The title of this post was a Nike t-shirt that was worn by a friend of mine in high school. I always liked that shirt and remember the phrase from time to time. Women have come a long way in sport, but we have a long way to go as well.
In the early part of the last century, sport had really started to get noticed and take off commercially. There was organized professional leagues and professional athletes were developing into household names. Most of these athletes were men. Many considered women to be too fragile to compete in high intensity sports, and thought it was dangerous for a women to run more than 800 metres for fear she may collapse with fatigue. However, thanks to the 60s and 70s, the feminist movement and some brave women athletes, people’s attitudes have changed. Woman can now do everything a man can do … or can they?
I was at the Rogers Cup semi-final on Saturday night to watch a professional tennis match for the first time. Serena Williams won 6-3, 6-3…then it was over. I turned to my male companion and was surprised to find out that the game was a best of three. I asked what the men play, the answer was the best of five. Why do the women play shorter games? I refuse to believe it is because they couldn’t possible withstand 5 games. After a brief gender in sport argument with my unfortunate friend, I made the argument that maybe the women in tennis only train for a maximum of three sets. Why train for more if the most you’ll play is three. This of course led my to think (as I have many times before) about the grass roots system in amateur sports for girls.
One place I work is in a high performance training centre for hockey players. The ratio is almost 10:1 boys versus girls. With the knowledge we have today about the benefits for strength training, sport conditioning, and performance, why are young girls not encouraged to take off-the-field conditioning programs. I know that many girls do, and these few make great strides in sport, but why not the majority? Where do we start? Do most girls understand that there is no real future in sports for them with respect to professional leagues? I have a friend who is a journalist for a big cycling magazine in the United States. She used to be a professional cyclist on a women’s team. She pointed out to me last year that the women’s cash prizes at big races is much less then that for the men. There just isn’t the same sponsorship money. How do we create more interest?
We have made great strides in getting more and more girls involved with “athletic activities” but are we doing enough to encourage them to play sports? Are parents doing enough to encourage young girls to reach their dreams as athletes? Are we doing enough to properly train girls as we do with boys?
I invite your comments here. Are we doing enough to create an equal playing field for both our young boys and girls? What’s stopping us?
Kathrine Switzer getting pushed by the Boston Marathon race director. He didn’t want women in his race. In the last frame is her then boyfriend pushing him out of her way.
Jen Mark www.dynamicliving.me
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