The Utah Falconz in game 3 of our inaugural season, winning 64-0.
by HIROKO JOLLEY
In an age of inspiring quotes etched over photos of women donning perfectly chiseled bodies, it seems that the perfect picture of athleticism these days is defined by the visuals alone.
We live in an era when we encourage our children, our daughters to push themselves in sports to maintain a healthy physique and an active lifestyle. It is also proven that girls who actively and consistently engage in sports during their growing up years have more self-esteem and a better body image.
In an article by ESPN they showed the hidden demographics of youth sports. What was found is that between the ages of 6 and 17, 21.47 million kids are actively involved in team sports. Around the age of 7 is when girls start participating in team sports. While football and basketball ranked the top two sports for boys, basketball and volleyball ranked the top two for girls. The most likely reason both girls and boys quit sports while in their adolescent years? Because they weren’t having fun.
Most sports that girls are involved in between the ages of 6 and 17 include basketball, volleyball, softball, soccer and track. The probability of girls competing post high school in basketball? Only 3.7%, a study done by the NCAA.
With an average of 69% of girls involved in sports between the ages of 6-17, what happens to the other 85%+ who never make competition sports in college?
While the positive body image is prevalent in young girls that participate in sports, without the options for many women to continue their love of competitive sports, the positive body image can quickly dissipate after having children, juggling school and work, or other societal factors that many women are faced with. “According to a 2009 study by Elsevier Science and Health, group sports have an event greater impact on self-esteem than individual sports. Team sports teach girls that, in being part of the team, they are part of a larger community.”
We believe that it is just as important for women to be actively engaged in activities that not only promote better health, but a better body image, as it is for girls.
The average woman in the USA stands 5’4” and weighs 166 pounds. We polled a small number of women who compete in full-contact football and here is what we found. The average height of the women asked was 5’6” tall and weighed an average of 199 pounds. The average amount of time women had been playing was 3.8 years. Some were rookies, other had been playing for 9 years. The most interesting find was that there was a staggering 24 different sports that these women participated in that ranged from cheerleading and tennis to rugby and wrestling. But almost all of the women had actively competed in some sort of team or individual sport throughout their lives up until the end of high school.
We also realized that after high school sports, for many of these competitively driven women, there are few, if any options for women who want to continue participating in team sports. This could be one of the main contributing factors in the female adult weight gain of once very competitive teen girls.
Football is one sport where every body shape and size is an asset. Wide Receivers can stand at a lanky 5’8” and weigh in at 120 pounds, and linemen (women) can range from 5’4” and 200 pounds to 6’2” and 330 pounds. Chiseled bodies? No. Athletic? Competitive? Aggressive? You’d better believe it! The opportunity for women who once engaged in active team sports in their youth are able to not only feed that need and natural love of game, but can and do compete again, regardless of size or skill.
From one female football athlete, the positive impact is apparent, “Football helps me have a more positive body image. I’m not at all the world’s definition of beautiful or healthy, but on the field, my size is an advantage. Having a team of adults I get to socialize with is so important for me as a full-time mom. Basically, football is good for me physically, mentally and emotionally.”
The benefits are overflowing with the fastest (but still young) growing women’s sport in America. Some women who participate are doing so to get back into playing shape, some have missed competing on a field, others are looking for the feeling of team camaraderie. And while all these women have come together for different reasons, the outcome is the same. Better self-esteem, better body image and a sense of belonging.
So keep your daughters in sports for as long as you can because it gives them the self-worth and the grounded positive body image they will need growing up in a world that is relentlessly telling them they have to look a certain way in order to be acceptable. A woman cannot be too tall, too short, too lean, or too thick... It is impossible to try and fit a circle into a square, and yet, this is what they are being fed constantly through the media. Sports teaches girls that no matter what size or shape they are, what matters is what they accomplish in their lives, be it physical or mental. And when they finish high school and need to feel that positive affirmation, women’s football will be there to give that to them once again. Women’s football can’t go wrong.
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