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About this presentation…….

In the interest of increasing participation in female sports in the Yellow Springs Schools a survey of the female students was performed in May 2009.

The following presentation of the results was made Sept. 10, 2009 to the Yellow Springs School Board.

This presentation is of the student’s responses. Direct quotes from their written comments are presented within quotation marks.

The actual questions the students were asked for each graph are listed at the bottom of the slides.

Some questions resulted in written comments only. Because not all of the answers could be presented in the slides there is a separate file that contains all the answers.

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Survey of Yellow Springs Female Students and School Athletics

May 2009

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And for our community…..

• Helps us raise well developed young people• Enhances the standing of the school and the

village in the area• Brings community members together in

common activity (fans in the stands)

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Sports available to female students in YS in survey year

• Basketball• Track and

field• Cross country• Volleyball

• Tennis* • Softball* (canceled in

08/09)• Swim team*• Soccer*• Cheerleading*

*Sports available only to those in grades 9-12 in 2008-09.

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95 participants in the survey.

7th grade 268th grade 189th grade 19

10th grade 711th grade 1512th grade 10

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What motivates female students to be involved in school sports?

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Female students value physical activity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1005

101520253035404550

rating

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(19). How important is it to be physically active? (10 = most important)

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What female students like about sports.

Nothing, no real value

Having Fun (write in)

Friendship with the coach

Going to other schools

Friendship with other students

Exercising and getting stronger

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

# times chosen

(23). What do you think is most important about participating in sports? Five choices offered.

“It’s good to get healthy and to get to know people.”

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Success in the school’s female sports is important to female students.

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10

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8

7

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

% answering Yes

Gra

de

(29). Do you think it is important for the girl’s sports teams to be successful?

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Students say it is important for their teams to be successful because:

• …it gives girls self pride.• …though we say we aren’t sexist , we are, and

girls are just as good as boys so let’s show it!• ….people usually think of boys as more

advance or more talented which isn’t true.• …you wouldn’t want a bad team or not to

win.• …we need to work hard and reach good goals.• …girls tend to not be known for sports and it

should be shown that we can do just as well as boys.

• .. then the girls will be happier.• ..it makes the girls on the teams feel good

about themselves and it helps build strong friendship bonds between teammates.

• It gives girls opportunities.• It gives girls more confidence in themselves.

• Why shouldn’t they be? I’m sick of this. Why don’t you ask if boys’ teams should be successful? Exactly!

• …girls should represent the school and tell other schools we have athletic people.

• We need equality in sports. Also sports provide opportunities for the future.

• Girls (have) just the amount of talent as boys. Sports should be fair, gender-wise.

• …they teach and contribute to teen fitness. You can also meet friends during sports. They are all-around good.

• …people think girls are less capable of competing in sports but I think that’s unfair.

• …we love to play sports just as much as the guys do and it gives us something to do together and enjoy. Of course winning would feel great as well.

• It can’t be all about the boys.Selected from 82 comments. The full list is provided separately.

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Female students’ view of the presentation of girls and women in the media

(17). How well do television, magazines, and movies represent real girls and women? (10 = very accurate)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

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Rating

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Motivation Summary

• Value physical activity • See sports as a place to get both physical

activity and friendship• Are encouraged to join by relatives, friends,

coaches and team members and are supported by families for participating (not shown)

• Want their teams to be successful, especially to demonstrate their equal value

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Participation: Strong beginnings and later decreases

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Current and past participation

7 8 9 10 11 120

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100 Ever Played Playing this year

Grade

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3. Have you ever played on a YS school women’s sports team?6. Are you participating in at least one YS school sport team this year?

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Students say why they left a school sport.

a coach required me to choose one sport

The training was too hard or too long

My job intefered with the sport

I felt unwanted or unvalued on the team

I did not have enough time for my school work

I did not have enough time for all my activities

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

# times selected (27). If you have ever discontinued or didn’t return to a team at the school, what factors were behind such decisions? (circle all that apply) 122 total selections made by 69 students.

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“Why they left a sport” replotted

30%

52%

17%

time"negatives"misc.

73% of the survey participants selected answers to this question.

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Time is not the main cause our female students leave a sport

• Only 5 students selected the “not enough time” choice(s) by itself when answering why they left a sport

• Only two students currently not participating in school sports mentioned time issues as what would help them join in

• Many have time for other activities: non-school sports, other physical activity, and school clubs (not shown)

• Many (66%) have worked out schedule conflicts with a coach.• Current participants in school sports have more reported

activities than non-participants.• Non-participants report watching less TV/computer time than

participants.

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Satisfaction with school sports declines as female students get older

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Satisfaction with school sport.

