Around the world, people are in a constant battle about gender equality. The sports field is often a personification of this. In 1945, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights instituted that men and women should be treated equally and that women’s rights should be preserved and encourage others to respect them. In sports, women are given fewer opportunities since they are seen as weaker and less likely to succeed. Even if it is indirectly, our school community reflects this part of society rather than supporting equality between the student body. The school doesn’t provide the same opportunities for the male and female teams, furthermore, they should be looked at equally putting aside each other’s success. If the teams need a specific resource, it should be granted to all, not only male or female teams.
The male soccer team is provided with more resources for daily practices which include gym sessions. Many of the female volleyball team members have complained about being underappreciated. The female volleyball team is not provided with equipment of their own and uses the male’s when they are available. The female volleyball team managed to reach 3rd place in the golden division in AASCA 2019. After this accomplishment, they were given more recognition and were provided with gym sessions, but they were still not given enough support for their effort. As part of a team, I have had personal experiences with the female soccer team in which we felt unequal. For example, at the beginning of the school year, we were not allowed to train six days a week because “we were not ready for it, and it was heavy-duty training”, while the male soccer team had been training since summer six days a week. A few months before the AASCA tournament, the school started equalizing the teams and giving us the same benefits. The resources should be provided at the same time for all teams, demonstrating equality, and not a biased perspective.
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In a school community, one of the most important elements for unity and trust is spirit. Before an important tournament like AASCA, the teams have a pep rally for support and for the student body to be aware of the event coming up. For the soccer team, they created a colorful environment, prepared a song for the team, and games regarding soccer. For the female volleyball team, they didn’t decorate the area and just made a small volleyball game for unity. After they came back from winning 3rd place in the AASCA tournament they did a larger event. This type of occurrence can lower the level of confidence the athletes have since they might think they are “not good enough”. I have experienced this, the female soccer team is constantly being compared to the male team. The sports department constantly repeats the words “they know better, learn from them”, these words can cause harm to the self-confidence carried by each player.
In 2009, there was a study made with student-athletes at the Institute of Sports in London, in which 7 males and 7 females were analyzed. They analyzed how they acted and performed based on Bandura’s theory, a theory created by Albert Bandura that highlights the importance of emotion behavior and human action. They also used Robin Vealy’s theory, a professor from the University of Miami created the theory that athletes with high confidence can perform better in any athletic situation. The words used by the people around them caused pressure causing 57% of the students to have low confidence, and 43% of the students showed a calm attitude. This affected the athlete’s performance negatively. A few months back, the female soccer team was given the same materials and resources as the male team for AASCA. However, the male soccer team was given all of the resources to excel in AASCA and to perform better than previous years since the beginning of the year. The girls were provided with this material 3 months before the tournament after many complaints, not giving them enough time to prepare.
From a young age, school teaches that we are all equal and we should all be treated the same. Yet the school shows an indirectly biased perspective on the sports team. The school should start giving the same attention, budget, resources, and confidence to each sports team. This would unite the school and create a more comfortable environment for the student body which is their goal.
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