A day to remember women in sports

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day!

Today serves as a reminder of the accomplishments, contributions, and struggles of girls and women in their journey through sports and will be celebrated nationwide throughout the week. This year, the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport chose a theme that marks the anniversary of Title IX, a legislation crucial to opening doors for girls and women at educational institution: "Title IX at 40: In it for the Long Run."

For those of us who have enjoyed the privilege of participating in athletics, particularly in intercollegiate athletics, today also serves as an opportunity to reflect on the state of intercollegiate athletics and on our own experiences.

Let’s start with intercollegiate athletics.

In the thorough report issued by Vivian Acosta and Linda Jean Carpenter, we find out that the numbers of women in athletics in many areas have reached the highest ever in 2012. The “Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal, National Study” indicates that the number of female professionals in intercollegiate athletics is up to 13,792, the number of women’s teams is up to 9,274, the number of female head coaches is up to 3,974 and these are only the highlights.

These are good news. The troubling findings, which really are “old news” at this point, are the low percentages of female athletic directors. In Division I, merely 10.6%, a total of 36, of all athletic directors were women (p. 33 of the report).

For years now I have been following this annually updated report. Every time I access it, besides going through a roller-coaster of emotions as I see the numbers in various categories, a feeling of appreciation overwhelms me.

As an athlete and a graduate assistant coach, I had one of the 36 female athletic directors. My institution was also among the 4.10% that had a female athletic director, one female associate AD and one male associate AD in the administrative structure (p. 35 of the report). I spent six years at an institution where it was “normal” to have a female director of sports medicine, a female director of athletic academic advising and a female director of marketing.

Unlike the earlier generations of women, who are now in leadership positions and from whom I learned so much, I had female role models in athletics. I did not question if women should be there. In that environment, I also did not question if I, as a woman, belonged to the sports arena.

Unlike the young women who grew up and continued to be in an environment where "male" equaled "leader," I saw women who were breaking down social stereotypes about gender roles which, as much as we have progressed, still exist and are particularly prominent in athletics.

I went through my undergraduate and early graduate years without constraints on my potential career path not only in athletics, but in my academic life. My athletic director was a woman; I saw no ceiling.

Moreover, these women made a conscious effort to mentor and educate student-athletes in a way that often went beyond their job description. They sent me articles about Title IX, they encouraged me to read about issues of discrimination, and they generously shared their wisdom.

The National Girls and Women in Sports Day is an opportunity to remember the multiple contentions in sports. But, most importantly, it is an opportunity to express our gratitude to the women who through their activism, coaching, pedagogy and mentoring have enhanced the quality of our lives.

--Dunja Antunovic

A new blog where athletes come first

The mainstream media are still falling behind in covering disability sports and the network of resources for athletes with disability is far from perfect, but a new blog carries a promise of making things better.

Athletes First: Sporting Abilities and Opinions is administered by Andrea Bundon, a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada who, in a collaboration with a group of athletes, started a blog that serves as a connecting point for those interested in disability sports.

The idea was conceived when Bundon became a guide to a cross country skier Courtney Knight, who was at the time preparing for the 2010 Paralympic Games. During the travels for training and competition to remote locations, Bundon and Knight kept in touch with their friends and family through blogging.

“I loved that idea of athletes as sort of 'foreign correspondents' who would travel the world and do all these interesting things and then send reports back home,” Bundon said. At the same time, Bundon was aware that athletes with disability might not have the same opportunities to connect with each other as able-bodied athletes do.

“At some point the two ideas came together,” Bundon recalled. “Courtney and I started to think maybe we could use a blog to connect athlete to athlete in a way that enables athletes to be a resource to each other.”

Putting the blog together, just as most collaborative work, has been a challenging process mostly due to conflicting timelines with the athletes who are busy with competition. For Bundon, perhaps the greatest challenge, however, has been to negotiate her role as a researcher in this project.

“One question I've struggled with right from the start is 'what right do I have to do this research?',” Bundon wondered. “I'm an able-bodied athlete who has had this incredible opportunity see the Paralympic from the inside out. Because I guided at the 2010 Games, the Canadian Paralympic Committee classifies me as a 'Paralympian' but that's not an identity I claim and I'm well aware that there are many who would challenge that classification. But at the same time I saw an opportunity to combine my academic interests with my passion for sport and my belief that sport should be accessible to everyone.”

She is combining these effectively through the blog that officially launched two weeks ago and includes contributions from Paralympic athletes and guides. The blog welcomes comments from readers and encourages participation in the dialogue.

As the language around disability sports can be highly problematic and gets “complicated,” as the blog team concluded, the name of the blog was carefully thought out. Bundon gives full credit to Knight for coming up with it.

“AthletesFirst is a play on the 'person first language' promoted by many disability rights activists - for example 'person with a disability' rather than 'disabled person,' - and it also references the notion of an athlete-centred sport system,” Bundon explained. “But most importantly, it represents the desire of all athletes to be recognized for their athletic achievements.”

The members of the blog team, though dispersed geographically, are committed to making the blog a space where athletes can share their experiences and address issues they encounter in sports. Bundon finds that to be a significant contribution of the blog.

“Participating in discussions about the practices of the sport system is an important step for athletes who want to be more involved in the sport system and advocate for policies that are athlete-centred,” Bundon said. “This is particularly important for athletes with a disability given that they are operating within a system that was not necessarily designed with them in mind.”

As the London 2012 Paralympic Games are approaching, readers can expect to learn more about the preparations and the legacy from the blog and might also encounter some “star appearances” beyond the regular contributors.

“We have a few athletes who've committed to making 'guest' blogs on topics they are particularly passionate about,” Bundon announced. “There a few other things in the works - a photo contest, a twitter chat and ideas are emerging all the time. You'll have to keep reading...”

Join the discussion at athletesfirst.ca.

Thank you to Andrea Bundon for taking the time to share the story of the blog.

-- Dunja Antunovic