instructional League Club, thus making her the first female coach in professional baseball history. 2015 - Laura Ann Foshee became the first woman to be awarded a college bass fishing scholarship for competitive fishing; the scholarship was for the Savannah College of Art and Design. 2015 - Jessica Mendoza, John Kruk, and Dan Shulman called the 2015 American League Wild Card Game on October 6, and thus Mendoza became the first female analyst in Major League Baseball postseason history. 2015 - The Raleigh Flyers of the American Ultimate Disc League signed the first ever female professional ultimate frisbee player, Jessi"
"she knew at that moment she would be playing for the rest of her life. At age 11, she became a pro player with the Women's Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) and came to be known as ""Queen of the Hill."" At age 15, she won the World Straight Pool Tournament, becoming the youngest player, male or female, ever to win a world title, a feat noted by the ""Guinness Book of World Records"". From 1979 to 1993, she won many tournaments, including her third WPBA National Championship and US Open Championship. When she won the World Pool Association (WPA) World"
"billed as ""Katsura Memorial: The First Ladies Three Cushion Grandprix"", was held in Japan and aired on SKY PerfecTV! Masako Katsura , nicknamed ""Katsy"" and sometimes called the ""First Lady of Billiards"", was a Japanese carom billiards player who was most active in the 1950s. Katsura blazed a trail for women in the sport by competing and placing among the best in the male-dominated world of professional billiards. First learning the game from her brother-in-law and then under the tutelage of Japanese champion Kinrey Matsuyama, Katsura became Japan's only female professional player. In competition in Japan she took second place"
"All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the United States. Over 600 women played in the league, which consisted of eventually 10 teams that were all located in the American Midwest. In 1948, league attendance peaked at over 900,000 spectators. The most successful team, the Rockford Peaches, won a league-best four championships. The 1992 motion picture ""A League of Their Own"" is a mostly fictionalized account of"
"Asami Yoshida (basketball) Asami Yoshida (吉田 亜沙美 born October 9, 1987) is a Japanese professional basketball player for the JX-Eneos Sunflowers of the Women's Japan Basketball League (WJBL). Yoshida has played for the JX-Eneos Sunflowers, a team based in Kashiwa, since their 2006–07 season where she made her professional debut. In her opening season she led the Sunflowers to a championship as well as taking home Rookie of the Year. She has enjoyed much success in this league and has led the Sunflowers to another eight championship titles. She has won the league Most Valuable Player award on two occasions,"
"Cape Fear Thunder won their second eight-player championship by defeating the West Virginia Wildfire, 34–26, in the W8FL title game.<br>In 2015, the New York Knockout defeated the Cape Fear Thunder, 28–0, to win their first W8FL championship title, with the game having been played in Schenectady, New York. United States Women's Football League The United States Women's Football League (USWFL) is a full-contact women's American football league that opened with exhibition play in 2010 and subsequently played its first regular season in 2011. The league was known as the ""Women's Spring Football League"" from 2009–2015. It is the newest of"
"In women's play, Paola Longoria (Mexico) has the most US Open titles with five, Rhonda Rajsich (US) has four, one more than Christie Van Hees (Canada) with three. Michelle Gould (US), Cheryl Gudinas (US), and Jackie Paraiso (US) have each won two US Open titles. Kerri Wachtel (US) won the title once. Racquetball is included in the Pan American Games, World Games and Central American and Caribbean Games. Also, the regional associations of the International Racquetball Federation organize their own continental championships: Asian Championships, European Championships and Pan American Championships. Racquetball is very similar to the British sport of 'racketball',"
"the organization has not started a girls’ baseball program despite the thousands of girls playing baseball in Little League baseball leagues across the United States. 2007 — Chicago Pioneers girls' baseball team became the first-ever U.S. Girls' Baseball National Champions after defeating the Pawtucket Slaterettes during the 2007 Women's Baseball National Championship/Girls' Baseball National Championship in Ft. Myers, Florida. 2011 — The first ever members clubs are announced for Southern Ontario's Woman's Baseball League. Those clubs being located in London, Guelph, St Catharines and Niagara Falls Ontario, Canada. This would be the first ever professional league for women, aged 18"