We at www.ultimatesoccertraining.com want to make this post quick, direct, and to the point. Why? Mainly because we hate being made to feel like a bunch of elementary school teachers! Spam, in any of its incarnations will not be tolerated. Fortunately, we’ve only had to “spam-out” two comments, so far. In both instances, the individual made an attempt to link science with his or her product. Not cool!

Please be aware of one thing, we spend a great deal of time selecting just the right topic, along with the supporting articles, posts from other blogs, and even outside experts. In other words, several independent sources are consulted and verified before an article is “published.” The aforementioned experts and expert sources, combined with my 30+ years of experience training athletes at virtually every level all come together to serve the soccer community. Here at www.ultimatesoccertraining.com, we strive to deliver up-to-date, cutting-edge information useful to both male and female soccer-athletes, young and not-so young, all levels; head coaches, assistants, strength coaches, and athletic trainers; parents, press, fans, and fanatics! In other words, fans of all kinds and all ages!

The Ultimate Training Company, and www.ultimatesoccertraining.com, will continue to deliver information that is as accurate as possible. Self-promotion, as well as independent service and product promotion, unless cleared in advance, is unacceptable and will be filed immediately. OK? When it comes to material offered here, we have our own consultants: coaches, strength & fitness personnel, athletic trainers, physical therapists, and sports medicine physicians. Ultimate Soccer Training also has a kinesiologist, and an exercise physiologist on staff, both as consultants. We guarantee we will do everything humanly possible to ensure whatever you take away from your experience with us, is it will be valid and scientifically anchored in the data, not anecdotal pseudo-science.

Thank you for your response to date! Realize this, without you, we cannot hope to serve the sport-specific (soccer), sex-specific strength and fitness needs of the soccer (football/futbol) community. Strength and fitness training includes not only physical and mental training but mental and nutritional instruction as well. Unless you have a masters or doctorate in diet and/or nutrition, please refrain from offering nutritional advice. Thank you!

Later today! Soccer-specific, sex-specific training and a positive mental attitude.

PMA!

See you in the cheap seats!

CoachZ
216-712-6526
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

Soccer Coach Extends Contract 5 Years After Winning Season

Karen Hoppa, the Auburn women’s soccer coach, has signed-on for five more years, after already leading the program for the last decade.

“I am just really appreciative of the support Auburn has given me,” Hoppa said. “It has been a great 10 years, and I’m really looking forward to an exciting five years and hopefully more beyond that.”

The contract extension came after an 11-7-2 season, with appearances in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments.

“The biggest focus for us in the next five years, and hopefully in the next year, is to take the program to another level,” Hoppa said.

Hoppa said that she is excited about the extension that will last through the 2013 school year. In that time she said she hopes to make more tournament and championship appearances and wins. Hoppa is 115-76-16 in her 10 seasons with the Tigers, and is the second-longest tenured and winningest coach in the SEC West. In addition to guiding her team on the field, Hoppa encourages academic success from her players. During her 10 years, the program has won six SEC West titles, an overall SEC title in 2002 and has been to seven NCAA tournaments.

“We obviously have enjoyed great success at the NCAA tournaments, getting to the second round a lot, but we’ve never been past the second round to the Sweet Sixteen level, and I think that’s really the main goal for me personally and the team as a whole,” Hoppa said. “That was our focus, and that was our goal this past season, and we were obviously really close.”

The Tigers lost 1-0 to Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, at home Nov. 16.

“It was one of those games where we were one play away,” Hoppa said. “We had lots of chances but just couldn’t get the goals, that’s how soccer goes.”

Auburn will graduate four seniors this year before welcoming a new group of freshman in the fall.

“One of the most exciting things for next fall is our group of seniors,” Hoppa said. “We have seven seniors coming back that are just a tremendous class who have all played a really significant role over the last three years.”

