Published: November 1, 2000
The real reason we want equal opportunity for our daughters to play sports is so they too can derive the psychological, physiological and sociological benefits of sports participation. Sport has been one of the most important socio-cultural learning experiences for boys and men for many years. Those same benefits shouldbe afforded our daughters. Research shows that:
High school girls who play sports are less likely to beinvolved in an unwanted pregnancy; less likely to be involved with drugs and more likely to graduate from high school.
As little as two hours of exercise a week may reduce a teenage girl's risk of breast cancer, a disease that will afflict one out of every eight American women.
One out of every two women over the age of 60 is suffering from osteoporosis (brittle bones).
Weight-bearing exercises are necessary to laying down bone mass.
Girls and women who play sports have higher levels of confidence and self esteem and lower levels of depression.
Girls and women who play sports have a more positive body image and experience higher states of psychological well-being than girls and women who do not play sports.
One out of every four American children is obese. American children watch an average of three hours of television per day. Families are so concerned with the safety of their children that they do would rather have them remain indoors and sedentary than go outside to play in an unsafe environment. Many families cannot afford to send their children to safe environments of organized sports programs because the average start-up cost of youth sports is $250 per child.
Sport is where boys have traditionally learned about teamwork, goal-setting, the pursuit of excellence in performance and other achievement-oriented behaviors-- critical skills necessary for success in the workplace. In this economic environment, the quality of our
children's lives will be dependent on two-income families. For instance, 80% of the female executives in Fortune 500 companies self-categorized themselves as "tomboys" or sportswomen as they were growing up.
Women without sports' experience are disadvantaged in the work setting. The existing American business model is a male model of organizational structure and human relationships. Males learn the rules of human organizations and interactions from sport. Women who
don't know the written and unwritten rules of sport are at a disadvantage in understanding business models of organization based on sport. This creates excessive stress and tension in the workplace which has dysfunctional consequences on a woman's mental and
physical health.
It should be noted that the male model of business or organizations is not necessarily the preferred model. In fact, women are bringing new strengths to business and organizations that are based on their skills in groupprocess, preference for cooperation models and
sensitivity to human needs. Eventually, as women rise to executive positions, the organizational models of business will reflect more female characteristics and become androgynous.
Sport as it is taught today may have an adverse effect on the physical and psychological well being of our children. Turn on the television and we are likely to see bench-clearing brawls, stories of selfish athletes earning millions of dollars thinking they are so important they can break the law, players and coaches verbally abusing officials, college players who can neither read or speak the english language, players who take steroids and other drugs to improve performance and
numerous other examples of sport gone berserk. Is this what we want our children to experience? Are these the lessons we want them to learn?
It is important to realize that there is nothing inherently good or bad about sport. Throwing an empty, air-filled leather bladder through an empty ring set exactly 10 feet above the earth, which is the essence of the sport we call basketball, is neither a "good" or a "bad" activity. People bring their values to sport activities and how they play the game. As parents and players we all must have a clear understanding of ethical sport. We must teach it to our coaches who in turn must teach it to and demand it of our players. Only then will sport fulfill its possibilities for our children. Unfortunately few states require coaches to be certified in teaching or to take a course in sport ethics despite the fact that we know a coach can ""kill"" a young person in a literal sense when directing physical activity on a playing field in 100 heat
or figuratively when they psychologically destroy self-worth or self-esteem. We demand that librarians and driver education teachers be certified to teach their subject. We must require no less for coaches.
We must demand that all coaches teach our children the ethical possibilities of sport. We would never permit a teacher in the classroom to teach what so many coaches are teaching on the playing fields of sport. If we fail to do this, we endanger the health and well-being
of our children who play. We give support to an physically and psychologically unsafe environment. We fail to teach our children to separate their performance in a sports task from their worth as a person.
What Are the Research Needs in the Area of a Young Women's Preventative Health?
We must discover how to keep girls involved in sports and fitness.
What are the most efficient and successful public education and incentive programs?
The biggest sports and fitness issue related to health is not whether physical activity has positive health benefits, it is how to keep girls and women from dropping out of sports or, if they are not participants, how to get them to adopt active lifestyles. Many people think that girls are not as interested in sports as boys. Research shows that boys and girls between the ages of six and nine -- and their parents -- are equally interested in sports participation. However, by the age of 14, girls drop out of sport at a significantly greater rate than men. Girls and women simply do not receive the same opportunities as boys to play or the same positive reenforcement about their sports participation. Little boys receive balls, gloves and sports equipment by the age of two. They see their images on television as sportsmen, they see their photos in the sports section and know from their parents and friends that they are expected to play sports.
Even though our daughters are not as likely to be discouraged from playing sports as they were ten years ago, they simply aren't encouraged to the same extent as little boys. As a result, they enter organized sport two years later than little boys and are therefore less likely to have the skills necessary for early success experiences. They drop out by the time they are 14 at a rate that is six times greater than boys.
What types of physical activity are best for reduction in the incidence of osteoporosis?
What is the itiology of the female athlete triad (osteoporosis, menstrual cycle dysfunction and disordered eating)?
To what extent has the labeling of elite sportswomen as masculine or lesbian served to inhibit sports participation by homophobic girls or
their parents?
In what ways does the female respond to exercise differently than men?
To what extent does socio-economic level predict physical activity level?
To what extent do media images of distorted body types (i.e., waif) or stereotypical body types relate to disordered eating or obsessive
preoccupation with diet or body type?
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© 1999 Women's Sports Foundation. All rights reserved.
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