Author: Sofia Mino Essay topic:Girls in Sports

Sofia Mino

Ms.Long

English

11 November 2016

  Girls in Sports

Being part of a sports team makes life more fun, challenging, and sociable. Even though sports have these benefits, girls are twice as likely to drop out of sports than boys, according to Huffington Post. Growing up my dad made me do sports such as track and field, figure skating, and swimming. By being involved in sports, I was healthier, motivated and I made new friends. It is disheartening how many women are not involved in sports. It is essential for a woman to be in sports because it benefits social life, health, and academic performance.

    According to Brooke De Lench, being on a team means you have a better social life: “sports can gain girls entry into the often complex social hierarchies of high school” (Lench).  Girls who participate in sports see their team members everyday for practice; they’re like a second family. Female athletes also have the opportunity to meet other people that enjoy the same sport as them. For example in soccer if you advance to a high team, you will meet a whole new group of people. Having more friends from being on different teams, allows girls to have higher self-esteem, better self-image, and more self confidence. This is important because many women need to feel perfect. When girls have supporting friends, their are more comfortable with themselves and their bodies. These qualities will helps girls get to a higher place in the sport and in life. Not being involved in sports can make you hang out with the wrong crowd. This risks women getting into drugs, alcohol, and unwanted pregnancies. This can ruin a woman’s social life.   

Not only are sports beneficial to girls socially but sports also confer several health benefits. Sports motivate women to exercise, and eat healthy. According to Scott E. Crouter, there are benefits from living a healthy lifestyle: ‘’Young female athletes are generally healthier and have a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity throughout life, reducing their risk for other diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease” (Crouter). Sports demand people to always be healthy throughout the season.

Sports not only require your body to be fit, but they also require your brain to be fit because sports encourage better academic performance. To play a team sport in high school, students need to pass all classes. This rule motivates athletes to try their best in school so they can play; if you are failing any class you get time off at practice or not allow to play the next game. Nobody wants that to happen to them when they're an athlete because they can miss an important competition, such as the State Championships. Scott Crouter believes that athletes have better life skills: “Athletics teaches young women confidence, assertiveness, and time management” (Croter). Overall, our brains need to be stimulated by activity so they perform well for academics.

We need to make a change for women to interact in more sports. The only way to let women know is to send a message how important it is to always be active, and to take care of our bodies. No matter what body type women have, they can be successful in sports as long as they put in the time and effort. We must inspire females that we can do anything as men. We do not give up; we try our best. If we do good now, it will lead to a healthy future.

Works Cited:

Crouter, Scott E. "Benefits of Sport Participation for Young Females." American College of         Sports Medicine. N.p., 7 Oct. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

Lench, By Brooke De. "Sports Benefit Girls In Many Ways." MomsTeam. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

"Marketing and Communications." How Sports Benefit Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.

Moses, Edwin. "The Importance of Retaining Girls in Sports." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Aug. 2015. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

Multimedia: 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2015585-25-most-influential-women-in-sports