A Legendary Season
Champions inspire. The more they win, the more they inspire.
So when the DeSoto Lady Eagles won their second consecutive Class 6A state basketball championship, it lifted the hearts of many. And the title couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time, with March being Women’s History Month.
Because that’s exactly what the Lady Eagles did over the course of the past two seasons – make history. They are the only girls ever in the program to bring home the state championship trophy.
Among those inspired is hip hop artist and Dallas native Shy Amos, aka ShySpeaks. In fact, she was so enamored with the Lady Eagles and their success that she wrote a song entitled “Wings” and recorded a video with the members of the team and DeSoto Mayor Rachel Proctor.
Addressing Disparities In Women’s Sports Through Music
Shy is a former high school athlete herself. She played volleyball and ran cross country, and by the time she got to high school her primary sports were track and field and basketball.
“Ball is life!” Shy exclaimed.
Shy said the song was inspired by a conversation surrounding disparities in women’s sports. On the video page she notes that the message of the song – and now the video as well – is beyond music. It’s a form of activism for gender equality in women’s sports relative to the disparity of women receiving adequate media and press opportunities and public attention highlighting their athletic achievements.
The message on the page adds that in all fairness, recognition for women’s sports has gotten better, but it’s hardly comparable to their male counterparts in the same sports. So, Shy is aiming to spark change by sharing the spotlight that her music video would get.
“I noticed how infrequent songs were created to champion female sports teams – amateur or pro – and how few sports anthems were created by women hip hop artists,” she said. “I set out on a mission to fill those gaps and to do so with a song that could connect with both sports and non-sports enthusiasts.”
Lady Eagles Ranked #3
The song and video were actually recorded prior to the Lady Eagles winning state again this past weekend, defeating neighboring South Grand Prairie 40-23 in the Alamodome in San Antonio. Even before repeating, however, the DeSoto girls had proven themselves to be one of the premier basketball teams in the entire nation, being ranked as high as No. 1 in the past and sitting in the No. 3 position, according to MaxPreps this week.
In fact, the Lady Eagles have not lost to a team in Texas on the court since dropping a 47-43 decision to rival Duncanville on Feb. 25, 2020 in the third round of the playoffs. Coach Andrea Robinson’s team is 56-0 in games played against Lone Star State opponents since then.
As for the music video, Shy said she decided to dedicate it to the Lady Eagles varsity basketball team after it was brought to her attention that they had won the 2021 Texas state championship. While it received a lot of attention in the Focus Daily News, Shy believes it could have and should have received more elsewhere and that it “slid under the radar.”
“As a former high school girls basketball player, the clear choice was to connect to the energetic tune to their 2022 season,” she said. “And what do you know, they won again!”
