I am the first female sports columnist The Globe has ever had.

I am also the second-ever female host of Pioneer Sideline, a Point Park sports-themed show at our campus television station, U-View. My only female predecessor came immediately before me.

I have interned in high school and collegiate baseball in my time with the Butler BlueSox and Perfect Game USA, professional hockey with the Pittsburgh Penguins currently, and professional baseball this summer with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Why do I bring this section of my resume up? Because despite my accomplishments thus far, my knowledge of the sports world comes into question almost every day for the sole reason that I am a woman.

This problem has been one that myself and my sports-loving female peers have faced forever, but honestly, it is exhausting.

It does not stop at the collegiate level, unfortunately.

Kendall Coyne-Schofield, an Olympic gold medal ice hockey player on the USA Women’s National Team, competed in the NHL All-Star skills competition two weeks ago. Because of this legendary feat, she was invited to come on as an analyst for NHL on NBC, which just so happened to be the Penguins vs. Lightning game at PPG Paints Arena that week.

Pierre McGuire, a long-time analyst for the show, introduced her to the viewers, but then things took a turn.

“Tampa’s going to be on your left, Pittsburgh’s going to be on your right… we’re paying you to be an analyst, not a fan tonight,” McGuire said.

Coyne-Schofield has since made a statement defending McGuire, saying that they have been friends for a long time and she is confident that is not how he meant for it to come across, but she could see how viewers would have taken it that way.

Her takeaway from all of this is the important part, and is why I wanted to write this column in the first place.

“What’s important is for every young girl reading this to know it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of my hockey knowledge because I do not doubt my hockey knowledge,” Coyne-Schofield said in her statement. “I didn’t need a gold medal to come to that conclusion. I needed belief in myself. That took time to build and I would never let someone else undo all of that work on the ice –and especially off.”

This really hit home for me. I am confident in my abilities and my knowledge as a sports reporter. I know the content I put out is accurate and I long as I have that confidence in myself, others will put their confidence in me.

To all of my fellow sports-loving women, don’t settle for the mansplaining. Let your knowledge do the talking.