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Women And Intramural
Sports
by Stacey Lotterer and Monica Everette
The Perils Of Figure
Skating: Beauty And The Beast
by Monica Holland
What's Golf Got
to Do with It?
Augusta National Golf Course's Quest to Keep Women Out
by David Barney
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Women
And Intramural Sports
by Stacey Lotterer and Monica Everette
Women's participation
within nationwide campus intramural sports programs is low
to say the least. Why are we not participating? It surely
isn't because of the lack of interest in sports. Women bring
organization, fun, energy and enthusiasm to intramural sports
programs when they decide to participate. What can campus
recreation programs do to lure the interest of more females?
It is not because
of the lack of interest
According to a
national high school participation survey done by the National
Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), 2,806,998
females participated in high school sports in 2001-02. This
suggests that there is a significant interest in sports by
females, but what happens when they go to college? Often,
campus recreation programs find themselves competing for the
attention of women with on campus varsity athletics, dance
and cheer teams as well as group exercise aerobic classes
not to mention the many off campus events that are also attractive
in the eyes of women. On the campus of Towson University,
there are 10,661 women and only 6% of these women make it
out for intramural sports programs. Traditionally, Towson's
intramural sports program had many female participants. The
campus recreation office has tons of photos hanging on the
walls that show women playing all kinds of sports offered
by the program. What do today's generation of women value
in their sports programs?
What is Intramural
Sports?
The Intramural
Sports program, a division of Campus Recreation Services,
is designed to provide physical, mental, social, psychological,
spiritual and educational growth for students. The program
provides students with the opportunity to participate in recreational
type sports programs. Level of skill and gender are not issues
in being able to participate. Leagues are set up for each
sport and consist of women's, men's and co-rec leagues.
Students are not limited to one league. Students can participate
in one gender specific and one co-rec league.
Programs include
sports such as outdoor soccer, indoor volleyball, basketball,
indoor lacrosse, indoor soccer, softball, and tennis. Students
do not have to have experience to play. The staff encourages
participants of all skill levels to play in hopes of creating
a more pleasurable sports experience.
The participation
sign-up process is pretty simple:
Step 1
Pick up registration form from Burdick Hall room 175, or download
from the Intramural Sports Web site www.towson.edu/campusrec
Step 2
Pay refundable
registration fee at ticket office in the union (money is refunded
if team does not forfeit)
Step 3
Attend captains' meeting for rules and play times (schedules
are posted in Burdick Hall the next day)
Step 4
Teams show up to play at the game's scheduled date and time
The registration
form acts as a roster for both teams and individuals. Individuals
will be matched with other students to form teams.
The intramural
sports staff is always interested in attracting more women
participants. Contact the Intramural Sports office and let
them know about your interests.
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The
Perils Of Figure Skating
Beauty And The Beast
by Monica Holland
Cara had a cigarette
for lunch. Liz watched a cooking show instead of eating. Emily
scrambled for the bathroom, and Susan took twelve of her "special
vitamins." The pretty faces of figure skaters hide the two-faced
nature of the sport. In a world where weight loss and aesthetics
are becoming increasingly valued, the world of figure skating
is a microcosm of extreme proportions. One of the most unique
things about the sport is that one of its main goals is to
combine the athleticism required with beauty and grace. But
this purpose also has the somewhat detrimental side effect
of creating doll-like robots whose beauty hides the gritty
underbelly of corruption, addiction, and disease. In a sport
where nervous breakdowns and suicide attempts occur, a girl's
sanity can hinge on something as simple as the pressure to
smile.
A figure skater
has to be able to respond and adapt in a highly competitive
environment. Although many men (and some women) are quick
to brush skating off as a frivolous activity for pampered
rich girls, it has become one of the most hardcore cutthroat
sports. Tara Lipinski's Olympic win in 1998, at the age of
fifteen, made her the youngest gold medallist in the history
of the games. It also gave credibility to the group of pushy
parents and coaches who had been advocating extreme training
tactics for decades. At four feet, eleven inches, and 87 pounds,
Tara had the ideal skating body. She was light enough to jump
very high. Her diminutive stature made other more mature skaters
look like fumbling giants. With this precedent set, all of
a sudden, it was okay to bring sons and daughters as young
as five years old to the ring for lessons. Seven-year-olds
were put on diets. Families took second and third mortgages
on their houses, valuing a shaky porcelain dream over financial
security. This financial gamble places an undue amount of
pressure on a young girl. She could feel responsible for the
family's survival. Add to that the pressure from coaches,
teachers at school, and other skaters, and it is not hard
to imagine how these girls ' crack '.
Figure skating
can become a breeding ground for eating disorders, causing
girls to starve themselves, throw up their meals, or take
laxatives in order to succeed in looking like ten-year-olds
well into their teens and sometimes even early twenties. Those
who don't use extreme dieting tactics are sometimes shunned
and can become the brunt of jokes by peers.