January 29, 2009 :: Sports
BY ABBY ALBRIGHT / Assistant Sports Editor

http://www.theplainsman.com/sports/2009/jan-29/soccer_coach_extends_contract_5_years_after_winning_season

Note: Champions always seem to rise to the top, player and coach alike. The fact is, I had the privilege of meeting Coach Hoppa several years ago when my oldest daughter was considering Auburn. Coach Karen Hoppa is and incredible coach and a tribute to the Auburn program, herself, and the university as a whole! Once again, congrats to one of the finest.

More training tips to follow!

CoachZ
216-712-6526
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

Strength Training Section

Strength training is an essential element of fitness for virtually every sports man and woman. Long gone are the days when coaches believed resistance exercises only added unnecessary bulk to the athlete, hindering their ability to execute skill.

The benefits of strength training to athletic performance are enormous and many. Not only is it an integral conditioning component for power athletes such as football and rugby players, performance in the pure endurance events can be improved with a well-structured strength routine.

However, aside from perhaps bodybuilders, sport-specific resistance training requires a more refined approach than simply lifting heavy weights to complete exhaustion. A physiological analysis of any game or event will confirm that most athletes require explosive power, muscular endurance, maximal strength or some combination of all three in order to excel. Rarely is pure muscle bulk the primary concern and when it is, other elements of strength are equally as important.

Elements of a Strength Training Program

Hypertrophy

Synonymous with most people’s perception of strength training, hypertrophy refers to increased muscle bulk and size. This is only one aspect of a sport-specific strength training program and one that should be included for only a select group of athletes. [American] Football and rugby players require significant bulk to withstand very aggressive body contact. For most athletes however, too much muscle bulk is a hindrance. And remember that a larger muscle is not necessarily a stronger muscle.

Maximal Strength

Maximal strength is the highest level of force an athlete can possibly generate. Its importance will vary between sports but this relates more to the length of the maximal strength training phase than whether it should be included or not (1). The greater an athlete’s maximal strength to begin with, the more of it can be converted into sport-specific strength endurance or explosive power.

Maximal strength training can improve exercise economy and endurance performance (2,3). Interestingly, it does not appear to lead to a significant increase in muscle hypertrophy (4).

Explosive Power

Rarely is an athlete required to produce a singular maximal effort in their sport. With the exception of powerlifting, most sports require movements that are much more rapid and demand a higher power output than is generated during maximal lifts (5,6). So while maximal strength training lays an important foundation increasing the potential for additional power development, if there is no conversion of this strength into sport-specific power, the program as a whole is much less effective.

An athlete can be exceptionally strong but lack substantial power due to an inability to contract muscle quickly. Power training is used to improve the rate of force production and a range of methods such as plyometrics can be employed to convert maximal strength into explosive power.

Strength Endurance

Explosive power is not always the predominant goal of the strength training program. For events such as distance running, cycling, swimming and rowing, strength endurance is a major limiting factor. Again, the greater amount of starting maximal strength, the more of it can be maintained for a prolonged period.

Strength endurance can be developed through circuit training or the use of low weights and high repetitions. However, many strength endurance programs are inadequate for endurance-based sports – a set of 15-20 repetitions for example does not condition the neuromuscular system in the same way as a long distance event.

Periodization

The concept of periodization is key to sport-specific strength training. Dividing the overall training plan into succinct phases or periods, each with a specific outcome, allows sport-specific strength to peak at the right times, whilst minimizing the risk of over-training.

It also allows more specific elements of strength to be built on a solid and more general fitness foundation. Athletes cannot progress week-in week-out indefinitely so periodization permits variations in intensity and volume to promote performance enhancements for as long as possible.

