The Project

Respect Their Game is an ongoing portrait project documenting women athletes through photography, detail studies, and their own words.

The project treats sport not as spectacle or promotion, but as a record of commitment. Each portrait is intended to quietly document the discipline, sacrifices, and identity that come with pursuing sport at a serious level. Alongside the images, athletes share their own reflections on training, competition, and what their sport means to them.

Together, these portraits aim to form a growing cultural record of women in sport — honoring the individuals behind the performance.

The Founder

Respect Their Game was created by photographer Bret Sano. Working primarily with medium-format film and a deliberately simple portrait style, Sano approaches the project with the belief that athletes deserve to be documented with the same seriousness and respect often reserved for artists, leaders, and historical figures.

The visual approach favors timeless portraiture over action photography, allowing the viewer to focus on the athlete as a person shaped by sport rather than simply a performer within it.

The Intent

As a longtime fan of women’s sports, Sano created Respect Their Game to contribute in a small way to raising awareness and credibility for athletes whose dedication often goes under-recognized.

Women pursuing sport demonstrate the same level of discipline, sacrifice, and commitment seen throughout athletics everywhere — often while facing lower pay, less visibility, and fewer resources.

Sano also believes it is important for traditional male sports fans to openly support women’s athletics. When more fans acknowledge the work and excellence of these athletes, it helps normalize something that should already be obvious: the women who dedicate their lives to sport deserve the same respect as anyone who competes.

A Living Archive

Respect Their Game is intended to grow over time — documenting athletes across different sports, levels of competition, and stages of their careers.

Each portrait adds to an evolving archive that recognizes not just achievement, but commitment.

Because the work behind great sport deserves to be seen.