Girl Champions
On the football field, the basketball courts, the baseball diamonds and the soccer fields, the number of school age girls in teams sports were once a small minority. Now, women athletes are world champions and the stage is set for the small minority to become an army millions strong.
Experts say the new women role models, like Mia Hamm, a champion soccer player on the USA women’s soccer team, have changed athletics for young girls. “I think what has happened in the past few weeks has just reinforced that idea that if they want to play ball they want to go to college on scholarship that avenue is open for them where it might not have been 20 or 30 years ago,” says Bill Brown, sports writer.
Brown says the glass ceiling for women in sports has now been broken. Little girls seem to know no limits when it comes to athletics; but, perhaps more importantly, they are beginning to value brawn over beauty. “Mia Hamm, she’s a pretty woman but I hope that people like her for what she can do and not what she looks like,” says 13 year old Jamie. Now, Jamie and her friends can pursue athletic scholarships and careers in professional sports. The role models have paved the way. Mom and dad just need to offer encouragement.
What Parents Should Know
For girls, participation in any sport can build confidence, agility, physical fitness, and assertiveness. Soccer seems to be all the rage of late, but girls can excel in any sport whether it is fencing, gymnastics, soccer or basketball.
Parents can help gear their girls in the right direction by trying to determine what interests an individual child and focusing on a child’s physical and mental strengths.
The following tips can help:
- Try to determine if the child seems to excel as a member of a team sport or in sports which are focused more on individual play.
- Set girls up for success rather than failure. Enroll girls in sports where they can succeed. It’s important that they have positive experiences in their initial encounters with athletics.
- If girls shy away from an intensely competitive environment, try to find an instructional league that will allow them to benefit from athletics without developing a win at all costs attitude. For more competitive girls give them every opportunity to compete with the boys on an equal playing field.
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“Mia Hamm, she’s a pretty woman, but I hope that people like her for what she can do and not what she looks like.” --Jamie, age 13 |
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Soccer! Soccer! Soccer! Now that the United States has won the women’s World Cup what will happen next? Currently there is no professional league for women, but if men’s soccer is any indication of things to come there may be one in the next few year. Women soccer players are pushing for the establishment of a women’s league, but say they will need young players interested to build a pool of women players. Consideration is being made by U.S. Soccer for establishment of a women’s league, and some say that after the 2000 Olympics, a U.S. league of some sort becomes a necessity. In the meantime, the only option to play professionally is in the few international leagues that exist. |
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Girls In The Middle IStudies show that at very young ages girls and boys have about the same level of interest in sports. However, middle school girls’ interest in athletics drops of significantly when compared to boys. Part of the change is the lack of support and reinforcement that girls receive. To keep them active participants, parents and coaches must encourage them and continuously expose them to women in sports. |
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Resources
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1) Winning Soccer for Girls For
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