Strength Training Articles
The Sport-Specific Approach to Strength Training Programs

The bodybuilding approach to strength training still predominates. But a more refined approach that incorporates the concept of periodization is much more effective. Here’s how the various elements of strength fit together in the overall plan…

How To Design Resistance Training Programs For Sport

Resistance training is an integral part of any sports conditioning plan. This complete guide covers the various design elements of a successful, sport-specific strength training regimen…

Weight Training Programs For Basic Strength

The first phase in a strength training program should prepare the body for more demanding subsequent training. Crucial even for experienced athletes…

Weight Training Programs For Increasing Muscle Mass (Hypertrophy)

Some athletes will benefit from increased lean weight and muscle mass. However, many bodybuilding routines are too time consuming and fatiguing for athletes who must reserve their energy for other types of training…

Two More Weight Training Routines For Building Muscle Mass

Two routines suitable for the hypertrophy phase of a resistance training program…

Weight Training Programs For Maximum Strength

Strength training for muscle mass and training for maximum strength is not the same! Most athletes will benefit from a period of maximal strength training before converting it into more sport-specific types of strength…

Power Training For Sport

Many athletes require explosive power to be successful in their sport. Once maximal strength strength has been developed there are several methods to convert it into sport-specific power…

Muscular Endurance Training

Once a firm foundation of strength has been built it should be converted into power or strength endurance or both, depending on the sport. Here’s how muscular endurance is developed…

Strength Training Alongside Other Types of Training

How does strength training interact with other components of fitness? Does endurance training have a negative effect on strength and power? And does strength and power training negatively effect aerobic power or flexibility?

Dumbbell Exercises for Every Major Muscle Group

Machines or free weights? Strength training with dumbbells has some discernible advantages…

Dumbbell Exercises with Animated Images

Over 20 dumbbell exercises with animated graphics…

Classic Kettlebell Exercises

Do kettlebell exercises offer any performance advantages over regular free weights and dumbbells?

Kettlebell Training Program

Kettlebell training has become popular with western athletes in recent years. While some kettlebell exercises would make a useful addition to a sports strength training program, the principle of specificity must still be adhered to…

Medicine Ball Exercises

Medicine balls are an excellent tool for re-creating movement patterns in many sports. They are particularly useful for upper body power training…

Stability Ball Exercises and Routine

Stability ball exercises are ideal for the anatomical adaptation phase and for rehabilitation. They also work the stabilizing muscles often neglected in intense strength training routines…

Resistance Band Exercises and Routine

Resistance bands offer an athlete an extremely versatile form of resistance training. They can also be adapted to mimic very closely sport-specific movements make them an ideal training tool…

Core Strength Conditioning For Athletes

It’s still a buzz word in the fitness industry, but core strength training has been used by top coaches for years. Use these exercises to develop your center of power…

Abdominal Exercises for Building a Powerful Core

The abdominals and lower back bridge the upper and lower body and they are integral to many athletic movements. These abdominal exercises can be integrated into the various phases of a strength program…

Isometric Exercise for Static Strength

Static strength training is useful for a number of sports and for rehabilitation. These isometric exercises can be performed with little or no equipment…

Using Power Cleans in Sports Conditioning

Power cleans can be useful for developing explosive power (in appropriate sports). Use this technique guide and animated images to see how the lift should be performed…

A Sample Off Season Strength Training Program

The off or closed season is typically about rest and regeneration. But that doesn’t mean doing nothing at all…

Forearm & Rotator Cuff Exercises

Use this program to help prevent common overuse injuries to the shoulder and elbow. Rotator cuff damage and tennis elbow affects may athletes particularly those who play racket sports and golf…

Sample Powerlifting Routine

Powerlifting is one of most demanding forms of strength conditioning. This sample routine is for advanced lifters who want to increase maximal strength…

Sample Olympic Weightlifting Routine

Olympic weightlifting routines and exercises are finding themselves into more and more sports training programs. But are they suitable for all athletes?

