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I started playing sports when I was about three years old and played my entire life up until I was 15. I played all different sports including basketball, volleyball, and soccer.

Back then, the genderization of sport was not as relevant. You didn’t have to worry about not being able to play the sport you love. At least for me, it was simply that I would play on the girls teams, which was not an issue.

We had all the opportunities and amenities – you could be a professional in whatever sport it was.

While I appreciate that, it gets disappointing when you love so many different sports and want to play all of them.

I played on a few different teams, depending on if it was a local team, elite team, state team or national team. The competitiveness and time commitments got quite heavy when I reached my teenage years.

My time wasn’t my own, and I missed out on a lot in my childhood. So I ended up quitting all my sports.

But I always loved sport, and was always following it. It just wanted to stop playing, because it was no longer for my own enjoyment.

All the coaches were pushing me to play because of my natural athletic ability, which can be great. But if you don’t have the right mix with having a life, that can be really bothersome.

I would want my coaches to understand that you can't put the pressure on young kids, it's not fair. Let them discover their own way.

The best is to advocate, reward, and highlight them for just the small little achievement. It doesn't have to be that they're the best, or that they're gonna go play for the national team.

It can be that they did a trick that they had not been able to do before. That is a huge achievement, and that's how we keep growing and empowering girls and women – by raising them up with whatever level they have.

[As told to @Ragi Gupta]