Making the Case for Women’s Sports: A Conversation
“Many women think of themselves as good players, but some men seem to bring women’s confidence down when they play any sports. When I am on the court, I feel tension coming from the huge crowd of boys.”
You may ask yourself: Why should I care about women's sports? They do not affect me personally, you may think, which may be true until you really consider your community here at Comp Sci High. There is a huge importance placed on community, but why not shed light on one of the biggest aspects of culture and community? The sports world.
Humu:
As a basketball player at Comp Sci High, I ask myself what is women's basketball? All I mostly hear about is men's basketball but where is the diversity in that? I’ve also noticed a disproportionate amount of people going to men’s basketball games than women's basketball games. It is not only in basketball but in all sports. There are signs of judgment and inequality when it comes to women's sports.
At Comp Sci High, the girls basketball team is not as known as the boys. This is a problem that has to be addressed because we all work as a team, and yet the boys get more gear, attention, and recognition.
I play the same sport as them and what do I get? It comes to the point when us girls have to ask for things we want instead of being provided with them. There are also points that lead to what women should wear or not wear on court. An example would be volleyball. Women’s volleyball is different from men’s volleyball because of what they wear. It is harder for women because we live in a society where people dress code you because “your shorts are too short” or “you're showing too much skin”, while in reality those are the rules defined by the play book.
With that being said, women's sports need to be acknowledged.
Adyel:
As a man who isn’t too into sports as much as my peers, I still hear conversations about the WNBA and NBA and have noticed a pattern of men getting oddly hostile when it comes to talking about women's ability in the sports world.
I interviewed Laila Ayala, who has been playing basketball her entire life and started being on a team in 5th grade, and she shared her experiences. Laila was “the best three-point shooter in the school” at the time. She noticed that whenever she missed shots and her male counterparts missed shots, the reactions were different.
When a boy would miss a shot, there wasn’t much of a reaction behind the miss, but when Laila missed, someone would yell “Ben Simmons” or make other remarks insulting her skills. This behavior men have toward female athletes persists into high school and the adult world. As I interviewed Coach Johnson, I asked her if the boys she's around make fun of their female peers' skills, and she said yes, which is why she was “happy to talk to the boys about being a female presence that’ll make them think twice about their behavior."
I wanted to write about women's sports because, as someone who is completely removed from the world of sports, I found it strange that I still heard discussions berating women for their skills.
Humu:
After reading Adyel’s POV on women sports, I agree with everything he had to say about it. Also as a basketball player, I started on a team when I was in 5th grade and it's been quite a journey.
Middle school basketball is different from high school basketball. Our generation has changed and now there are many comments that would be said to women. In some cases, men don’t like to be compared to women. They take it as an insult because they think of women as weaker than men and not capable of playing sports.
This shouldn’t be the ideal solution to our problems. Men should hold themselves accountable when it comes to women's sports; they should think of women’s sports with the same respect as men’s sports.
Many women think of themselves as good players, but some men seem to bring women's confidence down when they play any sports. When I am on the court, I feel tension coming from the huge crowd of boys.
This is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Adyel:
I admired Humu’s point about men disliking being compared to women, which I agree comes from a place of seeing women as inferior.
Speaking with members of the girl;s basketball team, I know the work and effort they put into perfecting their craft, which boys who play basketball and have been on teams can relate to. It makes me question if they know or speak to the girls who participate in the same sport as them.
A point I find interesting is that I’ve heard both coaches complain about how the team is doing at a current point in time, and the complaints are very different. The boy’s team during drills would be laughing, or their coach would feel like they’re not putting in the effort they should and treating practice as more of a joke a general sense of immaturity, which of course isn’t all the time, but with the girl’s team, the complaint seems to be about the coach wanting them to hustle and put in more effort into what they're practicing.
Humu:
Hustle? What does that mean? It's when we all have the power to go above and beyond and act upon it. We hustle all the time.
It's different because I’ve also heard stories that boys don't take their practices seriously, unlike girls. Which in Adyel's point he seem to mention that as well. I heard feedback from a boy’s coach perspective and a girl’s coach perspective.
Both coaches said a thing that unites the teams is that there could be more effort in their education. At Comp Sci High, both boys and girls players often take basketball as our number one priority.
Adyel:
As I mentioned before, I’m far removed from the sports world, seeing as I neither watch nor participate in any sports currently. But back when I practiced karate, my instructors made sure everyone was equal in not only treatment but also in how we were taught. Their mission wasn’t gender equality but to teach us – point blank.
Instead of making us view each other as competition, i.e., boys vs. girls, we were put together to fight one another. When we would spar, we saw each other as peers and a family. Even when we sparred with each other, if someone was kicked or punched by a peer, it wasn’t seen as embarrassing, but as a learning opportunity.
An issue I see in the sports world is comparison turning into competition, which I believe leads to certain comments being made toward female sports personalities.
Adyel & Humu:
Comp Sci High, during Spirit Week, students came along and dressed up and participated in a wide variety of ways to show off school spirit. Our question is, how can we keep this school spirit going if we’re not showing up for girls sports teams the way we do for our boys team? The meaning of this conversation wasn’t to create conflict but to shed light on the issues and opinions our girl’s teams have to face. We felt the need to write about the girl’s team, as we feel as though they don’t receive as much investment of attention as their other peers.
It would be appreciated for the crowd that shows up for the boys to also show up for the girls. This will not only boost the women's confidence but they will feel like the sport they are playing is taken seriously, and with respect.