7 8 9 10 11 120123456789

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Ever played playing this year

Grade

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3. Rate your overall satisfaction with the sport(s) you play or did play.6. Rate your overall satisfaction with your sport(s) this year.

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Rating frequency for “satisfaction”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

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7th/8th 11th/12th

% o

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3. Rate your overall satisfaction with the sport(s) you play or did play.

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What issues reduce satisfaction?

• Isolation of girls’ sports?• Coaches?

• Teammates?• Lack of desired success?

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Female students do compete against boys in sports.

7 8 9 10 11 120

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100

Grade

% a

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(14).Do you ever compete against or with boys in sports outside of school?

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Views on single gender sports.

I am not playing girls sports because they are lower quality than boys

very happy teams are separate

somewhat happy most teams are separate

I wish for more mixing between the boys and girls

don't care about it

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

2

9

16

26

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% of total

15).How do you feel about the fact that most sports in school are separated by gender?

“Maybe some sports could be mixed gender- but most should be separate I think”.

(I) “don’t agree with this question: some sports can’t be combined ex. Volleyball, soccer, etc.”

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Relationships with coaches can be difficult

• Female students often suggested better coaches would increase the success of their teams and would re-interest them in a sport

• 17 students report they have tried to make a coach quit. All chose “the coach was not good at coaching”, while 2 also chose “I was angry at the coach”, for their reasons

• A few commented on mistreatment by a coach• “coaches should be encouraging, yet harsh enough for girls to

be successful” indicates that it can be hard to develop good cooperation between players and coaches

• Students do know what they are looking for in a coach……..

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What students look for in a coach.

college contacts

hardworker

strictness

likes me

good practices

friendliness

fairness

encouraging

cares about the players

knows the game

teaches well

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

% of total points

(28). Put the numbers 1,2,and 3 beside the top qualities you would most like in a coach. {Weighted results: 1=3pts, 2=2pts 3=1pt.}

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Relationships with teammatescan also be difficult

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Views of treatment by older players varies by grade.

7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th0

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PositiveNegative

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(36). How do older team members usually treat the younger ones? 5 choices offered.positive = “encourage them” and “befriend them” negative = “tease them”, “give them a hard time”, “ignore them”

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On the roles of teammates that do not start.

do nothing for the team

are needed to practice against

fill other roles like help team get along

are needed when the starters are injured/tired

are improving their skills for the future

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

% choosing this answer

(37). What is the role of members of a team that do not start?

“All members of any team are important, no matter if they start or are 2nd string.”

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Views as to whether the size of a team is related to success.

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4.557

large teamsmall teamdoesn't matter

30). “What size team is most likely to be successful?”

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What they didn’t say

• Only two students (7th and 11th grade) answered yes to the question “Have you ever pressured or mistreated a teammate so that the targeted player will feel unwanted or quit?

• One commented “I personally haven’t but my teammates have tried to do it before”.

• Another commented she dropped out because “most of the teammates and coach treated me like crap”

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Teammates relations: insufficient care?

• Approx. half of students in grades 8-10 feel that the older athletes treat younger athletes poorly

• Large teams (generally valued by coaches) are seen as important to success by only 32% of students

• There are some students who attempt to mistreat other team members but the extent of this behavior is unclear as it is hidden

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Female students not participating in 10- 12th grade have a lower opinion about their physical abilities

which is not apparent in 7-9th.

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Self evaluation of physical ability.

Energy

Strength

Coordination

Speed

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grades 7-9

playing this year n=47not playing n=17

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Energy

Strength

Coordination

Speed

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grades 10-12

playing this year n=17not playing n=15

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Speed - self rating vs. playing status

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

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7th-9th

playing not playing

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10th-12th

playing not playing

1. Please rate yourself. Circle a number on each line. Note that 1 is the least and 10 is the most.

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Students say what are the most important things that could be changed to increase their teams’ success:

• “Make it feel welcoming to the people who think they are bad because that is one of the main reasons some of my friends won’t do stuff is because they think they’re bad.”

• “A good coach. More preparation time. Good practicing. Make them more fun, less stressful and so that everyone can participate and not be punished when you try your best.”

• “Take the opinions of the students to help solve issues.”• “Teammates need to be nicer”• “Make sure people are dedicated to the sport and do their best.”• “Encourage more girls to join. More support from community, so

we don’t feel like we are playing for no reason, and seniors shouldn’t be so intimidating.”

Nearly all students made a suggestion only selected comments are shown here. The full list is separately available as a handout.

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Conclusion• Sports can be “all around good” for our young

women. This is the goal we should try to get as close to as possible

• Putting the emphasis on “don’t just care about winning but encourage students and help them improve” and “Friendship, leadership, social grace” is the method we need.

• Community support is needed for the young women to fight stereotypes and isolation. If we believe in them they will succeed.