References

1) Bompa TO. 1999 Periodization Training for Sports. Champaign,IL: Human Kinetics.
2) Hoff J, Gran A, Helgerud J. Maximal strength training improves aerobic endurance performance. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2002 Oct;12(5):288-95
3) Johnston RE, TJ Quinn, Kertzer R and Vroman NB. Strength training in female distance runners: impact on running economy. J. Strength Cond. Res. 11: 224-229, 1997
4) Moss BM, Refsnes PE, Abildgaard A, Nicolaysen K, Jensen J. Effects of maximal effort strength training with different loads on dynamic strength, cross-sectional area, load-power and load-velocity relationships. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1997;75(3):193-9
5) Komi PV. Neuromuscular performance: factors influencing force and speed production. Scand J Sports Sci. 1979 1:2-15
6) developing explosive muscular power: implications for a mixed method training strategy. NSCA J. 1994 16:(5)20-31

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Note: As you scroll down the list of topics to be covered over the next few days and weeks ahead, you will discover topics which would seem to have absolutely no place in your workout program, and that’s fine! Some of the topics are for a very narrow niche, some, it seems, have almost no place in a soccer-specific, sex-specific strength and fitness training program. We will review each of these, in their entirety, and discover applications for these exercise programs, and more. This will be an exciting road, one I guarantee will be fruitful for those who follow along. if you miss something, don’t won’t about it, I’ll get it to you ASAP, just sign in one the right and we’ll put your name in for that and a bunch of other cool stuff!

See ya in the cheap seats!

CoachZ

216-716-6526
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com
Skype: johnzajaros1
Yahoo! IM: keepersteam

Soccer Fitness & Somewhere in the World!

“Someone is training when you are not. When you play him, he will win!”

I have either competed in athletics or trained athletes at every level for more than 45 years, sometimes training and competing at the same time. During this period, spanning almost half a century, there have been five truths that have stuck out and remained constant:

1) “Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”
Vince Lombardi

2) “I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
Vince Lombardi

3) “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”
Vince Lombardi

4) “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.”
Vince Lombardi

5) Fatigue makes cowards of us all.
Vince Lombardi

All five of these quotes, made famous by the great Vince Lombardi and recognized around the world as his, have their foundation standing on three pillars…a combination of common sense, motivational speaking, and sport’s psychology. Lombardi was able to accomplish his challenge in quote number 2 above as few have before and, I would argue, fewer still since.

Before we set forth on our journey into the “wide world of sports,” and soccer in particular, we must be aware of the physical requirements, the physical demands, of the sport. Soccer requires a high level of physical fitness, fitness only derived by means of hard work and well planned, sport/sex-specific specific training. Don’t underestimate the levels of strength and fitness required in order to excel at The Beautiful Game. Players at the highest level may run up to 15-20 km’s per game, that’s upwards of 10-12 miles in 60 to 90 minutes of play. To be a true championship-caliber soccer player, one capable of competing at the premier-club level, the USYSA (www.usyouthsocceer.org) & AYSO (www.soccer.org) Olympic Development Program (ODP), their repsetcivestate team, regional team, or national team level, and , ultimately the NCAA DI levels! Of course, there’s play available to a select few at levels even beyond the NCAA Division I level. For a select few, there is Major League Soccer (http://web.mlsnet.com/index.jsp) for the men, set to expand yet again this year, and the newly reconstituted Women’s Professional Soccer League (http://www.womensprosoccer..com), promising a truly exciting ! Ultimately, there is play in Asia, Europe, Mexico, and South America, as well as national team play, for the best of the best, those gifted and dedicated. At any level, but particularly as soccer players grow an develop, the running involved should never resemble a leisurely Sunday jog. Unfortunately, this kind of running can be witnessed all too often and is referred to as one-speed soccer,unimagination and ugly! Soccer at the highest levels involves frequent sprints, with acceleration, deceleration, change in direction, and even vertical leaps. A well-played soccer match should resemble interval training for sprint and middle distance athletes preparing for a track and field event.

