preface - please do not take this post too seriously and enjoy it in the spirit it is intended.
There are many thoughts about the role that sports play in society or that sports are somehow a reflection of society in some fashion. In some countries, sports play an integral role in the history, in the cultural development of people. There are sports rivalries based on culture, language, religion, social standing and political beliefs. There are examples of sports being both being involved in the resolution of conflicts almost as much as they have been the cause of some. At the base, sports are games, games meant to be fun when played or watched. Yes, there are professional athletes that make very significant livings playing sports, who become idols and role models for many, who use their athletic prowess as a means to speak out on societal issues, get involved in charitable causes and give back to the community. There are also those whose celebrity status as athletes, gives them a sense of entitlement whereas society's do not apply to them and therefore they have free reign to behave as they wish without worry about consequence. So where am I going with all this? Well if sports are reflection of society, where is there still so much surprise about women ( or women and girls for that matter), being hard core sports fans, wanting to be athletes and wanting to be given every opportunity as men. There is a commercial that we wide circulating recently about the gender pay gap between male and female sports ( in this case NBA and WNBA) called Equal, which I thought was fantastic. If you don't know what I am talking about, you can find it via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It5WjS380e0 So if women can be surgeons, firefighters, cops, soldiers, pilots, or any other role that many would consider to be male dominated, why can't women know about sports. Seriously! If you have my posts, you know about my strong belief in everything women's sports and women in sports. You will also know why my beliefs have come to be. If you haven't, I won't rehash all the whys but in essence as someone who only coached women's soccer for 27 years, I had a front row seat to witness bias, stereotype and lack of equity when it came to the issues of women in sport or women and sport. I didn't experience but I witnessed it. When I was younger, a teenager, I have female friends who loved sports, who played sports and excelled in them. Typically they were tagged in one of three ways, they were butch / tomboys, they must be lesbians, or they were trying to impress guys. When I started coaching, my athletes were also my friends and they had to deal with bias and stereotype. When my coaching career became more serious and I moved onto more elite levels, I faced having less financial means, less exposure, and less support than my counterparts coaching the same level... but male teams.So yes, I advocate for women in sport because I think it is right and about time. So here is the thing, Some girls really, really love sports. Have you fallen over in shock? Can you even believe it? GIRLS. LIKING. SPORTS. What?!?!?! Crazy, right? It can be tough for a woman to do anything not associated with being stereo-typically feminine, and liking sports, according to most people, is on the list of those things. For too many ( men specifically) , major league sports belong solely to The Man's World, and being a sports fan falls decidedly into the domain of manhood. Women who are just as passionate about sports as men are often seen as some kind of anomaly, who presumably are either just pretending to be into sports, or is a lesbian. (Can you feel my eyes rolling throughout this paragraph? Just making sure.) If you're a woman who likes "man stuff"—like sports, or chicken wings, or whatever, you will undoubtedly find yourself subject to a lot of questioning about your intentions, and assumptions about who you are as a person, all based on this one piece of information: You identify as both a woman and sports fan. People are often shocked by you. They don't know what to do or say. They're stunned, probably hoping to get a good video of you being weird they can put online to go viral, with the claim that they spotted a true societal rarity. But women who like sports walk among us. They're everywhere. They're not just at games with their boyfriends, they're there because they WANT to be there. Maybe, in fact, THEY are the ones who dragged THEIR disinterested boyfriends down to the sports bar to watch the game. As I am married to a hard core sports fan, and because she and I have friends who are female and are also hard core sports fans, we always joke about the typical male comments that they have experienced when their love of sports, any sports comes up. These are some of my favorites. "It's so weird to meet a girl who likes sports so much!" Nah, it's really not. women liking sports isn't a rare occurrence. There are literally millions of female sports fans. What IS weird is meeting someone in 2019 who has such anachronistic ideas about