CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Female participation in sports has come a long way. Efforts have been and are being made in getting more females to participate in sports. However, a lot more efforts is still required to generate greater female participation in the world of sports (Linus, 2003).
In the ancient Olympic games as reported by Jackson and Harris (1999), women were not allowed to watch the activities let alone participate in them. By the end of the nineteenth century, English women from the middle classes were taking part in sports. Victorian attitudes meant that women played in cumbersome dresses making movement difficult (Jackson et, al, 1999). In the early twentieth century, the national governing body of some sports were formed and there were organized competitions for women different from that of men. Women competed for in the Olympic games for the first time in 1904 but only in archery (Jackson et al, 1999). Jackson et, al (1999), also opined that the first world war was the turning point for women sports where the myth that women were unable to cope with men’s sports was broken.
Attitude regarding female participation in sports are changing over the years as women in sports have continued to grow. There are females who have made sports participation part of their daily life. In spite of all these, female participation still fall a lot lower than that of the males (Eileen, 2005).
The under-representation of females in sports is an issue of national concern so it becomes a matter of national concern for government and non-governmental sports organization to implement solutions.
The aforementioned raises questions as to what females do with their leisure time particularly after completing secondary school. Research has indicated that adolescence who are idle become involved in high risk behaviors including substance abuse as argued by Iso-Ahola and Crowley and cited in Buffer (1996). Research studies have also suggested that participation lowers the rate of sexual activity and teenage pregnancy. The women sports foundation (Digest, 1997), has shown that the involvement of girls in sports also reduce dropout rates from schools. The promotion of female participation in sports will help create a contest for women to lead healthier and productive lives.
Participation in sports has been associated with positive steps that can lead to better lives. Girls who take part in sports help to build self confidence, a positive body image and have been linked with lower level of depression (Digest, 1997). Girls who partake in sports become physically healthier in terms of strength and weight management.
Early involvement in sports can also minimize the development of a number of health conditions (Digest, 1997). A healthy body nurtures a healthy mind and school based physical education and sports programmes are ideal to facilitate fitness and acquisition of life time skills. It therefore seems important to know and understand factors that could promote greater female participation in sports.
This study will focus on factors influencing why some girls take part in sports focusing on the above dimension would reveal positive reasons and negative reasons that also cause many girls to choose not to participate in sport.