Danielle McCullough
remembers being an outcast because of her body, "At five feet
two, 110 pounds, I was considered overweight. I was one of
the biggest girls in my level. I never really tried to lose
weight because it just seemed so silly to me. I mean in the
real world I was small! But it was generally understood that
no matter how good I got, I would never skate on the national
level, and I'm fine with that. I'm not insane like the rest
of them."
Addiction may run
rampant in the sport where fantasy is reality. Girls may turn
to drugs to escape, to deal with the pressure of winning,
to lose weight, or to fit in. Alcohol tends to be avoided
because of the empty calories. Commonly used drugs include
speed, laxatives, cigarettes, and sometimes, even heroin.
Some skaters end up feeling detached and isolated emotionally.
"When your parents
are paying six hundred dollars for a pair of skates, two hundred
for a dress and sixty dollars an hour for coaching, it's clear
that you're expected to succeed. That pressure can get to
you. I understand why some girls like to check out." Danielle
says she never turned to drugs because of skating, but knew
many girls who did.
An individual sport,
whose only big event is the Olympics, leaves little room for
success stories. A select few win glory every four years.
Compared to the number of skaters who chase the dream, the
chances of coming out on top are much like the chances of
winning the lottery. Most girls burn out by the age of sixteen,
underdeveloped both physically and emotionally. These girls
face a daunting, harsh reality. What skaters have accomplished
in their sport may come to mean almost nothing, if they do
not make it to the national level.
Figure skating
is both beautiful and challenging. Let us hope that its beauty
will more and more tackle the tough question - At What Cost?
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What's
Golf Got to Do with It?
Augusta National Golf Courses Quest to Keep Women Out
by David Barney
For those who don't
play the game of golf, the name Tiger Woods is still recognizable.
He has become the unofficial ambassador to the game. By many,
he is viewed as a golf phenomenon and is expected to win every
time he steps out onto the course. For people of color and
minorities, he has become the Jackie Robinson of golf, a catalyst,
opening doors that were once closed-or so you thought.
Viewed primarily
as a "gentleman's game", for years golf has been an exclusive
privilege only enjoyed by white men, whose financial status
enabled them to join exclusive country clubs, void of women
and people of color. Since golf's inception, there have been
many changes in the sport. Golf has turned into a $600 million
a year industry. These changes include increased winnings,
technologically advanced golf equipment, national television
exposure, even an exclusive golf television cable channel;
and would you believe it, there are even universities that
offer Master's degree's in golf management.
However, the more
things change, the more they stay the same. Augusta National
Golf Course, one of the world's most recognizable golf courses,
plays host to one of the biggest golf events in the world-The
Master's Tournament. Many of golf's greatest sportsmen have
played this covenant course. Nestled in an historic area of
Augusta, Georgia, the course boasts a lavish landscape with
professionally manicured fairways, bordered by huge soaring,
sunlit pine trees, beautiful dogwoods, and acres of pink azaleas.
The Master's Tournament
began in 1934. Today, it captures one of the largest television
audiences in sports-40.1 million viewers. Many of its corporate
sponsors salivate at the thought of placing their products,
goods and services in front of such a wide viewing audience.
Many of the sponsors and members include, billionaire investor
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; Jack Welch, former
Chairman of General Electric; Douglas (Sandy) Warner III,
former CEO of J.P. Morgan; Robert Allen, former CEO of AT&T;
and former Secretary of State George Shultz. In fact, Coca-Cola,
who is based in Atlanta, has been involved since the start.
The sad truth in
all of this is that Augusta National is an exclusionary all-male
club, though members claim that the club is not. Augusta National
opened in 1932. There has never been a woman member, nor have
any women ever been asked or invited to join. This issue raises
major concerns for Augusta National and its corporate sponsors
who claim not to advocate discrimination. Golf has become
a mainstay in American sports and many of these sponsors look
forward to those four days in April. Women's groups have been
putting pressure on many of these corporations to have them
put pressure on Augusta National representatives. In its attempt
to stand its ground, Augusta National said they would still
air the tournament, in its entirety, commercial free. The
Masters generates more than $20 million annually, yet they
are willing to forego it all just to keep women out and maintain
the exclusivity of the all-male club. You are probably wondering
why doesn't someone step in and do something. A governing
body does not run Augusta National; it is a private facility
with its own rights.
After several hundreds
of years, society is still fighting issues like racism and
gender equality. Augusta admitted its first black member in
1990. Golf is a sport, however, the issue reaches far beyond
the world of sports. Like many social issues of historical
significance of gender access, women once again are fighting
for equality. Battle cries of freedom can be heard, yet vestiges
of racial and gender discrimination persist. Even in such
a great country as America, there are situations, like Augusta,
that cause us to revisit the true nature of bigotry.
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