Why Alison McFerran Believes Sports Teach Girls Important Lessons

A few hundred years ago, female sports were extremely limited and only focused on exercises that promote correct posture, tight muscles, and similar outcomes. It was not until the 20th century that most countries started allowing women to compete in traditional sports at the highest levels. Fortunately, these boundaries are now a thing of the past as women are welcome in every sport. In fact, some of them are at such a high level that they surpassed most of their male counterparts. A great example would be Serena Williams who has earned more Grand Slam victories in tennis than any other person on the planet, male or female.

Ultimately, not every child or teenager is going to participate in sports. Instead, some of them may focus on their academic studies more. Although there is nothing wrong with this approach, younger females who do not participate in any sport are most likely missing out on a number of important benefits. Some of the most obvious ones are depicted below.

Teamwork

Given that a lot of school-based sports revolve around teams, they give young girls a perfect opportunity to learn the basic of teamwork. For instance, soccer, basketball, volleyball, track, and pretty much every other sport that comes to mind will have a team. Why does this matter? Because it instills a team-based mindset into the players. Consequently, they will learn how to work well together, adapt to each other's strengths and weaknesses, and overcome obstacles through coordinated efforts. Well, it is obvious that most of these are transferable skills that could be utilized in other aspects of life.

Overcoming Stereotypes

As mentioned, there was a long period of history where females were not even invited to participate in certain sports. Even nowadays, there are still obvious discrepancies between male and female earnings for athletes. Most of these differences are a byproduct of a lack of mainstream popularity for female sports. To help overcome such stereotypes and propel the female gender past the close-minded thoughts, it is important to motivate young girls to try out for various sports.

Learning to Get Over Failure

Anyone who follows sports will immediately know how useful they are when it comes to learning to overcome failure. To understand this through a vivid example from the real world, consider the New England Patriots. When they recruited a sixth-round pick quarterback in 2000, they did not exactly have high expectations. And after a few losing games in the following season, that same quarterback went on to win six championships in 19 years.

Such mind-boggling levels of success are crucial when it comes to teaching young individuals about their true potential. Meaning, girls that participate in sports will learn how to take failure and learn from it. Then, they will capitalize on that experience and go on to fight for their goals even harder.

Balancing Multiple Responsibilities

According to Alison McFerran, CEO of Letarte Luxe, sports teach girls about the proper way to balance multiple responsibilities. For instance, those who compete in team-based environments must know how to properly assert themselves while also maintaining the status of a reliable team leader. Moreover, they must walk the thin line between expressing their own will and doing what their coach tells them to do. Doing this for an extended period of time will teach them an invaluable lesson about juggling multiple responsibilities in a productive manner.

Building Relationships

When girls play sports, especially the ones that are based on teams, they will find it very easy to build relationships. Alison McFerran states that this is especially important for those who may reside in smaller areas. For instance, females who are raised here in Falmouth will have to deal with the limitations of a very small population. Thus, the number of other girls that they can be friends with and relate to is going to be limited. With sports, however, girls that are very similar in nature are going to be brought together and pushed towards the same goal. So, they are going to have enough in common to become very close and build a long-term relationship with one another.

Important Opportunities

Ultimately, females that play sports will have more opportunities to succeed. The ones that are very good at what they do will likely have scholarships that can help pay for college. Others may even go as far as to reach a national stage and compete in their sports as professional athletes!