Sports culture and social impact

Sports

When she was in high school, my mother played basketball. Only they didn't call it basketball; they called it netball. The rules of the game are nearly identical to basketball except that there are only seven players on each team on the court. Netball, my mom told me, was the most popular girls' sport in school and she happened to be the captain of her team. When I asked if she wished she could have played basketball instead she laughed and said no. Netball was known as "the female version of basketball." Girls didn't play basketball and boys didn't play netball; it was that simple. Gender-differentiated sports don't score in the politically correct educational environment in the 21st century United States. When I first learned of my mother's experiences with netball and with sports in general I was appalled because although girls and boys often engaged in different athletic activities, students could not be excluded from a sport simply because of their gender. However, as I reflected on my mother's experiences I came to believe that gender-differentiated sports could have a positive impact on athletics in general. When females play their own sport like netball, they have the opportunity to excel without being compared to males. Women's professional sports, with the possible exception of tennis, rarely receive as much media coverage or credit in popular culture as men's professional sports.

During the interview, my other also revealed her general appreciation for physical fitness and athletics. Not only did she excel at netball; she also ran for her college track and field team and played several sports occasionally and casually including tennis and golf. She remains interested in sports and although not at her peak physical condition continues to be fit and healthy. Because her interest in sports was piqued by netball I view gender-specific sports as being potentially beneficial for both genders. My mother received an unusual level of support from her family and peers, too. Rather than tell her that sports were for boys, or teasing her about being a tomboy, my grandparents encouraged my mother. Sports were viewed as a natural way to improve health and well-being. Similarly, my mom's friends participated in sports because they found netball and other activities fun and stimulating. Not all women in my mom's generation were encouraged to do sports and yet others were challenged to reveal their sexual orientation. Growing up in Jamaica, however, my mother's upbringing was different than mine for cultural and generational reasons. My mom described Jamaican culture as being patriarchal but at the same time promoting an image of strong women that prompted people like my mother to develop their athletic skills

As a female growing up in the United States, my experiences with physical activity were conflicted. In elementary school I excelled at sports and participated fully in track and field activities. Sports were fun for me and I never remember feeling any real differences between what boys did and what girls did until I entered junior high school. Unlike my mom, I grew up surrounded by sports on the media. Whereas my mom in Jamaica watched some soccer and the occasional American sporting event such as the World Series of baseball or the Super Bowl, my mother was not as inundated with media images of star athletes as I was.

My perception of sports and in particular of women in sports changed in relation to media portrayals of female athletes and female athletic events. Watching football on television was a regular event in my household. Every Monday night my relatives would come over to watch the game. We also watched basketball, baseball and hockey but usually during the playoff season only. None of the sports we watched on television, at least as a family, were female sports except some professional tennis matches. Therefore, I grew up predominantly with images of male athletes. Sports heroes were all men and I had few female athletic role models to look up to, except my mom.

When I entered junior high school, I also noticed a shift in the social perception of sports. My female friends played down the importance of athletics and many of them went out of their way to avoid physical education classes. Not participating in sports became the norm for many of my girlfriends and out of a need to fit in, I also took less of an interest in sports. My lack of participation in organized sports at school did not, however, mean that I became sedentary. On the contrary, I rode my bicycle almost every day and started to take dance classes. I also enrolled in martial arts for three years. Therefore, I remained physically active even though I did not participate in the sports that I came to view as male-dominated because of the role models I saw in school every day and on television. I did not view my decision as having to do with gender until after I graduated from high school and developed a more critical outlook on gender roles and the media.