women do and do not like! Can we get past the whole "pink is for girls and blue is for boys" thing, please? And why is no one ever as shocked to meet a male who doesn't like sports? Why is it the sole domain of women to fit into male decided gender stereotypes? "Your boyfriend ( husband) is so lucky you like sports!" So somehow, having a significant other who likes sports makes a guy lucky. Not that "she" might be smart, witty, funny, beautiful or successful. The fact that "she" might be into sports is could be one aspect of who "she" is but yet that is the one that makes her an awesome girlfriend. Mansplaining! Nothing else needs to be added. I mean, I can get it why being mansplained is annoying, frustrating and insulting. I am sure, I have been guilty of it but I really try and keep it in checked. When a woman loves a game and knows the rules and the players inside out, it's insulting to have a man condescend to explain things about it to her. Yes, women are as capable of having a grasp on and knowledge of sports games as much as men. So is there even such a thing as womensplaining... because I know many women who could womensplain about sports to a lot of men I know. "Who do you think is the hottest player?" Just because someone is a girl who likes sports, it doesn't mean that she's in it just for the cute guys in tight pants aspect. There's a chance that she's, you know, actually interested in the game they're playing. And also, even if a woman comments on the look of a male athlete, don't let that invalidate the genuine interest or understanding of the game itself. Remember its sports, bot life or death ( ok for some it is) so it's okay to have fun about it. Because, let's be honest, no man ever has commented on how pretty a female athlete is right ? No man ever has had his sports knowledge because he found a female athlete pretty? Ok sidebar, commenting on who pretty a female athlete a man might do is also any sign of ignorance men, that somehow, the looks of a female athlete are somehow more worthy than her prowess... but that coul dbe a whole other post. "You know, the women's league is actually not that bad" ok, so this one I can comment in from experience. First of all, women's sport are not some watered down version of the male equivalent, it is the same sport, played by athletes, who happen to be women. People watch little league or minor league baseball, college sports or etc and don't comment about it being "not bad". They enjoy it on its merits. But even more importantly, the thing is, just because someone's a woman, it doesn't mean she follows the woman's league! While women's sports are JUST as good and JUST as important as men's sports, the unfortunate fact is the major leagues are all male teams, and women are allowed to be wild about them without the addendum that they're also big on women's sports. "Do you really like sports or are you trying to impress a guy" Ok, this one, I think might occur less in today's reality ( or maybe not, I will let women who read this decide). Yes, women can only love sports and fake a super-involved, all-consuming passion for something that they don't actually care about at all, just for the sake of trying to fit in with men. Let's be honest, if there is any faking enjoyment about something just to impress a member of the opposite gender, it is probably being done by a man. "You're not like other women, it's cool you like sports" So the simple fact of liking sports differentiates one female from another? If you insist on upholding the stereotype of "normal girls" at least don't assume that a woman liking sports means that they are completely somehow different than women who don't. They might be or not! When this is said it assumes one part of a women's being and interests defines the ensemble of who she is, but more importantly, it might be just a comment about what kind of unfair clichés the man upholds. "I'm so impressed!" Why? Is this female sports fan also solving world hunger? Finding a cure for cancer? Creating peace in the Middle East? Doing volunteer work in her community? An excellent singer? A great sports-player in her own right? Is she doing anything extraordinary at all? Because news flash: Sitting on the couch enjoying a beer and wings and screaming at a game on the TV is not a feat that takes all that much skill. Liking sports is no more impressive than liking celebrity news or being up to date of reality TV. It's like enjoying reading or yoga or drawing or any other kind of leisure activity. It's just another thing a woman enjoys, and there's no need to act like it's the bravest, most unbelievable thing she's ever achieved, ESPECIALLY when any of her other personal activities are viewed that way. So next time you hear a male being surprised or impressed that a woman REALLY knows about sports, you can have two reactions, agree, or tell yourself, what makes that male so impressive that his opinion is worth something. Just saying. Ok, time to go watch sports....
0 Comments
|
AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
|