اهمية الرياضة المعتدلة والخفيفة للنساء والفتيات Benefits - Why Sports Participation for Girls and Women: The Foundation Position

اهمية الرياضة المعتدلة والخفيفة للنساء والفتيات

Benefits - Why [b]Sports Participation for Girls and Women: The Foundation Position

A Matter of Health and Well-being
Founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, the Foundation works to increase the participation of girls and women in sports
and fitness through education, grant-giving, recognition and advocacy
programs. That's the Foundation does, but the "why" is most important.
Although there is a federal law that mandates equal participation
opportunities for male and female students in secondary and post
secondary institutions of higher education, the real reason we want
equal opportunity for our daughters to play sports is so they too can derive the psychological, physiological and sociological benefits of sports participation. Sport
has been one of the most important socio-cultural learning experiences
for boys and men for many years. Those same benefits should be afforded
our daughters. It is important for all of us to know that:

As little as four hours of exercise a week may reduce a teenage girl's
risk of breast cancer by up to 60%; breast cancer is a disease that
afflicts one out of every eight American women. (Journal of the National
Cancer Institute, 1994)

40% of women over the age of 50 suffers from osteoporosis (brittle
bones). (Osteoporosis, 1996) None of us should want our daughters to
repeat the experiences of generations of women -- our mothers and
grandmothers -- who were not permitted to play sports or encouraged to participate in weight-bearing exercises that are necessary to establishing bone mmind.

Girls and women who play sports have higher levels of confidence and self esteem and lower levels of depression

Girls and women who play sports have a more positive body image and experience higher states of psychological well-being than girls and women who do not play sports.

Sport
is where boys have traditionally learned about teamwork, goal-setting,
the pursuit of excellence in performance and other achievement-oriented
behaviors -- critical skills necessary for success in the workplace. In
an economic environment where the quality of our children's lives will
be dependent on two-income families, our daughters cannot be less
prepared for the highly competitive workplace than our sons. It is no
accident that 80% of the female executives at Fortune 500 companies
identified themselves as former "tomboys" - having played sports.

Women Without Sports Experience Are Disadvantaged in the Work Setting
The existing American business model is a male model of organizational
structure and human relationships. Males learn the rules of human
organizations and interactions from sport. Sport
is one of the most important socio-cultural learning environments in
our society and, until quite recently, has been reserved for boys and
men.

This is not to say that the male model of business or organizations is
the preferred model. In fact, women are bringing new strengths to
business and organizations that are based on their skills in group
process, preference for cooperation models and sensitivity to human
needs. Eventually, as women rise to executive positions, the
organizational models of business will reflect more female
characteristics and become androgynous.

Right now however, women who don't know the written and unwritten rules of sport are at a disadvantage in understanding business models of organization based on sport. How important is it that our daughters learn the same rules as our sons? It's critical. The most important of those rules are:

Teams are chosen based on people's strengths and competencies rather than who is liked or disliked.
This seems like such a simple concept, yet women have traditionally
learned to pick their friends and emphasize human relationships rather
than skill competencies.

Successful players are skilled in practicing the illusion of confidence.
Boys are taught at an early age and through their participation in sport
that it is not acceptable to show fear. When you get up to bat or play
any game, it is important to act confident and not to let your teammates
know you are afraid, nervous or have a weakness -- even if you are not
confident. Employees who are skilled at practicing the illusion of
confidence -- calmness under pressure, acting sure of self and
abilities, etc. -- get to play the most important positions and are more
likely to be starters. People who are practicing the illusion of
confidence make everything look easy and don't need constant
reinforcement or support.

Errors are expected of people who are trying to do new things. The most important thing is never make the same mistake twice.
Errors are acknowledged immediately by each player and players are
expected to fix their errors and not dwell on them or take criticism of
errors personally. During a game is not the time to have a long
conversation about what you should do or how you might correct an error.
That is something you do during practice before or after the game.

Loyalty to your teammates is very important.
Many women don't understand it when a man who is not doing his job is protected rather than dismissed. Boys learn from sports
that every person on the team has a role to play. Even the players who
sit the bench are positive forces on the team as long as they are good sports
and encourage teammates who play. Players who are satisfied sitting the
bench and waiting their turn to play are valued because they promote
team harmony by not complaining. Not everyone can be successful players.
Few men will criticize their teammates. They will always promote the
strength of their teammates and not mention weaknesses. Women who don't
play sports
are much more critical of each other and much more likely to point out a
teammates' weaknesses if asked to do so. When women do this in business
organizations, they are perceived as disloyal.
This is not to say that we must tolerate incompetence. What is important
is how we do it. If we have an incompetent employee, then good
teammates need to find a position he or she can play or trade that
player to another team. This means that we need to help relocate
employees we no longer wish to keep.

