No, Female Athletes Are Not Too Weak To Perform
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No, Female Athletes Are Not Too Weak To Perform

From a female college athlete to The Washington Post

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No, Female Athletes Are Not Too Weak To Perform
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I was fortunate enough to receive a thought-provoking article from my coach in my email in recent weeks, and because it applied so well to female college athletes, it peaked my interest. In reading it, I became defensive and frustrated, but I think that articles that bring out that kind of emotion are really important to read. And especially to respond to. So here's my response to The Washington Post's article titled, "Women’s college athletes don’t need another coddling parent... They need a coach," in their Colleges and Perspective sections. You can read it here.

The article, by Sally Jenkins, discusses what appears to be an increasing rate of mental health problems, or claims of them, in female college athletes. What the author describes it as or implies in the article is, essentially, young women on college teams being too sensitive. Which is something that really bothered me.

The article starts off by describing this generation's young people and does so in a way that's pretty infuriating, but we'll let that slide and get to the good stuff. She (yes, a woman wrote this piece) writes that since 2012, "female athletes have become more anxious, more prone to depression, less adult and more insecure than ever before." And that's where I get upset- how dare someone equate being anxious or prone to depression to being less adult and more insecure? This is entirely insulting to people who truly suffer from mental health problems. Time to reword and make room for respect in your character count, Washington Post.

The piece continues to report statistics from the NCAA, stating that female athletes would like to visit home and that they talk to their parents daily. The statistics also share that female athletes feel overwhelmed. And the author describes this as a result of a generation more influenced by "hovering parental-involvement" and "connectivity via smartphones and social media".

Anyone starting to see why I was angry to receive this article in my inbox as a female college athlete?

Anyway.

As the article progresses, it discusses my generation being more eager to find safety, blaming their pain on words that hurt them, and more reports of campus-wide mental health problems. The author discusses how this comes into conflict with coaches at universities that don't tolerate that form of weakness, as the author seems to see it.

The article ends with a final conclusion, and that conclusion was that women are harder to coach and coaches are worried about their jobs because this new generation of athletes is quicker to cry verbal abuse. It makes the life of a coach seem really hard, and I think on the whole, the article misses a lot of the perspective it needs to justify that opinion.

I see what the author is saying in a lot of ways. Yeah, we're girls between the ages of 17 and 22, we're pretty glued to our iPhones, we're sensitive, dramatic, and we're just generally a handful sometimes. And yes, it's a new generation of young people that coaches are having to learn and understand, and maybe we could toughen up a little.

But there is simply too much of this article that makes my skin crawl to let this pass.

Because under all of this is sexism and the normalization of real mental health problems. And if saying that makes me a weak female college athlete, then so be it.

I train with some of the most ferocious women on the planet, and I mean that in the best way. They're truly beasts- and they're incredible at what they do. We're rowers, so the sport involves endurance, pain, and stamina that is nearly indescribable. Never in a million years would I be able to even imagine one of them as weak in any way. And from my time at school getting to know other athletes on different teams, I can say the same- none of the women that I walk by in the athletic center are weak. They're warriors, they're strong beyond belief, and they're always ready to fight for that next stroke in the boat, the goal, the personal record, or the win. That's a fact.

I also know that they're all human. They have families they love, best friends, boyfriends, and passions that don't fall into the boundaries of "college athlete." They might wish their schedule would allow them more freedom to go home for a weekend. They might love to text their mom each day. Does that make us weak? I don't really see how.

I think what this article fails to identify is a), how today's statistics truly compare to those of female athletes from years ago, because the article doesn't mention that, b) the fact that just because we yearn for home from seeing more of social media and being more connected doesn't equate to weakness, but rather a change in the times, and c) how mental health awareness has increased significantly and staggering numbers today in anxiety and depression might not be entirely different from older statistics.

The article is one-sided, to put it simply. It is sexist, it portrays the average female college athlete to be entirely dependent on her hovering parents, with an iPhone literally glued to her palm, and without any of the strength to get through the regiment of being a student-athlete or to be recruited at all.

So why, then, do we have more reports of verbal abuse by coaches, rather than fewer athletes being cut?

If we're so weak, why haven't teams changed their recruiting styles, cut players, or made changes? I didn't see much of that in this piece.

And how, if we're completely burdened by social media and wanting to go home and our anxiety and depression and insecurities, do we come to practice each day, bring home titles for our teams, and continue to train in our off-seasons? How does that add up to weakness?

And finally, something that I think the author entirely fails to recognize is what it means to report a coach for verbal abuse. The article puts this so lightly, but does anyone realize what it would mean for an athlete to go to their athletic department or the NCAA and give up part of their dignity to describe feeling like a victim? Who wants to do that? You'd jeopardize your place on a team, your reputation, and your lifestyle. Not to mention, this kind of action takes time and is not easy. What young woman wants to put herself in such a spotlight or under such scrutiny? After all, aren't we entirely too insecure and anxious to handle that?

What I really think is going on is a big problem with coaches in not being able to handle players from a different generation. Yeah, we're different and we've grown up in a different time. But that requires flexibility from the professionals that train us to be champions, not blame on our shoulders. And when it comes to mental health, we need to take these numbers far more seriously. We live in a time where mental health is being destigmatized and given a new spotlight, and we're finally helping people to get the assistance they need to tackle mental illness. For someone to call us weak for complaining of things that years ago, we might not have been able to speak out about, is simply behind the times. And for this article to portray women as weak with no mention of males athletes all while making mental illness seem like a tiny problem is sexist.

When I trained all summer before my first year of college rowing, I did self-assessments on the rowing machine to mirror the assessment I'd take at school when I arrived. One afternoon, I did a test alone in my hot backyard, and I had to step off the machine over and over with tears in my eyes and a mind racing with fear and anxiety.

When I got to school, that same anxiety made me sick countless mornings. It's not something I like to talk about much. And when I got upset in front of my coaches on the rowing machine once, I was told that my parents probably gave me my way when I cried as a child, and that's why I reacted the way I did. My parents are hardly those parents, and I'm far from that kid. What I really am is a girl who's trying to live up to expectations she's set for herself. And I see other female athletes who struggle with the same thing.

Women who are recruited to play a sport, and men too, have likely given up a lot to be where they are at a university. In high school, your life is your sport. That's a loss of family time, social life, and involvement in almost anything else. But it's worth it every day. When we try to get recruited, there is a complex of not feeling like you earned your spot at a university because you might not go through the same process a normal student would to get there. You're being recruited instead of applying to colleges. And when you get there, you're a student-athlete and your life is your sport. It's all you've got. And suddenly you're the college athlete in your family and there's a new expectation to live up to. It's a lot, but nothing that every college athlete isn't excited to tackle head on and enjoy every minute of.

We all love what we're doing. Our passions are seen in unmatched dedication, sacrifice, and and resilience through trials, tribulations, injury, and losses. But it's time we truly examine how coaches work to understand kids who have grown up differently than the athletes before them, how coaches discipline, what our complaints of verbal abuse truly mean, and how our minds need just as much attention as our bodies in a game or practice.

I truly believe that we're not a generation of female athletes who are too weak to perform and who resort to crying verbal abuse- I believe we're a generation with more awareness that is truly more empowered about their treatment in a professional environment, about our mental health, and about what we deserve in any environment. And on top of that, we're continuing to kill it in the pool on the field, or in our boats. I think that makes as stronger than ever. Let me know if you agree.



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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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