Sex-specific & sport-specific strength and fitness training is crucial, a requirement at all levels of the game; youth to adult, amateur to professional, male and female! If you desire success at the highest levels, strength and fitness training, tailored to your individual requirements and needs is a must. The associated stiffness and pain, the good pain, the kind that lets you know you’re alive, that arrives by way of with championship preparation, will be a constant companion, at least at first. As a result, it is important to begin early in the pre-season and develop a solid relationship with a sports-medicine centered physical therapist and your athletic trainer, hold nothing back! At the youth level, the proper sex-specific program will not only improve overall effectiveness, speed, strength, endurance, and agility, but it will assure the soccer-athlete a more enjoyable experience, on and off the pitch! The objective of sport & sex specific strength and fitness training, as it applies to soccer, is to help to ensure a reduction is both old, nagging injuries and new, possibly career-ending or career-shortening injuries! Soccer-specific & sex-specific strength and fitness training is put in place, in effect, to allow the players to cope with the physical demands of the game while, at the same time, allowing each player to harness and improve their technical and tactical abilities; and, reducing the incidence of injury, particularly catastrophic knee injuries in female-soccer athletes!

How do we define sex-specific strength and fitness training? What is soccer-specific strength and fitness training? Ultimately, what is fitness? Well, Wikipedia offers the following definition:

“Physical fitness is the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, and muscles at optimum efficiency. In previous years, fitness was defined as the capacity to carry out the day’s activities without undue fatigue. Automation increased leisure time, and changes in lifestyles following the industrial revolution meant this criterion was no longer sufficient. Optimum efficiency is the key. Physical fitness is now defined as the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, to be healthy, to resist hypokinetic diseases, and to meet emergency situations. Fitness can also be divided into five categories: aerobic fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.

Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction. Strength training used to be viewed within the context of weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, and other power, anaerobic sports and activities. This is no longer the case, strength and fitness training are now considered absolutely vital, key components in injury prevention. Where we once felt that young athletes, particularly female athletes who had not yet experienced closure of the growth plates or undergone menarche, as well as those male athletes competing in endurance and skilled sports did not, should not under any circumstances, involve themselves in weight training activities. Basketball players, tennis players, and most athletes playing skilled positions where “touch” and skill were factors, should not touch weights during the regular season. Interestingly, until a few short years ago, almost all athletes were told to stay away from strength training during the regular season…period!

The amount of strength and stamina lost during the season often approached 60% of that an athlete started the season with! There can be little doubt that this was a contributing factor in fatigue and stress-related injuries late in the season.

Remember number 5 above, “Fatigue makes coward of us all.” Well, I would suggest that fatigue also makes patients of many.

Taken as a complex working together, sex-specific and sport-specific strength and fitness training, combined with nutrition, and linked with genetic characteristics (phenotypic expression), soccer performance is influenced in quantity, quality, and magnitude by the training regimen and biological factors affecting the soccer-athlete. Don’t let this fool you, even a naturally gifted player will require adequate conditioning in order to ensure ultimate performance and protection from injury. The risk of injury goes up exponentially as the season progresses, and training decreases. A lack of training, matched with an increase in fatigue (#5 above), and the athlete reaches critical mass. Then, depending on other factors, such as nutrition and genetics, injuries happen! Seasons and careers end!

Please try to remember, different sports require different levels of fitness and various levels of conditioning and degrees of strength. Soccer players must be able to compete and perform for up to 90 minutes. soccer-athletes require prolonged strength, strength that will last for the entire match. Match strength, combined with endurance, will have the affect of increasing energy stores, making fuel to compete on and with readily available. Fatigue and injury become less of a factor, although risk is still present, particularly in female athletes! We refer to lasting endurance as stamina, and stamina combined with strength will result in ultimate performance…an irresistible combination. A soccer-athlete, male or female, must have explosive strength to have the ability to sprint, change direction, jump side to side and vertically. Strength training leads to development, and development leads to performance. Combine strength and performance, then increase blood flow to the muscles as a result of both aerobic and anaerobic training, and a soccer player now handles 90 minutes much more efficiently, with less risk of injury due to fatigue! An offshoot of the aerobic and musculo-skeletal efficiency! The legs produce force that will enable them to pass, shoot and tackle with more power, accuracy, and efficiency as neuro-muscular coordination improves!

