In Defense of Team Sports
There’s an interesting thread going down at Feministe about traditional, sports-focused gym class and how much it sucks. One commenter: “I am saying that team sports in gym class are bad. Fucking evil, actually.” Most emphasize the humiliation of being picked last and the frustration of public failure.
Honestly, I don’t know why reading these comments got my ire up the way they did. I agree that humiliation is bad, that gym class ought to introduce kids to a wide variety of physical activities, and that kids who can‘t climb a rope should be given a way to develop their skills instead of being set up to fail. I do not agree, however, that team sports “enforce a hierarchy and instill bad feelings.” To borrow a questionable turn of phrase from the wrong side of the aisle, "team sports don’t rank and humiliate kids -- kids, when improperly supervised, rank and humiliate kids". Actually, team sports usually do the opposite, even in gym class.
Sports were a huge part of my life, starting from age 4, when my father noticed my pre-existentialist depression and insisted that I be enrolled in sports to get out of my head. (My mother countered this by insisting that I go to church in order to see that there are bigger things than me in the universe. I’ll let you guess which decision had the most positive influence on my life.) I always played with the boys at recess, I was the first girl to make my neighborhood little league all-stars team, and I captained two sports in high school before going on to play rugby in college. I credit sports with my uniquely good body image throughout high school, my healthy relationship to food, my ability to balance leadership and teamwork, my single mindedness in pursuit of a goal, my healthy competitiveness (my unhealthy competitiveness really only manifests itself in board games), and my feminism.
Along the way, I ran into the problems most girls face when they play sports during recess or on all-boys teams. I remember a teacher (!) at my elementary school who always organized the lunch-time games of kickball and flag football picking all the girls at once -- five girls equal one boy -- everyday. I remember him never passing to me, regardless of how open I was or how many interceptions I made on defense. I hated him. While I played little league, I remember boys running around with bats doing “cup checks,” which was fine, except that I, of course, didn’t wear one. I remember one particularly horrible game where the opposing pitcher beaned me four times in a row rather than risk letting a girl get a hit off him (smart, really, since I had a .630 batting average at that point in the season). I was shaking in fear when I was on-deck the fifth time.
But, when I changed schools to go to a class for smart kids in fifth grade, that changed. The boys there originally picked me (and everyone else they didn’t know) last, but once I proved my abilities they never did that again. Most of the girls played along at recess -- flyers up, kickball, four square, what have you. That was the first time in my life that my abilities meant more than my gender. I played sports with them all through middle school -- picture 14-year-old me, as tall as I’d ever be, complete with fully developed boobs, playing basketball with 14-year-old boys who ranged in height from 4‘7“ to 5‘9“. That experience, added to playing competitive soccer, basketball, and fast pitch softball on all-girl teams did more to get me through high school in one piece than anything. Along the way, I learned to value my body for what it could DO, rather than what it looked like. I never exercised to lose weight. I never even worried about what I ate, since it required a ridiculous amount of calories to compete at the level I was at. I never shied away from something because it was traditionally off-limits to girls. And, as I came to feminist consciousness, I began to credit my early experiences with fostering a rabid egalitarian ethos.
Above all, I think team sports, more than individual sports like track or swimming, and especially more than an emphasis on fitness starting at age 5, encourage healthy body image and behavior among women. IF you can make sure to equally include everyone and cut down on needless humiliation. The challenge is to make gym class varied enough so that the experience of moving and playing can be fun for everyone, if not all the time, then at least some of the time.
Honestly, I don’t know why reading these comments got my ire up the way they did. I agree that humiliation is bad, that gym class ought to introduce kids to a wide variety of physical activities, and that kids who can‘t climb a rope should be given a way to develop their skills instead of being set up to fail. I do not agree, however, that team sports “enforce a hierarchy and instill bad feelings.” To borrow a questionable turn of phrase from the wrong side of the aisle, "team sports don’t rank and humiliate kids -- kids, when improperly supervised, rank and humiliate kids". Actually, team sports usually do the opposite, even in gym class.
Sports were a huge part of my life, starting from age 4, when my father noticed my pre-existentialist depression and insisted that I be enrolled in sports to get out of my head. (My mother countered this by insisting that I go to church in order to see that there are bigger things than me in the universe. I’ll let you guess which decision had the most positive influence on my life.) I always played with the boys at recess, I was the first girl to make my neighborhood little league all-stars team, and I captained two sports in high school before going on to play rugby in college. I credit sports with my uniquely good body image throughout high school, my healthy relationship to food, my ability to balance leadership and teamwork, my single mindedness in pursuit of a goal, my healthy competitiveness (my unhealthy competitiveness really only manifests itself in board games), and my feminism.
Along the way, I ran into the problems most girls face when they play sports during recess or on all-boys teams. I remember a teacher (!) at my elementary school who always organized the lunch-time games of kickball and flag football picking all the girls at once -- five girls equal one boy -- everyday. I remember him never passing to me, regardless of how open I was or how many interceptions I made on defense. I hated him. While I played little league, I remember boys running around with bats doing “cup checks,” which was fine, except that I, of course, didn’t wear one. I remember one particularly horrible game where the opposing pitcher beaned me four times in a row rather than risk letting a girl get a hit off him (smart, really, since I had a .630 batting average at that point in the season). I was shaking in fear when I was on-deck the fifth time.
But, when I changed schools to go to a class for smart kids in fifth grade, that changed. The boys there originally picked me (and everyone else they didn’t know) last, but once I proved my abilities they never did that again. Most of the girls played along at recess -- flyers up, kickball, four square, what have you. That was the first time in my life that my abilities meant more than my gender. I played sports with them all through middle school -- picture 14-year-old me, as tall as I’d ever be, complete with fully developed boobs, playing basketball with 14-year-old boys who ranged in height from 4‘7“ to 5‘9“. That experience, added to playing competitive soccer, basketball, and fast pitch softball on all-girl teams did more to get me through high school in one piece than anything. Along the way, I learned to value my body for what it could DO, rather than what it looked like. I never exercised to lose weight. I never even worried about what I ate, since it required a ridiculous amount of calories to compete at the level I was at. I never shied away from something because it was traditionally off-limits to girls. And, as I came to feminist consciousness, I began to credit my early experiences with fostering a rabid egalitarian ethos.
Above all, I think team sports, more than individual sports like track or swimming, and especially more than an emphasis on fitness starting at age 5, encourage healthy body image and behavior among women. IF you can make sure to equally include everyone and cut down on needless humiliation. The challenge is to make gym class varied enough so that the experience of moving and playing can be fun for everyone, if not all the time, then at least some of the time.
posted by Megan at 12:24 PM
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