Netball, a Special Sport in the Heart of Australians

Sport’s are an aspect of life that affect societies across the globe. Athletics affect everyone's life, whether that be playing the sport, watching games, or hearing about a sporting event. There is a big difference between playing an individual sport and players relying on their own athletic abilities versus a team sport when members of the team rely on their teammates to complete each individual's specific responsibility to reach the team's goal. Team sports bring people together in countless ways, and they teach many life skills for the athletes that participate in them. Some of these skills include communication, teamwork, discipline, work ethic, dedication, leadership, and numerous more that will help them in their personal and work

The system was one of the main and most important factors in the Australian sports during the 1990s. The Australian male teams competed in the international competition in cricket, football, soccer, olympics games and netball. However, despite the remarkable achievements the female teams earned in this decade. sports women struggled to achieve equality with men in many different areas such as fundings and media attention.

This section will outline how, throughout history, the role of Women in Society that has been reflected in the role of Women in Sport.

Firstly gender has a marked effect on Australian sports playing and spectating. At the very start of the century woman played few sports because sports were too physically demanding for the body. The widespread acceptance of medicalised perspectives on female bodies served to limit female sporting involvement for a very long time. International Review for the sociology of sport 50 (4-5)pp.430-436. In todays society, there is still continuous inequality throughout the sporting industry amongst athletes and sporting teams. With sport being a strong influence, there are many ongoing consistencies.

A survey focused on the reason why children participated in sport was preformed on primary school students by Messrs Scott Malaxos and Nathan Wedgwood of the University of Sydney. The survey was conducted on children aged between 8 and 13, they were asked to why they participated is sport. The number one reason for taking part in sport was to compete with 83 per cent. Though, the unsurprising fact was that the second highest cause was being like sports stars with 58 per cent of the vote. Evidently AFL players are role good models because so many children look up to them for motivation in participating in

Australia is widely regarded as both characterised and united by sport. Sport has an elevated place in Australia's official and popular national culture, and the country’s reputation for being a 'paradise of sport' has become a largely unquestioned aspect of the Australian way of life. Gender is a social construct that outlines the roles, behaviours, characteristics and actions that a specific society deems appropriate for men and women (WHO, 2014). The established relationship between gender equality and sport is a widely regarded issue in not only Australia, but all around the world. Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society, including sport and physical recreation

Over the years there has been several reasons why people argued the point of whether women should be allowed to participate in sports. Society used the excuse that women are weaker than men resulting in the conclusion that women could not handle the competitive atmosphere that playing a sport brings. Another reasoning was that past cultures and religion did not allow women to be involved in activities other than the normal womanly duties. This unjust nature of believing that women are less than men or that men are superior just because is not acceptable and should not be tolerated. As Sandra Coney says in an article, “New Zealand has been called a man’s country. Sporting contest have been a male proving ground and a source of identity and pride” (Coney). This quote proves that it is not just one area or one country where the male species is the higher of the two genders, it is a worldwide issue. Although some may think women should not be involved in sports, many disagree and believe that the involvement of women in sports can benefit society.

* Equity affects nearly all aspects of our lives none less than sports such as beach volleyball. Sport is an integral part of today’s society and as such, sport should be organised, participated in and distributed in an equitable manner.The aim of equity in sports is to encourage all people, regardless of age, gender, disability or ethnic origin to participate in and develop their potential within sport. Disputes over equity have been apparent in our society for hundreds of years, over such things as gender, religion or race. A framework developed by Figueroa deals with equity. It consists of five levels that link together – individual, interpersonal, institutional, structural and cultural. The following paragraphs demonstrate the use of

Other than cricket, Australians pride themselves on many other sports. After the debacle of the 1976 summer Olympic games where Australia won no medals, the Australian Institute of Sport was created. This institute brought all sports back into the national limelight and reminded Australians how important sport was to their national identity. Other sports Australia prides themselves on are tennis, swimming, rugby, soccer, and their very own Australian Rules Football. This is a game that gives them a sense of national identity because they created it. Although it is based mainly in Victoria, it is very heavily followed in the region. People are mostly fans of one particular team (usually in

Upon analysing equity and access in sport, it is important that I am aware of what levels of the framework have influenced my sport participation. In Queensland especially, the sport of AFL comes with primarily negative connotations. These preconceived notions about the sport and the cultural have had a negative effect on my participation and approach towards the sport. Gender stereotypes have also been a deterrent in my participation. Sports, such as AFL, require participants to be competitive, courageous, powerful and strong. These qualities are largely associated with male gender stereotypes. Sport reinforces hegemonic masculinity by celebrating stereotypically masculine and activities and attributes, and restricting the behaviour of women.

In light of Jessica Statsky’s book ‘Children need to play, not compete’, she argued that, with the vivid increase of sporting competition lately in the United States, children have been exposed to the adults hard and rigorous training by devoted parents and coaches at their tender age making a game that is supposed to be fun and joy look hectic and strenuous to them due to the standard of training they are made to go through and also the belief that they must always win thereby making them lose the spirit of sportsmanship, and neither gaining satisfaction nor benefiting from them. In as much as sports are good for physical, mental and emotional growth, it should be organized in a manner that the youths will enjoy the game at the end of it rather than the fear of being hurt or defeated by the other competitors.

Through the movies viewed in this course this semester, we saw women who were able to play against men and still keep their femininity. Nothing is lost when playing sports not traditionally meant for a particular race or gender. Society must become more understanding when it comes to the sports different types of people play and hinder from stereotyping anyone when they participate and perform well in that sport.

What is the social role of sport? To what extent does social structure influence the practice and experience of sport? Discuss in relation to two of the following: gender, class, ethnicity or Aboriginality, or region. Illustrate your answer with at least three examples from sporting contexts (local or international).

Women’s participation in sports has changed over the centuries. In ancient times, men dominated societies. Women were viewed as the caretaker, a provider for life. Women who did participate were criticized and were thought of as threatening. In 18th century America, women were considered inferior to men because of the belief that women are the weaker sex. A woman’s purpose in life was to take care of the house, children, and husband. When they did want to participate in recreational sport, they need to be able to negotiate with men and with other women because societies did not make it easy for women to participate. For example, there was a

People might still say that the segregation of genders in sports are making gender equality impossible, but the separation of genders in sports is not because one gender is better than the other. It is to ensure the fairness and equality. Women and men are naturally built differently and they both are both truly strong but in different ways. In order to keep sports fair, just and equal, the best thing to do is to keep sports separated by