Getting Girls in to Sport
"Well if you're looking for love, Honey I'm tougher than the rest" - Tougher Than The Rest
In a post London Olympics world not much has changed in the world of sport and most certainly not in the world of sport for young women. When I was growing up I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by friends and family who did everything they could to encourage myself and my peers to try all sports and to have fun with it. They did not care if it was a game of net-ball, cricket, hockey, rugby or even a DIY version of hurling played in the field with a hockey stick and an old football - sport was sport nothing more nothing less.
Never did it cross our minds that sport was confined to one sex or another. If we wanted to play football that is exactly what we did - we didn't think twice of it. And that's how it should be. But today however, only a few years on from my experience of sport as a child, it seems that things are not as they were. Apparently now some young girls do not wish to participate in sport that will make them sweat, make their make-up run or that will make them look less-attractive to the opposite sex. Girls, what's up with that?
Sport is something that can bring people together, can make a whole nation sit on the edge of their seats before bursting with joy. Sport can be something incredible if you let it be. By not participating in sport for the previously listed reasons is something I can not comprehend. Why would you deprive yourself from the immense fun that could be had by just running around with a few friends in an open field, working together to achieve something? Well, it is most definitely a million times better than sitting in a maths class trying to figure out if Pythagoras is an equation a person or a place in Greece where you went on holidays last year. Oh, and girls - sport has no gender barrier, if you want to play it, you can.
Things were different 60 or 70 years ago when women were told that there place was in the home to look after the family's domestic situation but almost all of that changed during the feminist movement of the 70's as women fought for their right to do what they wanted - not what 'The Man' wanted (whoever 'The Man' is).
Having played football whilst in primary school and rugby for many years in my teens I know that some people will judge and say that only men should be playing those sort of games and if you're a girl participating in these sports then you must be a "lesbian or sumffink'". I assure you these people are very few and far in between and they are also people who have never bothered to watch women play these games and are showing themselves up more than insulting you. The majority of the people I came across, both male and female, thought that what myself and a few of my friends were doing in playing rugby was very impressive.
Girls, you don't have to become the next Jessica Ennis (unless you want to that is), don't think you have to throw yourselves in to the deep-end and start an Olympic-style training routine that will see you throw up in a bucket at the end of every training session like you see on those TV programmes. Why not go for walks or jogs with your friends after school or even a fun swim session on the weekend with those awesome floats and slides that everybody loves.
According to the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, just 12% of 14-year-old girls do the recommended amount of physical activity of any kind, which is both shocking and expected.
Schools need to get much more involved in encouraging these younger girls to try an array of sport to find the one that suits them because I am very aware that not every girl likes hockey and/or net-ball. They also need to emphasise that there are no ' only girl sports' and 'only guy sports'. In doing this they will break down this mental barrier that more and more self conscious girls are being fed through 24 hour media images of what a girl should look like and how she should behave in an age of Rihanna and Nicki Minaj.
Instead of looking up to these women who promote drug taking amongst other negatives, why not see Olympians such as Jade Jones, Nicola Adams, Katherine Grainger as people to aspire to. It is with a change in mentality like this that girls will begin to lose their ever increasing self consciousness and have fun with sport instead of worrying about how they look every time they step out on to the field.
In a post London Olympics world not much has changed in the world of sport and most certainly not in the world of sport for young women. When I was growing up I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by friends and family who did everything they could to encourage myself and my peers to try all sports and to have fun with it. They did not care if it was a game of net-ball, cricket, hockey, rugby or even a DIY version of hurling played in the field with a hockey stick and an old football - sport was sport nothing more nothing less.
Never did it cross our minds that sport was confined to one sex or another. If we wanted to play football that is exactly what we did - we didn't think twice of it. And that's how it should be. But today however, only a few years on from my experience of sport as a child, it seems that things are not as they were. Apparently now some young girls do not wish to participate in sport that will make them sweat, make their make-up run or that will make them look less-attractive to the opposite sex. Girls, what's up with that?
Sport is something that can bring people together, can make a whole nation sit on the edge of their seats before bursting with joy. Sport can be something incredible if you let it be. By not participating in sport for the previously listed reasons is something I can not comprehend. Why would you deprive yourself from the immense fun that could be had by just running around with a few friends in an open field, working together to achieve something? Well, it is most definitely a million times better than sitting in a maths class trying to figure out if Pythagoras is an equation a person or a place in Greece where you went on holidays last year. Oh, and girls - sport has no gender barrier, if you want to play it, you can.
Things were different 60 or 70 years ago when women were told that there place was in the home to look after the family's domestic situation but almost all of that changed during the feminist movement of the 70's as women fought for their right to do what they wanted - not what 'The Man' wanted (whoever 'The Man' is).
Having played football whilst in primary school and rugby for many years in my teens I know that some people will judge and say that only men should be playing those sort of games and if you're a girl participating in these sports then you must be a "lesbian or sumffink'". I assure you these people are very few and far in between and they are also people who have never bothered to watch women play these games and are showing themselves up more than insulting you. The majority of the people I came across, both male and female, thought that what myself and a few of my friends were doing in playing rugby was very impressive.
Girls, you don't have to become the next Jessica Ennis (unless you want to that is), don't think you have to throw yourselves in to the deep-end and start an Olympic-style training routine that will see you throw up in a bucket at the end of every training session like you see on those TV programmes. Why not go for walks or jogs with your friends after school or even a fun swim session on the weekend with those awesome floats and slides that everybody loves.
According to the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, just 12% of 14-year-old girls do the recommended amount of physical activity of any kind, which is both shocking and expected.
Schools need to get much more involved in encouraging these younger girls to try an array of sport to find the one that suits them because I am very aware that not every girl likes hockey and/or net-ball. They also need to emphasise that there are no ' only girl sports' and 'only guy sports'. In doing this they will break down this mental barrier that more and more self conscious girls are being fed through 24 hour media images of what a girl should look like and how she should behave in an age of Rihanna and Nicki Minaj.
Instead of looking up to these women who promote drug taking amongst other negatives, why not see Olympians such as Jade Jones, Nicola Adams, Katherine Grainger as people to aspire to. It is with a change in mentality like this that girls will begin to lose their ever increasing self consciousness and have fun with sport instead of worrying about how they look every time they step out on to the field.
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