A once lesser known sport, water polo is slowly gaining popularity. A sport not for the faint of heart, both men and women’s water polo is an exhausting sport that requires heavy weightlifting and constant training. Even in the off-season, training is never easy. In the Olympics, water polo is known for its brutal underwater fights. In high school, we do not have the funding to capture these fights. Therefore, women’s water polo is one of the most physical and challenging high school sports.
With both a tough season and off-season, there seems to be no time for rest. With only a week of tapering (slowly decreasing physical exertion over period of time) before and after season, players are pushed to their maximum 95 percent of the time. During season, training begins at 6:30 in the morning with either weightlifting or a 350-450 meter swim session. In the afternoon, it’s just two hours of constant plays and scrimmages. With a game or tournament every week, training doesn’t stop for anything, even hail. Our team once practiced in a little storm, and our coaches didn’t allow us to ge...
At the snap of the ball a whole players world could come crashing down. The game of football holds a whooping 47% of all concussions reported in the world, while ice hockey and soccer trail behind. Football is America’s sport and its athletes become the world’s pride and joy, but what happens when an athlete is injured and is struggling to mentally get better. This topic hits close to home for me because it was the one sport my family praised and adored. My older brother who is now twenty five, played highschool football for the Laconia Sachems. Just the name Sachems is enough to make me get the chills. In 2007 the Laconia Sachems the only undefeated team to go on to win the New Hampshire state championship saw success, but my brother went
Women have forever had this label on their back of being too small, too weak, too feminine, and too boring. The traditional gender roles of the female interfere with the extortionate nature of competing in sports. Men are usually the ones to go 100% and give whatever they got, and to show masculinity while doing it. The standard masculinity of being strong, smart, and taking charge over dues the feminine traits of being soft, gentle, and polite. That’s what society has taught us to learn and accept. But the traditional female gender role is diminished when participating in athletics and people may think it’s weird to see females compete at the same level as males do. Men have always had the upper hand in the professional, collegian, and high
It is very clear that college athletes are very devoted and committed adults. It is also very easy to see that these young adults are swamped with practice and game schedules. Many people don’t realize exactly how much time is devoted to practices. An article by O'Shaughnessy (2011) provides a run down of how much time each athlete puts into different sports. Division I baseball players spend 42.1 hours a week practicing on the field.(O'Shaughnessy, 2011) Divi...
Soccer is not seen as a non-traditional sport for women, especially not since the US Women's National Team won the World Cup in 1999, but like most women's sports it was at one time thought of as a male only sport. I grew up in a very athletic family, where both my brother and my father loved to play soccer, so naturally I fell in love with the sport at a very young age, in fact I was about 5 when I started playing. At that time I was one of the few girls playing in the only peewee league; a league that was co-ed. It was really hard for me and I can remember the frustration I went though, because none of the boys believed that I was capable of playing at their level. In their mind I was just a girl and there was no way that I would ever be able to compete with them. This attitude did not just disappear with age, in fact it followed me until I finally found one of the local girls team. I am going to explore the challenges that women have to go through daily in order to compete at the highest-level possible. There are many issues that women must face concerning how they define themselves as a woman and how to relate to the rest of society.
It has taken many years for women to gain a semblance of equality in sports. Throughout history, women have been both excluded from playing sports and discriminated against in sports. Men’s sports have always dominated the college athletic field, but women were finally given a fighting chance after Title IX was passed. Title IX, among other things, requires scholarships to be equally proportioned between men and women’s sports. Although this was a huge gain for women, gender inequality still exists in sports today. An example of this persisting inequality can be seen when looking at men’s baseball and women’s softball. In college, baseball and softball are both major NCAA sports. It is widely accepted throughout today’s society that baseball is a man’s sport, and softball is a woman’s sport. Very few people question why the two sexes are separated into two different sports, or wonder why women play softball instead of baseball. Fewer people know that women have been essentially excluded from playing baseball for a long time. This paper will focus on why softball has not changed the way women’s basketball has, why women continue to play softball, the possibilities and dynamics of women playing baseball with and without men, and the most discriminating aspect of women being banned from playing professional baseball.
The fight for women's ice hockey players to earn respect and acceptance has been hard fought over the past one hundred years. Women have constantly been told that they can not play with men and that there sport is a second rate version of the men's game. The road of women's ice hockey has had many ups and downs but has perservered to the present day and is stronger than it has ever been. The future of women's ice hockey is bright thanks to diligence and hard work of those who kept it all going. Ironically women began playing the sport side by side with men over 100 years ago right at the sports inception. One of the oldest action pictures featuring ice hockey shows men playing with women. Part of the reason that women enjoyed early participation with men is because of the way that the public viewed the game. At the start, hockey was seen as a recreational activity. Women have been routinely barred from participating in serious and competitive sport, but if the game is viewed as merely recreational then women are more accepted. In the 1890's this is what happened to the sport of ice hockey. Suddenly the game was more than recreation and organization entered, rules were drawn and leagues were formed. With the new structure came segregation of the sexes. As the sport progressed for the men, the women were left behind. In spite of all this, the first all female organized game was played in Barrie, Ontario in 1892. Women's ice hockey slowly limped on up until the 1920's.
Football is a game of adversity and emotion. People who have not played a sport or follow one closely don’t understand the emotion behind game. They think that football is just a game, but for those who are involved with the team don’t think so. All those horrendous hours of countless preparation are for something players and coaches love. About a few years ago, a football player at the collegiate level was told that he wouldn’t be able to play another down of football again due to his banged up h...
An Off Season, a Pre Season and a Competitive Season. The Off Seasons provides the player with 6 to 8 weeks of little or no training. The outline for the Pre Season is 2 to 4 months of training, generally starting in October. This period of time, will ensure that the players undertake up to 14 to 15 sessions a week, where the practice the skills of sprint training, aerobic conditioning, resistance training, game theory sessions, recovery session and attendance at physiotherapy sessions. The Competitive Season is where teams compete with one another, in one game per week as well as weekly training. This is where many players may become injured over the 22 round
The following commissioned report was compiled for the Health Studies Faculty of Brisbane Girls Grammar. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the nature of women’s sport, not only in society, but also at the Brisbane Girls Grammar School.
When completing an exercise a person is expecting results that day, during or post workout. Training is a long-term process that creates noticeable and physical results over a span of weeks, even months and years. Training involves planning with preparation for the training duration and progress towards a goal. The desire to win and be better than the competition is essentially important for professional and collegiate athletes. These athletes take training and preparation for a competition to a new level of determination and commitment. For the last two years, I have been working with the University of Oklahoma’s softball team as their student athletic trainer. I attend every practice, workout, and all of their games. As the student athletic trainer, I help with assessing their injuries, with treatment and rehabilitation of their injuries as well as injury prevention. I have watched these women go through some strenuous workouts and have seen their improvements. Some of the girls have asked about taking CrossFit classes or other workout programs during winter and summer breaks. Our strength coach advised against taking the CrossFit classes that he has not specifically approved. He
For most of human history, athletic competition has been regarded as an exclusively masculine affair. Women weren't aloud to watch most sporting events let alone participate in them. Not till late 19th century did women really begin participating in sporting events. Although women were permitted to participate in many sports, relatively few showed interest, for a variety of social and psychological reasons that are still poorly understood. Title IX declares: "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid." Therefore sex should not deem females athletic ability as inferior in comparison to men. Women are physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of playing any sport just as men are.
Creative new training methods, developed by coaches, athletes and sport scientists, are aimed to help improve the quality and quantity of athletic training ( Kellmann, 2010, p.1). However, these methods have encountered a consistent set of barriers including overtraining ( Kellmann, 2010, p.1). Due to these barriers, the need for physical and mental recovery in athletics brought an increasing attention in practice and in research ( Kellmann, 2010, p.1).
Professional sports have been one of the most successful industries on earth. Not only does it provide entertainment for millions of people, it provides an escape that is critical to many people’s lives. However, there are many risks for professional athletes when they take part in their jobs. Injuries have always been a major concern in sports, especially concussions. Concussions have been this generation’s favorite injury to debate. These are very dangerous situations, and commissioners need to do everything they can to avoid this deadly injury. It is often said that concussions are not the most serious injury in sports. I say they can ruin athlete’s lives. Professional athletes should be mandated to take a leave of absence if they
The sport of soccer has overcome many changes through the years. In particular, women’s soccer compared to men’s soccer has gained much notoriety. The widespread knowledge of soccer has spread throughout numerous countries. Soccer began as primarily a men’s sport, but today soccer is considered a sport that both genders participate in. Women’s soccer has changed dramatically over the years with the increase in popularity as well as new style and rules of the game.
Women in Sports Challenges appear to be part of the human experience. In the course of history, very little has come easily. The progress that women have made in sport in the United States over the course of the last 100 years seems remarkable for the amount achieved in so little time. In relation to the other advances made in this century, including men's sport, that achievement dims. While women have made great advances, they haven't, in comparison, come that far.