Finally, increased agility and co-ordination, neuro-muscular coordination, derived from a lean body composition combined with increases muscle control.
During match play, the intensity and the fitness demands vary considerably from player to player, position to position. An outside midfielder or defensive back makes run after run attempting a service of the ball, taxing stores of glycogen (carbs converted for the body and stored in the liver). Sprinting down the wing, chasing a through ball, jogging back to position or waiting for the opposition to take a throw in, a corner or a goal kick all expend energy. Soccer-footskill training, and ball-control training, when linked with strength and fitness training, create an athlete difficult to stop, difficult to resist. Training should always involve the use of balls to develop and condition the muscles used during a match. On-ball training will condition players and will also improve their technical and tactical skills, while keeping them interested and entertained all at the same time.

So far we have defined fitness and all the components of conditioning needed for soccer. So how do we achieve soccer fitness? How do we become a a first-rate soccer player? We will answer that next! Repetition? Most professional soccer players train twice a day, 5 times a week, period. In order to gain, improve or develop, you must train regularly and often. “Practice makes perfect”? Nope! “Perfect practice makes practice perfect!”

To become a great soccer player you must train and condition your body more than your competitors or opponents. Simple as that. If you want to play at the next level, you need to train frequently and with intensity in all things. Intensity! Don’t just go through the motions. Warning! Too much high intensity training will lead to injury and fatigue. Train hard, but use common sense as well.

Resistance-Progressive Overload training should never be done alone, always make sure you have a workout partner and a spotter, always.

“Learn to walk before you run.” Training sessions should be designed to stress the player’s physiological mechanisms, enough to cause the body to adapt and improve. Gradually increase the workload of your training sessions to increase the player’s aerobic and anaerobic capacities.

Specific Training!

Training sessions must be sport-specific and sex-specific. Make sure you have workouts designed for soccer training sessions, not for marathons. During pre-season add balls to the training program. Also divide players into groups based on their position and train these groups separately. Small field and small-group play is often best for a number of reasons…it is usually the most intense!

“He who runs in circles never gets far”.

Recovery: training provides the platform and stimulus for increased performance but it’s during recovery that the bodies’ physiological mechanisms for growth and improvement are implemented and gained.

“It is a sublime thing to suffer and become stronger”.

Warning: Too long a break or too long a recovery period will lead to lost benefits, including cardio-vascular efficiency! Too short s period of recovery or multiple workout in a single day may lead to overtraining, fatigue, and injury. Find the right balance and the alter it every 4 weeks, without fail.

To summarize:

1. Soccer performance can be improved by sport-specific, sex-specific strength and fitness training and conditioning.
2. Components of fitness can be divided into aerobic, anaerobic, and focused individual muscle training.
3. Genetics, and particularly the phenotypic expression, plays a a major role in the overall performance but still requires training and conditioning to reach full potential.
4. Improvements in fitness depend on training methods and need to be specific.
5. Frequency, intensity, resistance-progressive overload and recovery all play a significant role in Soccer fitness and performance.

“I don’t believe in burnout. I believe in losing your appetite”. Are you still hungry?!

See you in the cheap seats!

CoachZ
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

TAGS: soccer-specific training, sport-speciickids soccer fitness, soccer conditioning, soccer fitness, soccer fitness coach

Article shared and insight added with permission of Thomas Karapatsos.

An exhaustive study of children’s participation in sports and exercise, this is the first to document the benefit of sports to the wellness of families.

American families display a wide array of cultural, economic, racial and ethnic characteristics. Despite this diversity, all families have two things in common. First, they nurture children from infancy through young adulthood. Second, parents do not raise their children in isolation. Family life unfolds within an institutional web that includes schools, churches, community organizations, after-school programs, government, economic forces and—central to this study—sports. It is within this wider social matrix that children’s athletic ability and interest in physical activity take shape and either blossom or dwindle. 

