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The
New Female Athlete
Part 2
"There
were some of life's hurdles that were just too high for
me to jump..."
Not so
for Penny Vastakis, whose parents pressured her to make
dean's list while she was attempting to break track and
field records at Rensselaer Polytechnic institute two years
ago. "I just couldn't swing it," she says. "There were some
of life's hurdles that were just too high for me to jump."
At the professional
level, women's tennis has had its share of intense father-daughter
interaction played out in public. When Venus Williams backed
out of a match against her younger sister, Serena, claiming
a knee injury at the Indian Wells tournament, the crowd
was not shy about their fury. There were plenty of accusations
that the girls' coach and father, Richard Williams, was
behind the decision.
The phenomenon
demonstrated by the Williams duo clearly represents the
problem for girls whose parents are directly involved in
their sporting careers. For most children, the grip of parents
begins to yield as they move into adulthood. But for female
athletes, the parental clutch in this period may be more
relentless than ever. Melissa Garren, who plays field hockey
for Yale, says growing up with sports, she has "definitely
seen some crazy parents who are living vicariously [through
their children]. And even today," said Garren, "at 20 years
old, sports is a major source of bonding for us [Garren
and her father]. Sports have been an invaluable tool in
keeping us tight-it's something we can always fall back
on."
| "Society
has traditionally said girls don't play sports and guys
don't like girls who play sports." |
The Williamses
aren't the only sisters who compete in the same sport. Suzanne
and Christine Anthony, 20 and 22 respectively, are the two
middle children of four daughters. Both play field hockey
for Yale and both are highly competitive. Luckily, they
play a team sport and that keeps them from being too competitive
with each other. In high school though, they played tennis.
They played each other for spots on the team, and could
potentially play each other in tournaments, but their parents
encouraged it.
"Some families
who had similar issues never made their kids play each other,
but my parents thought that was stupid," said Christine.
"The competition is supposed to be on the court, and the
family stuff is supposed to be at home. We were pretty good
at separating that." Next year, the youngest Anthony, Katie,
will be playing field hockey for Duke.
The relationship
of young women to sports as they mature also warrants examination.
The Women's Sports Foundation reports that 87 percent of
girls seven to ten years old play sports, but that the rate
falls to 75 percent between ages 15 and 18. "Just about
the time that girls are entering high school, they are getting
into that girly stage," says Cafiero, the volleyball player.
"Society has traditionally said girls don't play sports
and guys don't like girls who play sports."
We give
female athletes very schizophrenic messages about their
body images and appearance, says Kane, the sports psychologist.
On the one hand, she says, particularly for basketball players,
centers and forwards, we want them to be bigger and bulkier
than the average female. "But the minute she steps off the
court, we want her to revert to this hyper-feminized notion
of what it means to be a woman." Kane has seen this bifurcated
message affect athletes first hand. Women athletes in her
classes said they believed if they got bigger and stronger
and lifted weights more and put on more bulk, they'd be
better athletes. However, they also perceive that bulking
up will make their roles as traditional females all the
more difficult. So they don't do it.
NEXT:
Suzanne Anthony found a way to overcome this dilemma>>
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