Boarding Schools for Girls

It has been decades since Title IX expanded opportunities for girls and young women to participate in high school and college sports in the United States. In other nations, female athletes still struggle for the chance to compete.

According to a June 23 Associated Press article, would-be female athletes in Saudi Arabia have a powerful ally in their efforts to overturn a nationwide ban on athletic participation by girls and young women:

Appealing to a powerful Saudi prince, an 8-year-old girl asked why she was not allowed to play sports in school like boys. She got an unexpected response: The prince said he hoped government schools for girls would allow playing fields.

The stand taken by Prince Khaled al-Faisal, governor of the holy city of Mecca and one of the most senior second-generation members of the royal family, on the controversial issue is the strongest official endorsement so far of women's sports and a sign the government may be tilting toward opening up on that front.

Physical education classes are banned in state-run girls schools in conservative Saudi Arabia. Saudi female athletes are not allowed to participate in the Olympics. ... And some clerics even argue that running and jumping can damage a woman's hymen and ruin her chances of getting married.

Playing sports have been associated with a wide range of benefits for female athletes, including improved health, stronger self-esteem, and enhanced self-confidence.

Labels: sports, athletes

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Injuries to knee ligaments -- primarily involving tears of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) -- are becoming increasingly common among female athletes, and are affecting girls as young as middle-school age.
In a June 7 article on the website of the Evansville Courier and Press, staff writer Randy Beard described both the prevalence and the potential causes of this unfortunate epidemic:

Dr. Andrew Saltzman, an Evansville orthopedic surgeon ... said noncontact ACL tears are three times more common among women than men  and perhaps four times more frequent in basketball. Other studies have estimated that women athletes could be as much as eight times more likely to tear an ACL.

There are numerous physiological reasons why female athletes are believed to be more at risk for ACL tears. It starts with having a wider pelvis and being more knock-kneed than typically more bowlegged men. Muscle structure is another factor. Women tend to have weaker hamstrings, making their quadriceps the more dominant muscle in stabilizing the knee.

Then there are the changes that take place during puberty. Increased estrogen in girls tends to result in more flexible ligaments, but they are protected by less muscle than testosterone-fueled boys.

Team sports and other organized athletic pursuits have been credited with boosting self-esteem, increasing self-confidence, and decreasing overweight and obesity risks of girls and young women, but Beard's article reinforces the necessity of taking necessary precautions to ensure that the young athletes have a safe sporting experience.

Labels: girls, athletes, injuries

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A group of young female athletes from Provo, Utah, will be spending part of the upcoming summer vacation in Africa, where the girls will teach soccer and a few other lessons to orphaned girls. A May 29 article by Amanda Butterfield of KSL TV5 provided the following details about the efforts of the Timpview High School girls' soccer team:

"Girls over there see boys play soccer all the time, and they have no idea that they can play soccer. So, it will be awesome that they can see us play, and they'll say, I can play soccer. I can do this," said Timpview senior Kathy Cannon. ...

The team is traveling to Africa for two weeks in June, where they will hold soccer clinics for girls. "We're spending one week in Kampala and one week in Gulu, which is a war-torn area," explained assistant coach Jackie Skinner. ...

The teens will travel to different schools and share an inspirational message. "We just want to give them hope, basically," Timpview freshman Emily Curtis said.

The girls are also bringing paper, pencils and all sorts of school supplies for the kids.

Though the Timpview girls are undertaking their Africa trip in order to improve the lives of others, it's quite likely that they will benefit from the experience as well. Sports, volunteerism, and community-service projects provide a wide range of benefits to adolescent and teen girls, including improved self-esteem and self-worth among teens.

For this reason, many private boarding schools for girls (such as New Leaf Academy in Bend, Oregon) encourage students to participate in sports and take part in service projects.

Labels: girls, athletes, service project

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Once seen as a problem that was limited to bodybuilders and elite athletes, steroid abuse has invaded America's high schools and middle schools - and muscle-bound football players aren't the only ones who are at risk.

According to an article by Boston Globe staff writer Stan Grossfeld, teenage girls are also turning to steroids in misguided attempts to improve their appearance:

A recent report by the Oregon Health and Science University using data from the Centers for Disease Control said 5.3 percent of teenage girls admitted to using anabolic steroids, mostly for body-enhancing reasons or self-protection, not athletics.

According to 2003 CDC data, seventh-grade girls were the fastest-growing group of steroid users, with more than 7 percent using them, the controversial report stated.

Steroids can cause liver tumors, increase blood pressure, stunt growth and, in girls, deepen their voices. Nevertheless, one recent study found that 57 percent of high school steroid users said they would risk shortening their life for increased performance.

"They're young and they think they are invincible," says the study's author, Jay Hoffman, chairman of health and science at the College of New Jersey.

Dionne Roberts, who told Grossfeld that she tried steroids to help her get "six-pack abs" shortly after graduating high school in 2003, said that the drugs drove her to the brink of despair. "I just became so totally depressed," she said in the article. "I was definitely suicidal. I just was so upset the smallest thing would set me off."

Synthetic substances that are similar to the hormone testosterone, steroids can inflict a variety of undesirable effects on the bodies of teen girls, including irregular menstruation, excess facial and body hair, and severe acne.

Labels: athletes, steriods, drug

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In the 30-plus years since Title IX opened up a world of opportunities for female athletes in the United States, girls have made significant strides in all fields of competition.

But one area in which women are outpacing their male counterparts is nothing to celebrate: According to a CNN report, girls are up to eight times more likely than boys to suffer serious injuries to their anterior cruciate ligaments, or ACLs.

"I reconstructed ACLs for just four male high school soccer players [in 2006], compared to 25 girls," orthopedic surgeon John Xerogeanes told CNN reporter Judy Fortin.

One of the knee's four major ligaments, the ACL helps stabilize the knee and minimize the amount of stress that is placed on the joint. Because of the strain that many sports place on the knee, ACL injuries are relatively common among athletes.

According to the Sports Injury Clinic website, the following symptoms may indicate that an athlete has torn her ACL:

• An audible pop or crack when the injury takes place
• Extreme pain, followed immediately by a feeling of instability in the knee
• Extensive swelling soon after the injury occurs
• Restricted ability to move the knee or straighten the leg
• Tenderness alongside the knee joint

Though specialists have documented the disproportionate risk faced by female athletes, they have not determined exactly why girls are more prone to ACL tears.

"We know that there is a huge increase in ACL injuries when you compare female athletes to male athletes," Xerogeanes said during the CNN interview. "We've looked at a million different things in terms of size of the pelvis, angulation of the knees, hormones and the way girls fire their muscles when they land. We're not exactly sure why this happens."

Labels: athletes, injuries

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