Raising Our Athletic Daughters: How Sports Can Build Self-Esteem and Save Girls' Lives

This is a great book, i read it for a class, Gender and Sport, in college. Very helpful to anyone or to parents in particular.

In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was passed. It was called Title IX. Originally inspired to insure equal pay for female university professors, the real impact of Title IX was an explosion in girls' and womens' sports because the law required equal funding for all federally funded educational institutions. While only 20% of all institutions are in full compliance, we have seen an explosion in girls'/womens' sports plus one positive consequence for girls that no set of constitutional statutes can provide: " empowerment. " This book documents the overwhelmingly positive effects that playing sports has on self-esteem, schoolwork, career success and interpersonal/love relationships. Thoroughly written with entertaining true stories, the authors show how and why sports are so important to girls' lives. But they do not shy away from the hazards, pitfalls and confusion that girls face from the clash of mixed societal messages let alone the boys/men who can only see girls as sexual objects. Suggestions are made for sustaining the positive and preventing the negative. I am a girls' high school basketball coach. I also teach and coach young girls in basketball. Teaching and encouraging successful participation in girls' sports has become an important part of my life's work. Many of the issues that are brought up in the book are things I have had to deal with or are concerns that parents bring up with me. Any parent who sincerely wants their daughter to have a successful and rewarding experience with sports will benefit from this book because it lends support and offers advice based on experience. Like me, it is obvious that the authors love to work with girls and are very dedicated to promoting participation while erasing discrimination and inequality. It inspired me to continue my work and taught me a few things also. It was also a fun read. I didn't want the book to end. If, like me, you love working with girls, this is a must read.

The Equal Rights Amendment was passed in 1972. It was called Title IX. Title IX was originally intended to deal with equal pay for female university professors. It was really about a historic change involving the way we view girls and sports. It lead to an explosion in girls' and womens' sports. And in so doing, it did something for girls and women that no set of constitutional statutes could ever provide: " empowerment. " This is a thoroughly written and exciting book that examines and documents the tremendous impact that sports has had on girls' lives. The various aspects of this impact are explained with true and entertaining stories of girls and the sports they play....the effect on their self-esteem, schoolwork, family lives, careers and sex/love lives. While the overall effect of sports is highly positive for girls who participate, there are hazards, traps and pitfalls that parents, educators and coaches need to be aware of. And as far as girls' sports has come, they still endure resistance and ridicule from men who can only relate to girls as sexual objects. All of this is discussed. This book will be highly useful for parents who want to introduce or encourage their daughters to participate. Many of the issues that are discussed are problems I have to deal with in my coaching or are issues that are constantly being brought up by parents of the girls I work with. I am convinced that the best way to keep a girl away from dangerous people and questionable activities is to get her involved in sports. Her grades will go up and you are likely to see an increasingly happy daughter. This great book will give support to parents who wish to encourage their daughters and also instruct the concerned parent or educator about how to go about making sports a positive experience that will change her life for the better.

As a 50 year old grandmother who did not have the benefit of Title IX, this book lays out all the reasons why we should raise our daughters differently than society currently dictates. An athletic girl learns early about how to deal with prejudice and competition; it is a skill that does not come always easily to the non athlete. This book shows clearly and concisely how important it is to prepare our daughters for the world; there is a staggering set of statistics to show why girls everywhere should be encouraged to participate in sports. In this day and age when we are trying earnestly to figure out why so many teenage girls get pregnant or involve themselves in self destructive behaviors, this book gives a pretty clear roadmap of how to protect your own daughter.

There doesn't seem to be very much information about girls in sports - especially parenting information. This book is wonderful. It provides hope, saddness and grit of what is really happening!Being the parent of a very athletic 14 year old girl - who is sometimes thought of as "different" because of her drive, goals and commitment - this book helps me understand her - and provides me with ways to help her achieve her goals!!