When I was in high school there were no extra-curricular
activities in the persuasion of sports for girls. Nothing at all. Our male
counterparts had a plethora of choice, rugby, football, basketball and pretty
much any team sport you can think of. The girls however, had to either sit in
detention for forgetting their PE kits or go home and watch TV. Imagine the
surprise of the teachers and heads when a girl… yes a GIRL asked to join the
basketball club. No, they said, for “obvious reasons”. Well they weren’t
obvious to her. What about the hockey club? No again? But why? They told her
she could get hurt. It was true that most of the boys in the team were about a
foot taller than her but she was just as
fast.
It ended up our girl started her own sports club just for girls. The only
way to get her friends interested was make it about dieting and looking good
and she managed to persuade the young women to come to circuit training once a
week at the sports centre. The first week was great. Our female sports fan had
got in touch with the local council and asked for funding for a trainer or
coach. There were twelve in attendance and the woman who was talking them
through the circuits was great fun and so enthusiastic. The following week
however, the coach wasn’t there. The team of girls stood near the hoops and the
steps and the skipping ropes laid out and no one stepped forward to start the
session. After that, no one came.
PE in school was always so boring. Girls were
taught how to do the indoor sports, high-jump, aerobics, netball. You can
imagine even the most eager sports lover would ‘accidentally’ forget her kit so
she could sit and chat with her friends. After years of girls being told sport
is not for them they start to believe it, and start getting used to the idea.
2012 brought the London Olympics and Para-Olympics and with
it came many idols for the next generation. A huge number of people took up
sports again after seeing men and women achieving such incredible feats. Sports
in High School clearly hadn’t put everyone off. The number of park runners
seemed to increase along with the teams of rowers for local clubs. Everyone
seemed to have some fancy towards a better version of themselves that included
a higher level of fitness.
We were given role models in abundance. Jessica
Ennis and Ellie Simmonds for the women, Bradley Wiggins and Jonnie Peacock for men.
After the hyper-speed-buzz of the
Olympic summer calmed to an autumn trot we all got back to our old selves.
Well, most of us. Some amazing women did not stop there though. An incomprehensible
gender shift happened when no one (other than cricket fans) was looking. Sarah
Taylor, the wicketkeeper for the England Women’s cricket team is set to cross
the sex divide and play in the men’s team. I nearly fell off my proverbial
stool when I heard this ground breaking news.
Of course, the whole reason it is
so amazing is that it shouldn’t be amazing at all. Why on earth is this the
first time this has happened? I am taking this as a good omen, that women and
girls will begin, slowly but surely, to feel included and that sport is not a
boys-only club but an everyone club.
I bought a zip-up sports bra from M&S. It was white with red and blue bits. I loved it, and it was so useful that I lots lots of weight and I finally saved up enough money to buy one in a smaller size.
ReplyDeleteWhen I returned, this item in now sold in pink trim, or now black but with leopard print trim! Apparently the blue and red was just for the Olympics :O( I had to buy it in pink!
Slightly more on-topic. I felt no enthusiasm towards sports at school. My dislike of the subject began when we had to do it in our underwear and continued right up to the end of school when I got a D for attainment and a 4 out of 5 for effort.
I feel that school children should be offered a choice of physical activity where possible and emphasis on it being a recreation not an education.
As for gender, we were separated by gender for PE in secondary school, and the sporty girls in the class were intimidating enough without the idea of having boys there too.
I think that body images definitely plays a part in turning girls off of sports. And of course, if you're turned off of something from a young age, it's likely to stick, at least until we make a conscious effort to change it. Thankfully, attempts are being made towards sending positive messages to girls about body image, though we are still constantly bombarded with skinny girls and objectification of women's bodies.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I really liked this post :)