The findings and conclusions in this report are based on two nationwide surveys. The Women’s Sports Foundation commissioned Harris Interactive to complete a school-based survey of youth drawn from a random selection of approximately 100,000 public, private and parochial schools in the United States. The school-based survey method yields highly reliable results. The nationwide sample consists of 2,185 third- through 12th-grade girls and boys. In addition, phone interviews were conducted with a national cross-section of 863 randomly selected parents of children in grades 3 through 12. Parents were asked how they think and feel about their children’s interest and involvement in sports and physical activity. African-American and Hispanic parents were over-sampled in order to deepen understanding of the needs and experiences of underserved girls, boys and their families. 

This report confirms that sports are a resource for U.S. children as well as their families. Children’s athletic participation was associated with higher levels of family satisfaction. Sports and physical activity were also linked with improved physical and emotional health, academic achievement and quality of life for children. 

A complex picture of gender differences in athletic opportunities and physical activity emerges from this study. There is a nationwide gender gap in physical activity and sports involvement between girls and boys. The size of the gender gap, however, does not stretch uniformly across the country and all age brackets. In many communities, girls show similar levels of athletic participation and interest as boys. In other communities, however, access to sport and physical activity for girls appears to be thwarted by economic disadvantages and inadequate school resources. Young urban girls, especially, have a narrower window of opportunity for becoming involved with sports than their male counterparts and girls from suburban and rural communities. One in four ninth- to 12th-grade girls has never participated in organized or team sports in urban schools, compared to about one in six urban boys. In short, progress on the gender front in U.S. sports has been made, but it remains uneven, and it is often poor and mainly urban girls who are being left behind.

Participation In Sports And Physical Activity: The Gender Gap, Part I

1. A Gender Gap Exists in Sports and Physical Activity—But It Is Uneven

Girls generally are not as involved with sports and physical activity as boys. However, the gender gap is wide in some areas and narrow in others. Whereas similar rates of sports participation between girls and boys exist in suburban communities, urban and rural girls are less involved than their male peers. Variations in the gender gap in athletic participation often appear to be driven by economic disparities, race and ethnicity, and family characteristics. These variations strongly suggest that the girls’ and boys’ participation in sports and exercise is primarily shaped by access and opportunity.

2. Interest in Sports and Exercise Among Girls and Boys Is About Opportunity and Encouragement, Not Biology

Girls’ and boys’ interest in sports and exercise varies by grade level, school location and income level. In some communities boys and girls show similar levels of interest in sport, while in other communities, boys’ interest levels are higher than those of girls. Parents very often feel that their daughters and sons have similar interest in sports, especially when their children are younger (third through eighth grades). In short, interest in sports can often vary more within genders than it does across genders. And finally, boys tend to overestimate their interest in sports, while girls lean toward underestimating their athletic interests. For example, 42% of third- to eighth-grade boys who are non-athletes said that “sports are a big part of who they are,” compared to 16% of non-athletic girls. Female athletes, moreover, are often involved with several clubs and organizations outside sport, whereas male athletes focus more singly on sports.

3. The Gender Gap in Physical Education

Urban girls are the “have-nots” of physical education in the United States, with 84% report having no PE classes at all in the 11th and 12th grades. Rural girls in the same grades are not far behind with 68% reporting no PE classes. Across the country, young low-income children—both girls and boys—are underserved with regard to school-based physical education. Generally, more boys attend PE classes than girls, especially in urban and rural schools.

4. Girls Now Take Part in a Wider Array of Sports and Exercise Activities than Boys

Girls explore a wider array of sports and exercise activities than boys do, including traditional, recreational and newly emerging sports such as cheerleading, dance, double Dutch and volleyball. Boys focus more on traditional sports and exercise activities, which, most often, take the form of organized school and community sports.

5. Girls Have a Narrower Window of Opportunity in Sports

Girls enter sports at a later age than boys (7.4 years old, compared to 6.8 years old). The widest gap between the age girls and boys enter sport appears in urban communities (7.8 and 6.9 years old, respectively). Girls also drop out sooner and in greater numbers than boys. Girls’ late start may set them up for failure in sports during the middle-school years (sixth through eighth grades).

First Part of article posting taken in part from:

More tomorrow!