Why Basketball Is A Big Part Of My Life

basketball interests me because I have played since i was 4, and i haven't stopped.

SportsCenter, ESPN’s flagship program, dedicated just 2 percent of its airtime to women’s sports in 2014, and just four percent when looking at media coverage as a whole (Kroh, 2015). According to the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, women’s athletics receive only 4 percent of all sports media coverage; other studies have put television time as low as 1 percent (Ottaway, 2016). This means that aspiring young female athletes were more likely to see a man participating in sports than see someone that looks like them on the screen. This negatively effects sports culture because children are known to emulate the things that they see on television. If young girls do not see other girls participating in sports then they are less likely to want to participate in sports. And if a girl does participate in a sport it is more probable that she will drop out of the sport than a boy

One of the many offensive gender stereotype sayings is “You throw like a girl.” Men often do not want to have anything to do with that statement. In James Fallows report he states, “Having been trained (like most American boys) to dread the accusation of doing anything ‘like a girl,’ athletes were said to grow into the assumption that women were valueless, and natural prey” (138). This suggests how women are looked down upon by men and their own society when competing against men in athletics. To reach supporters of feminism and to appeal to pathos, the author uses offensive language toward women, such as “valueless” and “natural prey”. These insulting words may hit the emotions of women. With just the usage of

Journalist James Fallows explores the art of throwing a baseball in his text “Throwing Like a Girl.” The article was published in a commentary magazine called the Atlantic in August of 1996. Fallows clearly introduces the common misconception of “throwing like a girl” and effectively debates the many different reasons for the throwing difference.

When you type in Female Athletes into a popular search engine like Google, the top hits are links that redirect to articles titled, “The Top 50 Hottest Athletes of 2016," “Unlimited List of Hottest Female Athletes In The World. In contrast, when you do the same for a Male Athlete you find articles about the “Best Male Athlete ESPY Award” and ‘Most Fit Male Athlete in Sports”. We see such a stark difference, even though they perform the same tasks. At an early age, parents tend to encourage the male child to participate in sports whereas they encourage the female child to join a dance or arts and crafts class instead. “You throw like a girl” is an expression that is often used, equating athleticism to masculinity rather than femininity (Hively

In the reading “throwing like a girl” by James fallows he describes the differences between the Clintons throw during a baseball game. He explains the right way to throw a baseball, and the ways an individual should not throw a baseball. To my understanding, Fallows is trying to explain the correct way and the incorrect way to play/throw a baseball, especially in such a big game, where there are thousands of people watching. To my understanding he uses the phrase “throwing like a girl” referring to the Clintons photographs due to both of the Clintons not throwing the ball the correct way. In the images it shows how both of them are not holding the balls correctly, one has the elbow way low than it should be, and the other a little higher.

Identity is a person’s conception and expression of their own. Identity can be shaped by culture, family, hobbies, childhood experiences and the place where you live. For me, as a teenager, basketball shapes my identity.

When I play basketball I not only play for myself but for my team,my family, the community, my school, and for everyone who doubts me. When I think about those things as I play I feel more in charge of what I do and how my outcome will turn out. I don’t want to be just a girl on the team, I want to the the girl on the team that everyone has to watch. It’s fun to get noticed and know that people admire the way you play but that only happens when you go hard and show the commitment you have toward the

In today’s world, men’s sports seem to always be in the spotlight while women’s sports do not draw much attention, as if women who play sports are not taken seriously. This happens on all levels of sports, and I have personally experienced it myself through basketball in high school. While the gym would be full for any of the boys’ games, our games had very little support with almost empty bleachers. When it comes to the professional level, when women’s sports do get covered by the media, most people judge female athletes more on their looks rather than their athletic skill, which is negative and unfair.

Over the years, girls have gained self-confidence playing on the boys’ middle school and high school sports team. Today, many females believe they are capable to play on a boy’s middle school and high school sports’ team. Therefore, I believe girls should play on the same sports team as boys because the girls' sports team may be too challenging for advanced level girls, and they have the strength and self-confidence like a boy. While some girls appreciate playing on an all-girl sports team, some may find the girls’ sports team is challenging because they have been playing a sport their entire life.

Basketball has always been something I loved ever since I was a little girl. I remember when I was younger, we had a basketball hoop in my driveway and my brothers and I would always go out and play one on one or horse. I also remember losing, a lot. Although it wasn’t about winning or losing for me, I just loved the game. In fourth grade, I started playing competitive basketball and loved the sport even more. Maybe it was scoring points or getting an assist, I’m not really sure the reason, I just knew I loved the game. As I got older my love for the game only grew; until high school hit.

My basketball is one of a kind because I received this great gift on Christmas day from my dad. What was so awesome that the rockets were playing! First, he gave me a wrapped box and I said in my mind ‘’what is it’’ second, I opened it and I was the supreme logo (a very expensive brand), and I thought wait could it be a basketball third, I opened the box and I see a supreme basketball to my knowledge. Then I see a signature and I asked who’s signature is it my dad said ‘’James Harden’’ my jaw dropped. I was so happy like a child on Christmas day.

“Tomboy”, and was probably cut from any tryouts. In recent times women’s sports are becoming more popular, except the fans are predominantly women. The WNBA is the women’s version of the NBA, but not nearly treated the same or as popular. Colleges and Universities have a variety of sports for girls and boys. Some girls might try to cross- into boy’s teams and it usually causes a controversy or a lawsuit against the University. A boy would never try a girl’s sport. Women are very sensitive about their rights and what they are capable of doing in our society that is why they continue to gain power slowly but steadily.

American society bases a shocking amount of gender norms on sports. From day one, boys are given infant-sized jerseys and rattles shaped like footballs and girls wear cute ballerina dresses; if you don’t empathize with your given sport as you grow older, then you’re in danger of being taunted as a homosexual. People don’t always realize that lesbians are more marginalized thanks to the ever-present patriarchial opinion. Susan K. Cahn explores the sociology behind female athletes and sexuality in “From The ‘Muscle Moll’ To The ‘Butch’ Ballplayer: Mannishness, Lesbianism, and Homophobia In U.S. Women’s Sport.”

While basketball had an extremely big influence on my gender identity, growing up in a house of predominantly women; myself, my mother, and my two sisters, had an extreme impact on me, and how I viewed femininity. My Mother, extremely proud of us all, held no reservations, no expectations of gender, and was open to anything we wanted to try as children to establish an identity for ourselves; a true gift in which not everyone is exempt to. Growing up in a household that was flexible and fluid about personal identity and gender, I found this to be an extremely influential gendering institution.