As someone who used to play sports and who used to work in sports — first as a traveling beat writer and then in collegiate athletics — I’ve often wondered how sports might influence my daughter’s life.

It’s one of those odd thoughts of boy vs. girl in the sense that stereotypes suggest you should push your son towards sports. But why not your daughter? With my obvious interest in sports and my wife and my own passions for living a healthy lifestyle, I often think of how to treat sports with my daughter.

Will she grow up wanting to be like Hope Solo or Serena Williams or Diana Taurasi? Or will she embrace something else? How will sports affect my daughter’s youth? My dad loved sports and brought my sister and I to games … where my sister ended up reading books.

The idea behind the So This is Fatherhood podcast is to interview females who have either carved out a career in sports or who were athletes at a high level and how sports have affected their lives, especially growing up. I hope you enjoy this new portion to the blog.

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USA Today NFL reporter Lindsay Jones, Dec. 19, 2013:

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Two-time All-American and former professional volleyball player Dana Vargas, Feb. 3, 2014: