Sports - Girls/Women

Menstuff® is actively compiling information and books on the issue of sports for girls/women. No limits.


Sarah Burke Dead at 29. 7:33


Haunting image said to be the accident. I do not recommend watching this.

 

FIFA article draws criticism for referring to Morgan's looks
Bowling
Women Racers
Title IX
If You'd Only Let Me Play
Program Reduces Eating Disorders In Girl Athletes
Why Do Young Female Athletes Lose Their Periods?
My Daughter's A Pro-Linebacker
What if She Doesn't Like Sports?
Women's Pro Football is Back with a Whack
Breast Cancer Awareness Day & the NFL
Introduction to NFL Football for Her
Women of the NFL
NFL for Kids
Flag Football for Girls, Too
World Cup Inspiration
Media Coverage of Women's Sports
Road To Salt Lake
Too Much Exposure?
Women Get the Gold…and the Ink
NCAA's Special Rules
Real Sports Features Women's Pro Soccer in 2002 Collectors' Edition
Ten Ways to Encourage Daughters' Participation in Sports
Books
Resources

If You'd Only Let Me Play


Gabby Reece (ace volleyball player and cover girl) once said "I see my body as a tool, not a fashion accessory." She didn't worry about cuts and scratches. Burns from digging the ball out of the sand. It made me think about how schools and parents deprived their daughters of the athletic experience from the start. In Bobby Socks Softball, girls have to wear shorts, are not allotted to steal home or slide into a base. Them's the rules, they say. I say, we have created and kept the "rules" so that we can systematically keep women down. Even in amateur ice skating, women are required to wear a skirt and not allowed pants. Basically our fascination with the crotch, in my opinion.

I've got a rather radical concept about women in sports. Instead of doing all this separation of grade, high school and college funds by women's sports and men's sports, why don't we simply say that all sports are open to women and men. If we start girls in grade school competing against the best boys and girls in the sport, we'll have better competition. But, we start girls out at a disadvantaging, separating them and giving them fewer advantages. I've seen girl's quarterback their high school team to the state championship. Some will say, "But look at the records. Men have always been stronger and faster than women." And I agree, except for sports like wrestling and the martial arts. In most other sports that require physical strength, there will usually be a man at the top. However, I believe that some women will be above most of the remaining men. I remember "The Flea". He weighed less than 160 pounds and had the record for the most kickoffs for touchdowns for the Kansas City Chiefs. His advantage was that he was very small and quick and could escape the defense. If we, men and women, allow women equal access to time, training and competition against the best in the sport, from day one, I think we'll be amazed how many women will excel. Then, maybe, we get off this thing about sex and get onto the concept of the most capable person. Like high school and college wrestling today, there are girls and women who are succeeding, and my bet is that even the best have not been allowed as much access to the best equipment, training and competition that the best boys and men have had access to. Let's make all sports available to all athletes from day one in school and then we'll really see "the best person win". Think about it! (World Cup)

Why Do Young Female Athletes Lose Their Periods?


When nature sees a female body that’s stressed it says, this is not a good time to get pregnant. So the body turns off ovulation. This means there is no menstrual cycle, which means, like the menopause, there is a risk for thinning of the bones and all the other things that come with it. The medical term for this is amenorrhea.

www.healthcentral.com/drdean/DeanFullTextTopics.cfm?ID=53843&src=n2

My Daughter's A Pro-Linebacker


Women first played as half-time entertainment for NFL teams back in the 1920s. The Women's Professional Football League (WPFL) began with two teams in 1965 and expanded to 8. The National Women's Football League formed with seven teams in 1974 that included several WPFL teams. It expanded to 11 teams in 1976 but by 1982, only two teams could afford to keep going. In 1999, the Women's Professional Football League came back. A barnstrorming tour helped gauge interest in a pro league. On October 14, 2000, a new era in professional sports was entered with 11 teams, again. They will play 10 games, playoffs and then a championship game Feb 4, 2001. With the WNBA completing its fourth season and the Women's United Soccer Association set for next year, women's professional sports have never been hotter. Thought many have never player competitive football, there is a great desire. After all, our schools still prohibit most girls from competing, but, as Garlynn Boyd, 35, a former high school champion shot putter says, "I was bench-pressing 250 pounds in high school and that was more than half the players on the football team." Women also bring a quickness to football that might actually make it a faster game. Stay tuned. I have my fingers crossed! You won't be hearing anything from "the leader in sports," ESPN. According to them, "that is currently not a feature on ESPN.com." So, keep up-to-date at www.womensprofootball.com Teams Results Schedules

Women's Pro Football is Back with a Whack


October 14, 2000 was opening day for the first four games of the new Women's Professional Football League (WPFL) Results. Five more games will be played next weekend. Schedule They will all be playing real tackle footbal except that there is no blocking below the waist (might be something to consider since that's where alot of dirty plays happen in men's football, resulting in alot of major leg injuries). The other differrence is that they use a smaller football so, like NCAA women's basketball, if they really want to get good enough to play on a women's team, they have to get used to the smaller football which will make it even more difficult to break into the money area of football, the NFL. The WPFL, founded by Carter Turner and Terry Sullivan, will have a 10-game season and an all-star game and the championship game on February 4, 2001. Look for 11 new expansion teams by the year 2002, including the Hawaii Waves who will be involved in three exhibition games during the 2000 season, if all goes according to plan. Also, www.womensprofootball.com Teams Results Schedules

The Teams


Here is a listing of the 11 teams for the Women's Professional Football Leauge. The Atlanta Amazons, Chicago Blaze, Milwaukee Minx, and New York Storm had been listed on other web sites but we have not be able to confirm their exsistence as active pro-football teams. Note, there's nothing West of Colorado. And I thought California was the liberated and forward thinking state.

American Conference (Central):
Colorado Valkyries
Minnesota Vixens

American Conference (West):
Austin Rage
Houston Energy
Oklahoma City Wildcats

National Football Conference (South):
Daytona Beach Barracudas
Miami Fury
Tampa Tempest

National Football Conference (East):

New York Sharks
New England Storm
New York Galaxy

Week 1 Results


10/14
Colorado, 12 Minnesota 14
Houston 52 Austin 25
Daytona Beach 34, Miami 17
New England 28; New York Galaxy 0

Week 2 Results


10/21
Tampa 0 Minnesota 63
Austin 20, Houston 30
10/22
Daytona Beach 35, New York Galaxy 6
New York Sharks 16, New England 8
Oklahoma City 0, Colorado 58

Week 3 Results


10/28:
Miami 0, Daytona Beach 27
Austin 19, Minnesota 35
New England 3, New York Sharks 0
10/29
Houston 6, Colorado 62

Week 4 Results


11/4
Colorado 53, Austin 0
New York Sharks 26, Oklahoma City 6
Houston 8, Minnesota 30
Miami 34, Tampa 22
11/5
New York Galaxy 0, New England 32

Week 5 Results


11/11
Minnesota 28 vs Oklahoma City 0
Tampa 6 vs Daytona Beach 62
Miami 12 vs New York Sharks 19
Austin 21 vs Houston 35

Week 6 Results


11/18
New England 3 vs Colorado 7
Oklahoma City 0 vs Houston 21
Tampa 0 vs Miami 33
New York Galaxy 0 vs New York Sharks 41

Week 7 Results


11/22
Miami 20 vs Daytona Beach 21
11/25
Oklahoma City 12 vs Austin 13
Tampa 6 vs Daytona Beach 27
11/26
Colorado 54 vs Oregon 0*

Week 8 Results


Season cancelled - playoff game. The first playoff game featured the Colorado Valkyries at Houston Energy. Houston wins and will proceed to play the Minnesota Vixens for the American Conference Champsionship. The American Conference Championship Game will be aired on the internet at SportsJuice.com

Colorado 0 vs Houston 13 (American Conference Wildcard Game)
Austin 14 vs Oklahoma City 8
Miami 28 vs Tampa 12
New York Sharks 12 vs New England 48

Week 9 Results


Season cancelled - National Conference Wildcard Playoff Game. The New York Sharks loose to New England 7 to 10. The Barracudas will go north to Providence, Rhode Island, to take on New England for the American Confrence Champsionship December 16.

Tampa Tempest won 8 to 7 over a possible 2001 expansion team, the Carolina Cougars in an exhibition game, the only other game played this week.

Week 10 Results


12/16/00 Season cancelled. Houston beats Minnesota 35 to 14 to win the American Conference Championship.

Week 11 Results


1/6/01: The New England Storm defeated the Daytona Beach Barracudas during sudden death overtime by a score of 29-26. The victory sends the Storm to the first WPFL Super Bowl on January 20 against the Houston Energy in Houston.

Week 12 Schedule


World Women's Pro Football Championship Game
1/20/01:
The Championship Game between the National League Champions, the New England Storm and the Houston Energy, the American Conference Champs results in a win for Houston, 39 to 7. As of noon on January 25, no other information was available. This includes numerous calls to the league offices this week and visits to the web site. We couldn't even get an answering machine at 877.922.2695 or 952.833.0915 or 763.587.4900 and they only report the score on the web site at www.womensprofootball.com. And I thought this was a contact sport. Oh well. Maybe they'll be more informative to their fans next year.

*  Exhibition game(s).

Introduction to NFL Football for Her

NFL for Her intends to show a woman's perspective that entertains no matter what your interest level. Topics include:

Women of the NFL

Flag Football for Girls, Too


Here's your chance to be a national champion! NFL Flag Regional Tournaments & National Championship are here! The NFL is proud to announce that the NFL Flag Regional Tournaments and a National Championship will take place this fall. The tournaments are open to boys and girls ages 10-11, boys 12-14 and girls 12-14.

Coaches and Parents - find out everything you need to know to start, operate or coach an NFL Flag league.

Breast Cancer Awareness Day & the NFL


On October 24, 2000, the NFL will donate $5 for every person who logs onto www.nfl.com and then clicks on "NFL For Her". They will donate up to $50,000 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (Men Die Too)

Fashion and football unite!

Renowned American designer, Nicole Miller, has joined forces with the NFL to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the fight against breast cancer. She has designed a colorful silk print which celebrates the NFL and Komen Foundation. Using her flair for design, Nicole's print shows the "softer side of football" with playful football icons and the NFL pink ribbon.

The NFL not only gives a monetary donation ($50k) to the Komen Foundation but also will be supporting the cause with a seven-figure national advertising campaign consisting of 26 in-game spots, 48 daytime spots and 55 ESPN spots.

Famous football players have also donated their time to the cause. While the burly football players might appear tough on the field, off the field they have shown their warmth and love for their family members who have been afflicted by this terrible disease. Whether it is doing a TV commercial or participating in a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure®, players have been participating in the fight against breast cancer.

While the NFL players lend their time and support, Nicole Miller has also shown her enthusiasm. Not only will she unveil her signature NFL/Komen print on Oct. 24th from 6-8 p.m. at her Madison Avenue boutique, but Monday Night Football fans can tune in to see Melissa Stark interview Nicole on Oct. 23rd during halftime of the Miami Dolphins — New York Jets game. The world will see the Nicole Miller tie and scarf and be able to purchase the items on www.nflshop.com

(Editor: We appplaud this act by the NFL, General Motors for developing a special car, the purchase of which supported Breast Cancer Research, and many other corporations that are helping fight this deadly disease. We only wish they cared that much about the equal number of men who will die this year because there is no cure and very little funding of research regarding prostate cancer.)

World Cup Inspiration


Sports Illustrated for Women calls it "Women who Win!" Time calls it "What a Kick". Newsweek says "Girls Rule!" Judging from the June/July '99 issue of MS, if they dared play up women and competition, they'd call it "Chicks Rule!" Whatever the headline, the news has been in the making since Title IX. I loved the players' request of the coaches. "Train us like men, treat us like women."  The most important part of this story is that if we let our daughters play sports early on, and encourage them, they can not only compete in sports successfully, but in the world as well. Secondly, at one time these women were playing soccer for soccer's sake, their joy of the competition, not money and endorsements. Hopefully, young women will be encouraged to compete for the sport of it and not because they can get a college scholarship.

Media Coverage of Women's Sports


The coverage of women sports and female athletes has certainly come a long way -- but there is still a long way to go. Local TV news coverage of women's sports has changed little over the last 10 years and continues to portray female athletes as sex objects, according to a study USC released in early September 2000. Men's sports received the bulk of news coverage -- about 88 percent -- compared to women's, which was close to 9 percent, according to ''Gender in Televised Sports,'' which was commissioned by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. For example, according to the analysis, 2.2 percent -- that's 15 stories about men to 1 on women -- of ESPN's ''SportsCenter'' stories that were aired involved women's sports, and there were no lead stories featuring female athletes. 

Road To Salt Lake


The 2000 Olympic Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, have come to a close. Now the world of Olympic sport turns its attention to colder environs with the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City less than two years away. For women's sports in the United States, that means yet another national team looking to defend gold. At the Sydney Games, U.S. teams in softball, basketball, soccer, and gymnastics all came Down Under with opportunities to defend gold medals won at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. The softball and basketball teams did just that, while the soccer team came up just shy, winning silver after suffering a dramatic 3-2 overtime loss to Norway.

When the Olympic flame flies high over Salt Lake City in 2002, the National Governing Body (NGB) USA Hockey women's national team will be the next American team in search of back-to-back golds, following its 1998 gold medal-winning performance in Nagano, Japan, where the U.S. beat Canada in the finals. Earlier this month, the women's team took further strides toward Salt Lake some 2000-plus miles away in Lake Placid, New York, where the team began training at its new permanent training home.

To get an idea of the development of women's hockey one need only look at the schedule planned for the 2000-2023 winter campaign. Prior to the Nagano Games in 1998, the U.S. women competed almost exclusively against Canada and a few U.S. college teams. This time around additional women's college teams from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will be added as well as teams from Canada's National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). Along with the games in Lake Placid, the U.S. squad will also be matriculating in the Four Nations Cup in Salt Lake City in November 2000 - and in the 2001 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Championships in Minnesota in April 2001.

Dotting the U.S. frozen pond roster are 14 players from the 1998 gold medal-winning squad, including the likes of pipeminders Sarah Tueting and Sara DeCosta; blueliners Chris Bailey, Sue Merz, A.J. Mleczko, Tara Mounsey, and Angela Ruggiero; and forwards Laurie Baker, Alana Blahoski, Karyn Bye, Tricia Dunn, Cammi Granato, Katie King, and Shelley Looney. The national team began training October 1, 2000.

 Too Much Exposure?


Quite the month in women's sports; everywhere I go, I'm asked about naked women. Jenny Thompson with fists over bare breasts in Sports Illustrated while Women's Sports and Fitness Magazine ran a photo of four naked female swimmers barely covered by a less than artfully draped American flag towel.

The flesh issue generated a ton of comment and columns. I wish folks were as consumed about unequal treatment of girls and women in sport as they are with arguing that it's okay for female athletes to display their muscles by appearing unclothed. Why the double standard for female athletes? It's okay for the media to memorialize the athletic performances of male athletes while portraying female athletes as sex objects? I'm waiting for any sport magazine to run a photo of Tiger Woods stark naked with both hands covering his genitalia? Would they even ask him to do it?

Speaking of Tiger Woods, if I was Karrie Webb, I might think of taking my clothes off to see if that performance would rate media coverage equivalent to Tiger's, because matching up to his golf game hasn't. Who is Karrie Webb you say? Overall, Karrie has racked up 24 tourney wins (Woods=25), 21 on the Tour (Woods=22), two in international non-tour events (Woods=3). How about this year? In 2000, Webb won five Tour events (Woods=7), two international non-tour events (Woods=0), finished in the top ten 14 times (Woods=12) and sports a 70.0 scoring average (Woods=68.5). Pretty close, don't you think? However, Woods is a page one story about a young pro who may be the greatest golfer of them all and Webb is lucky if she makes page eight and media isn't comparing her to anyone.

There is another area where Webb and Woods are not in the same ballpark: career earnings. Woods' career earnings are $18,007,950 vs. $5,854,370 for Webb. It's a wonder that more female athletes don't take off their clothes.

Speaking of purses, I loved Stacy Dragila's quote in the August 20, 2000 edition of the New York Times. Dragila, world champ in the women's pole vault was reflecting on the fact that she received 50% of the $60,000 won by her male counterpart in the 1999 world championships in Spain. Looking ahead to the 2000 Olympic Games, where she is the gold medal favorite, she said, "I hope I don't get half a medal."

Speaking of purse equity, kudos to the U.S. Open, the only Grand Slam tennis event that has equal prize money for men and women.

Now, if only Anna Kournikova could win the Open and appear in Sports Illustrated with her clothes on.

Postscript: The week this column went to press, Tiger Woods and Karrie Webb both shot 61 at tournaments on their respective tournaments, both scores of which were course records; however, Tiger's 61 was on a par 70 course which was -9. Karrie's 61 was on a par 72 course which was -11. Millions of people saw Tiger's feat because TV showed every shot he made. No one saw Karrie other than the individuals who were at the tournament and following her.

Donna A. Lopiano is the Executive Director of the Women's Sports Foundation (AOL Keyword: WSF)

Women Get the Gold…and the Ink


It's fascinating to see how newspapers and radio and television stations cover the Olympic Games. Gloria Steinem would be so proud. You see, something new and different happens to members of the U.S. sports media during the Olympic Games. They report on women athletes.

In fact, news organizations that barely recognize women's sports throughout the normal sports year go absolutely crazy covering female athletes at the Games. At many Olympics, including the just-completed Sydney Summer Games, a women's event - be it Marion Jones on the track, Jenny Thompson in the pool or Mia Hamm on the soccer field - often is the plum assignment of the day, the place any journalist wants to be.

Trust me, this is not the norm during the other 102 weeks of the two-year Olympic cycle. The average red-blooded American male sportswriter still does not like to cover women's sports, and sometimes his editor doesn't push him to do so. Things definitely are changing; more men, especially younger men, do report on women's sports, and there certainly is less grumbling about women's sports as each day goes by.

According to my own very informal poll, the main reason some male sportswriters don't want to report on female athletes is that they are not as big, fast or strong as the men. Now there's a news flash. This helps explain why, for instance, quite a few golf writers have, over the years, not wanted to cover women's golf tournaments, or why some basketball writers don't report on the WNBA.

But when male sportswriters put Olympic media credentials around their necks, things change dramatically. Why? Because women almost always become the stars of the American Olympic team. A man who wouldn't be caught dead covering the WNBA, for instance, gladly shows up at the women's gold-medal basketball game.

Women and men are on such an equal playing field at the Games that there is no stigma attached to a macho sportswriter who covers a female athlete. If anything, there's more of a cachet to covering the U.S. women because they tend to do better than their male counterparts. That's because our very best female athletes become Olympians. Our very best male athletes, on the other hand, often end up in the NFL or in major-league baseball, and never come to the Games.

And have you noticed a strange little adjective creeping into the stories you've read and heard the past two weeks from Sydney? It's a four-letter word: men's.

"The U.S. men's basketball team..." or "the U.S. men's soccer team," or "the U.S. men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team."

Outside of the Olympic fortnight, most news organizations act as if the men play the "real" game, and the women are the weak stepsisters. So if it's the men's game, it's called, simply, basketball, or soccer, or tennis, while for the women, it's "women's basketball," "women's soccer," "women's tennis."

For two weeks every two years, counting both the Winter and Summer Olympics, U.S. women athletes receive the coverage they are due. Another 102 weeks of that and the sports media will finally have its act together.

Christine Brennan, USA Today Sports columnist, network television analyst and the author of the best-selling books Inside Edge and Edge of Glory, is a leading voice on the Olympics, international sports, women's sports and various sports issues.

NCAA's Special Rules


It's interesting the tools we use to insure that women (our daughters) won't be able to compete with men (our sons). There are alot of examples in sports, but this one is so insidious, that I'm surprised no one, including the women's movement, has made much of a fuss about it. College Basketball. You see, the NCAA has established special rules for the "ladies". MS Magazine would call them "chicks". (See their June, 1999 issue.) The regulation basketball for women is smaller than the basketball used by "men's" teams. Is it because their hands are smaller?  What a smoke screen. I used a regulation basketball when I was 12 or 13. I learned to play fairly well in high school and college intramurals. My hands never grew to the size of a pro-basketball player, yet I can still do a bit of one-on-one. My hand is used to the regulation basketball. Put a soccer ball in my hand, it's size and weight are different and my accuracy will suffer. Train women to play with a soccer ball and it automatically makes it more difficult to be competitive, if they want to play in the NBA. What are we so afraid of that we have to make special rules that separate the men and women? Look at virtually any track and field event and the best women are better than most of the men. So, what is it about our sexism that we have to set up special rules to insure that women can't compete against men, and can't have that chance of being equal?

Real Sports Features Women's Pro Soccer in 2002 Collectors' Edition


From "Get in the Game" by "Soccer for Dummies" author Michael Lewis to in-depth stories about league leaders like The Danielle Slaton Story, there's something for new or hardcore fans in Real Sports magazine's WUSA 2002 collector's edition. "This issue celebrates women's professional soccer like it has never been presented before. With outstanding sports writing from leaders in the field, our subscribers have the chance to read in-depth stories on their favorite teams while also learning about opposing teams and players so that when they go head to head with their favorite team, our readers will know whom to watch and what to watch during the game," said Amy Love, publisher.
Source: www.real-sports.com/marketplace/

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Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball. - Bille Jean King



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