Factors influencing women participating in sport

Some of MSSA's heroes: Gabrielle Isaacs, Lyrene Kühn, Morizane Boyes, Yolande Williams, and Maryke Kennard.

With females having considerably fewer opportunities to play high school sports than boys, and have. There too is an additional lack of access to adequate facilities near their homes that makes it more difficult for girls to engage in sports.

Added to the fact that many sports require a dedicated place to participate – which for many girls means traveling to facilities through unsafe neighborhoods. Thus, for many, the only option may be to stay home.

Another reason, despite recent progress, is the perceived discrimination. There is a great deal of bullying, and social isolation of those who compete in sport. Thus during adolescence twice as many girls drop out of sport as  what boys do.

Other reasons why females drop out of sport is that the quality level of their sports experience often declines. Generally, facilities allocated to girls are not as good as those allocated to boys. Times allocated to training are often too not optimal (considering the safety factors that need to be taken into account). Training needs to be different, and there are often not enough coaches of quality. Often coaches also tend to focus more on the boys’ programs that have more money for training. Often too equipment, uniforms, and events are not funded at the same levels which means the ability to grow and enjoy the sport is lessened. 

Thus, outside sport, many females do not learn the important life skills such as teamwork, leadership and confidence. Sport are an asset to American families, fostering communication and trust between parents and children

The benefits of playing sport are real.

Over two-thirds of working women consider  that  participating in sport helps their self-image and ability to deal with the pressures of work.

Sport too has a vital part to aid communication at home.

Thus Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) is absolutely committed to promoting gaming on an equitable basis among both genders.

eSports have a real value in that they can dispense with a lot  of the problems as expressed above. However, caution still has to be exercised as cyber-bullying remains a very real threat.

There is no quick-fix, but MSSA is convinced that it is on the right path.