Physical Health Education, JSS 3, Week 3
TOPIC : Why girls drop out of sport
Content
- Reasons why girls drop out of sport
- Reasons why they need to participate in sport
By age 14, girls are dropping out of sports at two times the rate of boys. The Women’s Sports Foundation has identified key factors which contribute to this alarming statistic.
- Lack of accessibility: Girls have 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than boys have. Lack of physical education in schools and limited opportunities to play sports in both high school and college mean girls have to look elsewhere for sports –which may not exist or may cost more money.
- Girls sometimes don’t receive the support they need from their family. The primary place where girls learn about gender roles is the family. Families still tend to engage, perhaps unconsciously, in gender stereotyping, conveying to girls the message that girls are not meant to be found in sport or they call t rough play.
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Poor coaching: study as to why they dropped out of sports, the fourth highest was that coach was a poor teacher; number nine was that the coach played favorites. Coaches who berate and belittle girls turn sports into such a hurtful, harmful experience that dropping out becomes for many a way to avoid further damage to their self-esteem.
- Teenage girls experience a crisis of confidence: Studies confirm what women know from their own experiences as teenagers: that girls suffer a severe crisis in confidence and larger drop in self-esteem during adolescence than boys (who gain self-confidence as they mature). As a result, girls are more likely to quit sports and other challenging activities than boys because they don’t view themselves as being good enough.
- Social Stigma: Girls in sports may experience bullying, social isolation, negative performance evaluations, or the loss of their starting position. During socially fragile adolescence, the fear of being tagged “gay” is strong enough to push many girls out of the game.
- Lack of positive role models
Reasons why they need to participate
Girls need to participate in sport because of the following reasons
- There will be safety and transportation issues
- Girls will learn important life skills such as teamwork and conferences
- Girls active in sports during adolescence and young adulthood are 20% less likely to get breast cancer later in life
- It helps to enhance self image
- Girls’ involvement with sports is related to higher levels of family satisfaction, in both single-parent and dual-parent families
- High school female athletes have more positive body images than non-athletes.
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