Boarding Schools for Girls

Some parents worry that, when the proverbial going gets tough, their children will run away from lifes difficulties. In North Carolina, groups of young girls are learning that running can actually empower them to solve some of the more pressing problems they will encounter.

In a Nov. 15 article on the website BlueRidgeNow.com, writer Beth Beasley described the local impact of two national programs:

Girls at four elementary schools in Henderson County are racing side by side in Girls on the Run and girls at one middle school are competing in Girls on Track. The after-school programs aim to prepare girls for the bumpy road of adolescence.

Girls on the Run trains girls in third through fifth grade to complete a 5K (3.1 mile) run and helps them develop skills they can use to resist peer pressure: effective communication, team building and how to make healthy lifestyle choices.

In addition to training for the 5K run, Girls on Track addresses more complex issues, such as dating, the dangers of drugs and alcohol, obesity, depression and promiscuity.

"We get girls from all walks of life; some never have run before and some have been on teams," says Audrey McElwain, executive director of Girls on the Run of Western North Carolina. "We're definitely filling a void -- there's such a high demand."

Labels: athletics, sports

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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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In a June 23 article on The Huffington Post, U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) extolled the virtues of Title IX on the 37th anniversary of passage of the landmark legislation, which banned gender discrimination by educational institutions.

However, Sanchez also noted that the equality that is guaranteed under Title IX remains in peril of being eroded by opponents of the legislation:

Before the law passed in 1972, girls made up only 7 percent of high school sports participants. Now, more than 40 percent of high school athletes are female. But its impact reached far beyond sports, from the academic to the arts and sciences, and even to the boardrooms of the Nation's top enterprises. ...

Despite Title IX's success in advancing equality for women, it continues to come under attack and has been frequently challenged in court. As our economy trembles and colleges and universities deal with budget cuts and shrinking athletic budgets, Title IX's achievements are in grave danger of being scaled back. ...

The most telling effect of Title IX is the fact that today, more women than men are attending college. Today, well over half of all undergraduate college students are women -- and women outnumber men in graduate school enrollment, including high-paying, high-powered professional programs like law.

"Title IX deserves its place in the law," Rep. Sanchez wrote, "so that no field will be missing its female athletes."

Labels: athletics, sports, legislation, equality

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Emily Ford has never been much of an athlete (she describes having "alternately cried and prayed" her way through one season of youth softball). But Ford's 10-year-old daughter, Nellie, is embracing sports -- and mom couldn't be happier.

In a  column on the Salisbury Post website, Ford noted that her daughter's participation in soccer, swimming, and other sports may yield benefits that extend far beyond the field (or pool):

Girls who participate in sports are less likely to get pregnant or drop out of school. They're less likely to smoke or abuse drugs and more likely to delay their first sexual experience. ...

For centuries, boys and men have honed their skills on fields and courts. Teamwork, goal setting, the pursuit of excellence -- all lessons learned in the world of sport and critical to the world of work.

Thanks to Title IX, which mandates equal athletic opportunities for boys and girls in public schools, girls have been learning these lessons too. Eighty percent of female executives at Fortune 500 companies say they played sports.

Playing sports may also help girls reduce their risk of developing breast cancer and osteoporosis later in life, Ford reported.

Labels: girls, sports, young women

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Two high school girls in Minnesota were featured in the April 20 edition of the Duluth News Tribune for the effort and determination that led them to achieve success in an interscholastic sport that is usually dominated by male participants:

Girls who choose to pursue wrestling face solitude long before they step on the mat. Competing in a sport supercharged with high doses of testosterone and cultural bias, they are relegated to their own locker rooms and scales to dress and weigh in apart from their teammates. Then, often their male peers will refuse to compete against them, forfeiting a match rather than wrestling a girl and risk losing.

But Kristina Erickson and Jolynne Denman accept the challenges of competing in a male-dominated sport and focus on its rewards, such as gaining discipline and self-confidence, making lifelong friends, staying fit and learning how to accept both victory and defeat.

Erickson, 14, and Denman, 15, followed up a season of wrestling mostly boys for the junior varsity team at Cloquet High School with a strong showing against girls. Erickson, an eighth-grader, and Denman, a ninth-grader, finished first and second, respectively, at the USA Wrestling state womens tournament, and Erickson brought home a national title from the USA Wrestling national womens tourney in her 135-pound weight class in Oklahoma City last month.

"The fact that they make it through the boys program really speaks highly of their discipline and inner strength," Cloquet HS wrestling coach Al Denman (who is also Jolynnes father) told Duluth News Tribune writer Rick Lubbers. "A lot of guys quit because they cant handle it, and these girls have not quit. Against all the odds, they keep at it. I wish I had a hundred of them."

Labels: school, teenagers, girls, sports, wrestling

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According to a report from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, cheerleading is the most dangerous sport for girls. Though cheerleaders comprise only 3 percent of the nation's 2.9 million female high school athletes, the activity is responsible for 65 percent of all catastrophic injuries in high school girls' athletics, and 67 percent in colleges.

Gymnastics was a distant second, accounting for only 9 percent of injuries. The study included only injuries that caused death, permanent disability or serious long-term impairment.

Labels: sports, safety, cheerleading

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