"I will" equals "I can"
Boys playing sports
are taught that being "good at a position" is a function of the will to
achieve and working on the basic skills required for that position.
They also learn that you need to play the position in order to become
adept at that position. Thus, boys grow up thinking that they can
achieve anything they commit themselves to achieving. It is not an
inflated ego or an accident that men apply for jobs for which we may
think them underqualified. It is simply that they have been trained to
believe that they "can" meet a new challenge of a new position and can
learn by doing. Women, on the other hand, believe that advancing to a
new position requires certification, clmindroom training, degrees or
something tangible that says "I am qualified," in addition to being
confident that they can meet the demands of a new position. If they
haven't played sports,
they haven't had as much experience with the trial-and-error method of
learning new skills and positions, and are less likely to be as
confident as their male counterparts about trying something new.

In a hierarchical organization, your boss (the head coach) gives the
orders and the employees (players) follow the head coach's instructions.
Men's organizations are very hierarchical in nature. When playing the
game in the business setting, the coach is all powerful and players
follow orders. If a player has a better idea, he or she gets to the
coach in an informal setting and persuades the coach to consider that
idea. The idea then becomes the coach's idea and is carried into the
business setting.
Women's organizations are more decentralized and collegial. Women are
much more likely to bring a group together, ask everyone to present
their ideas and then come up with an idea or direction that has the
support of the majority of the group. It may be unrealistic to expect
organizations led by men who have been trained in hierarchical
organizations to adopt problem-solving or decision-making models
preferred by women. It may be equally unrealistic to expect your coach
to understand when you speak up to disagree during team meetings.

It is important for our sons and daughters to learn about the
differences in how men and women create different decision-making and
problem-solving organizations, and how to operate successfully in each
environment.

Winning and Losing Has Nothing to Do With Your Worth as a Person.
In sports and in organizations, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Sport
gives you experience so you learn to win graciously and accept defeat
without blowing the experience out of proportion. You learn to separate
the outcome of a game or your performance in one game from your worth as
a person. A bad practice does not make you a bad person. This is a
critically important lesson for all workers.

Pressure, Deadlines and Competition Are Fun.
In sports and in organizations, pressure, deadlines and competition are commonplace. Sport
gives players the experience of dealing with these realities and
learning to enjoy and conquer their challenges. When there are only two
seconds left on the clock, your team is one point down, and you go up
for the jump shot, you learn what pressure, deadlines and competition is
all about and how they can be perceived as exhilarating and fun rather
than scary and distasteful. The bottom line is that most organizations
want to hire people who enjoy and excel in competitive environments. If
we don't give sports to women, we don't allow them to learn how to handle these challenges.

When You Are Too Tired To Take One More Step, You Know You Can
Ultimately, participation in sports
teaches players all about the work ethic: that hard work, repetition,
and constant practice, are the keys to successful performance. Athletes
know that no matter how tired they are, they can tap into a reservoir of
stamina, strength and good thinking -- even under the most difficult of
circumstances - and continue to compete successfully.

Perfection is Sequential Attention to Detail
In sports
and in business, being exceptional is leaving no detail unattended to.
Every athlete has a precise checklist of details involved in every skill
from throwing a curve ball to shooting a jumpshot. The more you study
your opponent and prepare for a game, the more successful you are. Every
great player is a student of their game and great students are always
learning.

Girls and Women Need Encouragement and Aspirational Role Models
Many people think that girls are not as interested in sport as boys. Women's Sports Foundation research shows that boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 9 -- and their parents -- are equally interested in sports participation. However, by the age of 14, girls drop out of sport
at a rate that is six times greater than boys. Girls and women simply
do not receive the same positive reinforcement about their sports participation. Boys receive balls, gloves and sports equipment by the age of two. They see their images on television as sportsmen, they see their photos in the sports section and know from their parents and friends that they are expected to play sports.

Even though our daughters are not as likely to be discouraged from playing sports as they were 10 years ago, they simply aren't encouraged to the same extent as little boys. As a result, they enter organized sport
two years later than little boys and are therefore less likely to have
the skills necessary for early success experiences. If a child is
unskilled, he or she is unlikely to have fun. It's no fun to strike
three times in row. The no. 1 reason why boys and girls play sports is because it's "fun".

We must do a better job of supporting our daughters' sports participation. For Christmas and birthdays, we must find books about girls in sports, give gifts of sports equipment and sports lessons. We need to take our sons and daughters to see women playing sports so they grow up appreciating and respecting the sports skills of women and so our daughters see images of themselves excelling in sports -- because she is not going to see those images on television or in the newspapers. It's no accident that girls' sports participation in Olympic sports increases significantly following the Olympic Games, one of the few times that coverage of women's sports is equal to that of men's sports. Aspirational role models drive youth demand for sports. This top to bottom synergy has not yet become commonplace in women's sports because of limited college and professional sports opportunities and television coverage.

However, the trend is clear: the increased participation and success of
female athletes at the Olympic Games, increased television coverage of
women's college sports, new women's professional sports leagues and the participation increases of females in all sports and all age levels. "We ain't seen nothin' yet!"
[/b]

» Egyptians are committed in ensuring a strong foundation for democratic reconstruction.
» تعبير بالانجليزية عن اهمية الاعلانات
» معاملة الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم للنساء
» يجب توفير قاموس ناطق فى كل المدارس على مستوي الجمهورية لما له من اهمية
» الكتاب: Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women - فتاوى المرأة