Photo by Brandi Ibrao on Unsplash
On February 4, 1987, President Reagan designated the first Wednesday of February to be National (Girls and) Women in Sports Day. In the 30 years that have passed, the Women’s Sports Foundation has worked to create and expand opportunities for all girls to have access to sports.
Sports have been a foundation in my life and I actually do remember participating in festivities for this day as an elementary student. I was around ten or eleven and in the Girl Scouts. The area Scouts and a local university held a sports day for girls to meet the university women’s athletic teams and learn the basics of several sports. As an athlete, the lessons of leadership, winning, losing, and overcoming challenges are just a few I gained through sports. It is difficult to imagine who I would be without them.
There are, of course, many studies documenting the qualities and advantages sports give to young people, and young women specifically. The University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport provides lawmakers, researchers and parents with information on bettering the lives American girls. Girls who participate in sports enjoy higher levels of physical competence, self efficacy, confidence, self-esteem, self-worth, and body esteem. As shown in The 2018 Tucker Center Report, these benefits know no threshold, as more activity seems to be associated with increased benefits. Specifically, girls who play team sports are more confident, have a better understanding of themselves, and are mentally and physically healthier than their counterparts who do not participate in team sports. Again, the more team sport participation, the more these benefits seem to develop.
Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash
Sports, especially team sports, allow girls to gain many strengths and pave the way for incredible opportunities. As Business Insider reported, of
400 female executives surveyed, a whopping 94% said they had participated in sports at some time. The importance of having girls participate in team sports throughout the teen years cannot be overstated and the benefits, it seems, are unparalleled and markers for success later in life.
Physical benefits are also well known and include reduced risk of obesity, heart disease, healthier weight, decreased risks of depression, breast cancer, osteoporosis. Active girls are more likely to continue being active in adulthood. Girls who participate in high school sports are also more likely to succeed in college, and the workforce, as well as performing better on standardized tests.
It is imperative that school curricula include physical education for all students. The daily recommendation for children and adolescents is 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. Yet, in 2015, less than one third of high-school students met the physical activity guidelines. This means we are allowing most of our students to be at risk for health issues, both mental and physical, and they could be lacking leadership and teamwork skills, as well. By reducing or removing the opportunity for physical activity at school, we are putting at-risk youth in even more danger of health issues, in both the short and long-term.
Learning to persevere continues to be the most applicable “sports” lesson in my life. Through persevering day by day inside the gym, I know I am capable of difficult things outside the gym. I know I possess the strength to face whatever comes my way, and I know how to try again when I fail because I do it everyday. These are lessons and characteristics all girls desperately need and should be able to access! We, as adults and especially as women, must commit to protecting and expanding opportunities for girls to participate in sports. We are doing a disservice to girls – a potentially long-term, harmful disservice- when we fail to do so.
