Bringing Up Athletic Girls: Why our Daughters Should Play.

October 27, 2009 by Administrator
Filed under Health & Body

By: Evangelia Biddy.

“Sports can help girls avoid the dangerous minefields of adolescence…”

– Jean Zimmerman

teen-girls-playing-soccer

Go to any nursery and you’ll see baseball gloves and tiny footballs in the bassinets of newborn boys. By age three most dads have their boys in the backyard teaching them how to throw, catch, pass and handle the ball. By kindergarten boys tend to be further along the athletic skill spectrum than girls. This social conditioning – seeing boys as athletes – starts early. Boys get the message that they are expected to play! Girls just don’t get introduced to sports with the same enthusiasm.

Although girls are participating in sports in record numbers, especially in suburban America, there is still a long way to go in achieving parity with male sports in most school systems. As girls move from childhood to early adolescence physical activity and organized play become a smaller part of their lives. Poverty further limits a girl’s access to sports, especially girls of color who are overrepresented in lower socioeconomic groups. This is particularly troubling as research continues to show that girls who play benefit in so many ways from increased physical activity and organized team sports. “Sports and physical activity”, assert Jean Zimmerman, author of Raising our Athletic Daughters, “can help girls avoid the dangerous minefields of adolescence and reach their full potential.”

Why is girls’ participation in athletics educationally important?

Athletics, like math and science develops skills and opportunities young girls need to excel. Girls who play do better in school. Sports improve learning, memory and concentration, which can give girls important tools in the classroom.

Girls who play sports are less likely to drop out of school, more likely to go on to college and more likely to graduate from college. Statistically, high school girls who participate in sports have higher grades than non-athletes. Middle and high school girls who are involved in sports are more likely to avoid high-risk and self-destructive behaviors like drinking, experimenting with drugs and smoking. They are also more likely to delay their first sexual experiences and more likely to have fewer sexual partners. The Institute for Athletics and Education reports that high school girls who play sports are 80 percent less likely to become involved in an unwanted pregnancy.

Sports in the lives of girls offer tangible experiences of competency and measurable success, thereby increasing a girl’s self-confidence. Self-confident girls assert themselves on the field and in the classroom.

The Health Benefits of Sports in the Lives of Girls:

Certainly the physical benefits for girls who remain active throughout middle and high-school are many. Girls’ early involvement in physical activity can reduce their likelihood of developing a number of chronic diseases and unhealthy conditions, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol. A report from the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Task Force on Women and Girls cited a study showing that women and teens who exercise regularly reduce their risk of contracting pre-menopausal breast cancer by as much as 50 percent. Other subsequent studies conducted at Harvard’s Graduate School of Public Health have gone on to show that girls who participate in high school and college sports are significantly less likely to contract breast cancer and other reproductive cancers. All researchers agree that physically active girls are less likely to join the epidemic of childhood obesity that seems to have taken over schools across the country.

Regular physical activity helps build greater peak bone mass, thereby reducing adult risk of osteoporosis. The latest research of sports and girls show that not only do girls who participate in sports have higher levels of self-esteem; they also have lower levels of depression and enhanced mental health. Girls who play have more positive feelings about their bodies and are less likely to suffer from eating disorders.

Sports Outside the Classroom:

In the same way that sports help boys expand their social circles and build positive peer groups, sports help girls make friends who support them on and off the field. For girls struggling to fit into a particular social group, sports maybe the answer.

“Sports also play an important role is helping young women reclaim their own personal sense of power and control in their lives”, shares Deb Erickson, a personal development trainer who has worked with women’s athletic teams. “Athletic participation helps girls learn about goal-setting, pursuing excellence in performance and other achievement-oriented behaviors.” Girls benefit from sports in the same fashion as boys do. Girls who play learn the value of teamwork, self-reliance and self-control. Working with coaches, trainers and teammates to win games and achieve group goals are great practice for real-world experiences, where collaboration with others to meet goals is important to success. The goal for all of us is to help get our girls off the sidelines and onto the field. Let them play, too!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Evangelia Biddy is the editor of Junior Magazine, a publication about raising and
educating successful boys. The magazine features best practices, interviews with
leading authors and experts and actionable solutions for bringing up boys and
building strong families. To subscribe visit juniorthemagazine.com.