Girls

THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING YOUR DAUGHTER INVOLVED IN SPORT

We encourage parents to see sports, movement and physical activity as an inherent part of their daughter’s lives from day one. By the time boys are three years old, their dads are taking them out to the backyard and teaching them how to throw and kick. We tend not to take the same time and trouble to instruct girls. We encourage them only in other pursuits, from playing fairy princess to dressing up their dolls. By school, boys tend to be further along the athletic skill level spectrum than their girl peers. With skill comes confidence, and if you don’t have confidence, playing organized sports can be a lot less fun. We tend not to give girls the basic tools they need to have a successful sports experience, thus they may not enjoy sports and drop out, and the old attitude that “sports are not for girls” gets reinforced.

The most important thing that parents can do is give their daughters basic athletic skills and the “permission” to express themselves physically. Girls who participate in sports are more likely to graduate from college, less likely to abuse drugs and they tend to avoid a whole Lot of risk-taking behaviours. Girl athletes have one of the lowest rates of tobacco use among any sector of the high school population. In addition girls derive benefits from athletics that are difficult to measure objectively, such as confidence and self esteem; they score much higher on tests designed to gauge body image. Sport for girls can be an amazingly important strengthening factor in their lives.

WHY SOCCER ?

Myth – Soccer is a boy’s sport. In countries like America, Canada and Australia where millions of children play soccer, more players are girls than boys. In America of the 40 million soccer players over 20 million are girls. There are so many reasons why soccer is the world’s greatest game for girls of all ages:

  • It is truly a team sport. This means that: soccer is less pressured and more fun for girls than individual sports like swimming, tennis and athletics in which the individual result of each player is continually on display and the motivating force is predominantly winning and not predominantly fun. Soccer is sheer fun builds confidence in girls like no other sport.
  • Soccer teaches social coping skills and builds character. Because it is so focused on group participation, playing soccer can teach girls good sportsmanship, sharing, the ability to see beyond themselves and be happy for a teammate’s success, dependability, winning and losing as a group, group decision making, group leadership and getting along with kids of varying temperaments and skills.
  • Soccer is easier for young kids than most other sports. Sports like tennis, golf and hockey require a certain age to be reached and skill level to be attained before proper games can be played. You will be amazed at how soon and how young your daughter will begin playing soccer games – these start virtually immediately.
  • Soccer is international. If you move to another country or city there is no better way for your daughter to meet new friends immediately than by joining a local soccer team. Also encouraging girls to share in the excitement generated by soccer around the world can help them learn about other countries and experience South Africa as part of a larger, diverse community of nations.
  • Soccer is highly aerobic. During a game of soccer, girls are constantly running from one end of the field to the other. Studies show that exercise has clear physical benefits. Girls who play soccer regularly are getting into the habit of incorporating regular exercise into their lives.
  • Soccer is cooperative. Because passing the ball is essential to success, players must communicate well and be consistently mindful of their team members’ whereabouts on the field.
  • Soccer is great training for other sports. It is widely accepted nowadays that kids should be “physically literate” – soccer with its wide ambit of skills and movements, combining aerobic endurance, footwork, ball-eye coordination, spatial awareness and athleticism is a great introduction or complimentary activity for many other sports such as tennis, hockey and netball.

Girls at the Warriors.

We do not have girls only teams at present as at a young age girls and boys have similar physical capabilities. In the USA many teams are unisex. As the poularity of girls soccer grows we will consider girls only teams. Girls are allowed in terms of league rules to play age groups down.