Amy Love was described as one of the best-known 10-year-old girls in the Bay area. Even Pele knew about Love. This was in the mid-1970s. She was famous because she  fought for her right to play soccer in the USA.

Love grew up with parents, who loved and played sports. Her mother was a synchronized swimmer and her father played tennis. She played baseball and soccer, but discovered as a 9-year-old that she was not qualified to play soccer for her Northern California youth team. The reason? She was a girl. Love was puzzled. She had just returned from a 2-year stay in Brazil with her family, where she did not face any problems playing soccer. She played goalie for her team in Brazil.  Why can’t I play soccer she asked her parents. And that innocent and honest question from Love led to  Love v. California Youth Soccer Association, a class action suit that she and her parents filed. They won the case. That legal victory paved the way for girls to play soccer in America. Ironically, 40 years after that legal victory Love points out it is still not easy for girls to play sports, including soccer. The reasons this time around are very different and Love talks about it in our interview.

We sat down to speak to Love about her love for sports, her parents and their support in fighting the legal case, her role as an entrepreneur and founder of  sports magazine for women called Real Sports, which is not available online and social media. Love is the chief marketing officer of Violin Memory, a publicly traded Silicon Valley company.

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