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

Jean Zimmerman; Gil Reavil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385489609 ISBN 13: 9780385489607

Publisher: Crown, 1999

Synopsis

Now in paperback, the first book to document how participating in sports changes young girls' lives during the difficult years of adolescence.

From high-profile women's professional leagues to high-school-level champions, girl athletes are acheiving record breakthroughs. Witness, for example, the first spectacular season of the WNBA, or the celebrated victories of women's teams at the 1996 Olympics. The female athlete is a new media darling especially beloved of today's teenage girls, who are almost as likely to have pictures of Rebecca Lobo, Mia Hamm, or Gabrielle Reece on their walls as posters of Leonardo DiCaprio.

So it seems paradoxical that many books and studies attest to a truly sobering picture of girls' lives. With her book Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher was only the latest in a string of theorists to describe the dramatic ways in which girls loose self-esteem during the critical years of adolescence, contributing to eating disorders, drug problems, and chronic depression in many young women. In Raising Our Athletic Daughters, journalists Zimmerman and Reavill set out to talk with girls and their parents about  how sports can transform girls' lives. Here are firsthand stories from the inner cities and rural playing fields across the nation, offering compelling evidence that participation in athletics makes an extraordinary difference in the lives of young girls, from reducing pregnancy rates and substance abuse to increasing college attendance. Raising Our Athletic Daughters is a clarion call for all those eager to help their children succeed and level the playing field, at last.

About this title

Review:

Here's the bad news: American society continues to treat its sons somewhat better than its daughters, and it's no different on the playing fields; boys' athletic programs receive more attention, and thus, girls' programs must work harder just to keep pace. Here's the good news: despite the obstacles, sports function as the leveler. "There is growing awareness that girls enjoy sports and that sports are good for girls," stress the husband-and-wife team of Zimmerman and Reavill. "New evidence is developing which indicates that girls who play sports tend to avoid the physical, psychological, and social pitfalls of adolescence."

To prove their point, the authors traveled the country and collected stories from young women and their parents on the way sports are influencing female lives today. Theirs is a heartening report, rendered textured and real by the many individual voices gathered here. Sports clearly have a measurable, positive impact on young women who participate: substance abuse and pregnancy rates are lower than those of nonathletes, and female athletes are more likely to pursue a college education. Less tangibly, but no less significantly, sports help build self-esteem, fostering independence, teaching leadership and teamwork, and providing powerful role models. "If Ophelia had been on the swim team," the authors surmise, "she might not have needed reviving."

Inspiring as it is, Raising Our Athletic Daughters isn't satisfied with just inspiring; it also serves as a clearinghouse for lots of practical information. It explores the physical and emotional benefits--and pitfalls--specific to young women and changing bodies. It weighs the values of coed vs. single-sex team sports. It looks at how extreme sports have become viable alternatives to the more traditional basketball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, etc. It examines the role of parents, and ends with a comprehensive bibliography and resource list of useful organizations and contacts throughout the United States. Daughters deserve nothing less. --Jeff Silverman

From the Publisher:

Advance Praise for Raising Our Athletic Daughters:

"We need this book. Strong girls make strong women, and athletics is an important part of that. If you want your daughter to enjoy the health and confidence that come from playing sports, Raising Our Athletic Daughters is a must read."
--Billie Jean King

"Zimmerman and Reavill take us beyond the headlines to document how powerfully sports can shape our daughters' lives. They show that Title IX wasn't so much about access to the playing fields as access to sports' empowering values and experiences. Every parent with a daughter ought to read this book."
--Joan Ryan, author of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0385489609
• ISBN 13: 9780385489607
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 255