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Female participation in sport essay
Factors affecting the performance of athletes
Female participation in sport essay
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Men and women are psychologically different in many ways. Some of these differences include competitiveness, goal orientation, self-confidence, motivation, mental toughness, incentives, preferences, etc. According to Anne Bowker in Sports Participation and Self-Esteem, Men have an advantage over women in sports because they're more aggressive and have higher self-esteem (2003).
There has always been that stereotype of boys being more athletic than girls. The gender segregation of sports reflects more than just physical differences between men and women. It reflects the way men think about women and sports. When someone throws a baseball in a nonathletic way, a friend would yell, “Stop throwing like a girl!” Being reminded of this particular stereotype brings down girls’ self-esteem and hinders their athletic performance. On the other hand, as said in The Impact of Stereotype Threat on Performance in Sports, there is evidence that bringing to mind negative stereotypes about the other gender can improve or lift performance on a physical activity (2003).
An existence of a considerable gender gap in competitiveness is now widely acknowledged. It is very known that men would prefer more competition then women would. Men are usually more eager to compete, and the performance of men tends to respond more positively to an increase in competition.
Many athletes will tell you that confidence is key when playing a sport. If your confidence is low, you will not perform as well as you should. Sources of confidence are closely related to a player's task orientation, perceived task climate, and perceived ability. For this reason, coaches work harder at creating task-oriented practice environments (or climates) and strive to understand the...
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...ender Differences." Journal of Sport Behavior 25.3 (2002): 243. Web. 14Nov. 2013
Nicholls, Adam R., et al. "Mental Toughness in Sport: Achievement Level, Gender, Age, Experience, and Sport Type Differences." Personality & Individual Differences 47.1 (2009): 73-75. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
NiiLampti, N. "An Assessment Of Fear Of Failure As Related To Gender, Athletic Participation, Level Of Athletic Competition, And Sport Type." (2000): SPORTDiscus. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Stone, Jeff, Aina Chalabaev, and C. Keith Harrison. "The Impact of Stereotype Threat on Performance In Sports." Stereotype threat: Theory, process, and application. 217-230. New York, NY US: Oxford University Press, 2012. PsycINFO. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Wilson, R. C. "Sources Of Sport-Confidence Of Senior Adult, College, And High School Athletes." (2000): SPORTDiscus. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
As stated in “Investigating Coed Sports Ability to Encourage Inclusion and Equality”, “Females experienced increased self-confidence and pride.” Moreover, when athletes compete with the opposite sex, their skills are bettered. When players realize their skill set has increased as a result, their self-confidence is boosted. Self-confidence is one of the most important things needed to play sports. An athlete can be very talented but if he does not
Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., & Cumming, S. P. (2009). Motivational climate and changes in young athletes’ achievement goal orientations. Motivation and Emotion, 33(2), 173-183.
It goes without saying that a person's gender, racial and social origins influence their participation in sports. Particular races and genders often dominate certain sports. African Americans, for example, tend to dominate football and basketball, while Caucasians tend to dominate ice hockey. The same holds true for gender as well. Football is an entirely male dominated sport, while horseback riding, gymnastics and figure skating are much more female oriented. How and why did these divisions come about? Determining the origin of gender goes beyond the scope of this paper, however one can speculate about how gender classifications and stereotypes affect one's role in the sports arena.
.In addition young athletes have become more aggressive. Kids that participate in competitive sports are becoming more and more aggressive and competitive the sports have become themselves. Mitchell reveals "traits like bullying and the need to dominate their oppo...
Aggression doesn’t always explain the large difference in male and female sporting activity. Author Micheal A. Messner does have a point that male aggression does affect the response of an audience but it is only valid for sports that involved the need to be aggressive. Still, there is clearly more engaging aspects of male sporting events than women sports.
Stone, Jeff, C. Keith Harrison, and JaVonte Mottley. "“Don't Call Me A Student-Athlete”: The Effect Of Identity Priming On Stereotype Threat For Academically Engaged African American College Athletes." Basic & Applied Social Psychology 34.2 (2012): 99-106. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Mar. 2014
McHugh Engstrom, Catherine, and William E. Sedlacek. "A Study Of Prejudice Toward University Student-Athletes." Journal Of Counseling & Development 70.1 (1991): 189-193. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 May 2014.
Personal interview. 27 Oct. 2013. Coffey, Delice. “Understanding Confidence.” Sports Psychology For Basketball.
In summary, Despite opponents argue, fans want to see thunderous dunks and incredible athleticism over the lesser abilities of females, male competitions is more intense and there is more at risk, and male driven associations produce more revenue than female driven associations. It is apparent that male and females are built differently therefore they have different abilities, females go through the same types of events and often have more on the line, and female athletics aren 't given the same recognition or praise. Then, maybe one day female will receive the same amount of pay as their male counterparts. As, Vera Nazarian once implied, “A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human.”
Steinfeldt J., Zakrajsek, Carter, and Steinfeldt M. (2011). Conformity to Gender Norms Among Female Student-Athletes: Implications for Body Image. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 12(4), 401-416.
To begin with, women are not treated equally in the world today. “According to Arefyev [an olympic mens ski coach, for Russia] women have another purpose [in their lives] to have children, do house work, and to create hearth and home”(Epstein 1). This statement alone proves men do not see women as equal citizens. Men need to realize that women are just as capable, if not more, than them. Also, in the sports aspect, women do not get the same opportunities as men. The reason for this is because men believe if women compete it will, “diminish the masculinity of the sport”(Epstein 3). In many if not all cases this is not true. Women do not want to be compared to men they simply want their own competition.
Sports psychology continues to evolve in order to ensure that comprehensive and evidence-based psychological services are available for athletes and teams. Giving athletes an understanding of their psychological functioning, and building the ability to implement a range of psychological strategies in competition enables athletes to both execute their skills and thrive under pressure as they strive to reach their performance potential.
According to Damon and his colleague, teams and individuals can attain greater consistent levels of confidence if it is based on performance as opposed to outcome. Scholars argue that performance goals are flexible and in apposition to enable athletes to be in control. Progressive achievement in performance will propel athletes to goals achievement and improve motivation. Eventually, their success will be manifested in their tremendous performance which will also attract higher levels of self-confidence. Contrary, the sports people with outcome confidence often believe that higher performance could allow them to improve their social image. All this confirms that the success in sports is integrated with the levels of self-confidence, performance, and outcome. However, it is advisable for athletes and other sports people to focus on their performance but not their outcomes if there is need to improve their skills for the sake of goals
For many years gender inequality in sports was still present, even after the women's right movement, Title IX was passed in 1972 (Sandys, 2007). Title IX banned sex discrimination in any education program that is federally financed. This was supposed to correct the imbalance of treatment between the sexes of college students. Since the passing of the federal gender-equality law, universities started to offer a chance for many of women to participate, that was not previously offered before (Adams & Tuggle, 2004). Now that more women have jumped into the sports arena, many institutions are giving the appearance of offering more sports to females (Hardin & Shain, 2005). Equal opportunity for women in sports would provide better psychological and sociological development that would derive from the impact of sports participation.
Whitley, and Daniel Gould. "Athlete Impressions of a Character-Based Sports Program for Underserved Youth." Journal of Sport Behavior, vol. 37, no. 1, 2014, pp. 3-23, Nursing & Allied Health Database; Physical Education Index; ProQuest Central, http://proxy.lib.wy.us/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.lib.wy.us/docview/1564777882?accountid=29653.