Comments on: Multiple Perspectives About "The Injury Epidemic" Facing Female Athletes http://www.nicolemlavoi.com/multiple-perspectives-about-the-injury-epidemic-facing-female-athletes Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D. Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:20:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 By: nmlavoi http://www.nicolemlavoi.com/multiple-perspectives-about-the-injury-epidemic-facing-female-athletes#comment-139 nmlavoi Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:43:57 +0000 http://onesportvoice.wordpress.com/?p=1036#comment-139 d'Alary, Thank you for a thought provoking post!, and for the feedback on the blog. You've hit on a couple of my favorite topics with your questions. I'm going offline for today, but will either respond or write a new blog about this important topic. I have written an article which critiques these "coaching girls" books, here is the citation that gets buried, as you aptly point out, in academic circles and read by few. I will pull from that article when I respond [LaVoi, N.M., Becker, E., & Maxwell, H.D. (2007). “Coaching Girls”: A content analysis of best-selling popular press books. Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, 15(4), 8-20.] d’Alary,
Thank you for a thought provoking post!, and for the feedback on the blog. You’ve hit on a couple of my favorite topics with your questions. I’m going offline for today, but will either respond or write a new blog about this important topic. I have written an article which critiques these “coaching girls” books, here is the citation that gets buried, as you aptly point out, in academic circles and read by few. I will pull from that article when I respond
[LaVoi, N.M., Becker, E., & Maxwell, H.D. (2007). “Coaching Girls”: A content analysis of best-selling popular press books. Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, 15(4), 8-20.]

]]> By: d'Alary Dalton http://www.nicolemlavoi.com/multiple-perspectives-about-the-injury-epidemic-facing-female-athletes#comment-138 d'Alary Dalton Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:37:18 +0000 http://onesportvoice.wordpress.com/?p=1036#comment-138 Hi Nicole Given your most excellent critical eye for the gendered aspects of sports, your expertise as a sport-psychologist, and the "nature" of your current post, I would love to get your reaction to a question (and the subsequent, gendered responses) posted by a Dad-Coach having recently completed a Positive Coaching Alliance workshop (http://www.positivecoach.org/Ask-PCA.aspx). In this post, the Dad-Coach is seeking information about how to develop girls' self-image through sports. My interest is in no way intended to criticize the sincerity of this coach or the importance of knowing how to promote a positive self-image in children. Instead, I am interested in how the question is framed and who is asking the question. How the question is framed begs the obvious response, which is that if it’s good for girls it is also good for boys. I agree that, whether ACL injuries or low self-image, framing the question to be specifically about girls bolsters the argument that gender differences in sports are biologically based and often places female athletes in the “other” category as sport participants. This does not diminish the importance of their impact on girls, instead this suggests that there is a need to examine how girls and boys experience sports differently (and possibly even their play before their involvement in organized sports), which may be another contributing factor to higher incidence of ACL tears or low self-image in girls (not simply the V-notch and hormones as some might wish it be reduced to). What might be the impact on coaching if coaching education (particularly for youth coaches) provided a space for coaches to critically examine and reflect on sports as a gendered domain? Why is this a topic currently limited to academic circles (and very specific circles at that)? My second concern, who is asking the question. Male youth coaches are desperate to figure out how to coach girls and there are plenty of “how to coach girls” books to meet this demand. Should we coach girls differently? What will that kind of coaching look like, who will be designers of that method, and who will train the coaches in these methods? Or, is this training already taking place as implied by this Dad-Coach’s experience at a PCA workshop? And, what are the consequences if we do coach girls differently? Finally, if we coach girls differently, will they become different coaches (and is that so bad)? What does it mean for female coaches if we view female athletes as unique? Will female coaches then be less prepared to coach boys? I look forward to reading more from your blog (even if not in response to my questions). Hi Nicole
Given your most excellent critical eye for the gendered aspects of sports, your expertise as a sport-psychologist, and the “nature” of your current post, I would love to get your reaction to a question (and the subsequent, gendered responses) posted by a Dad-Coach having recently completed a Positive Coaching Alliance workshop (http://www.positivecoach.org/Ask-PCA.aspx).
In this post, the Dad-Coach is seeking information about how to develop girls’ self-image through sports. My interest is in no way intended to criticize the sincerity of this coach or the importance of knowing how to promote a positive self-image in children. Instead, I am interested in how the question is framed and who is asking the question. How the question is framed begs the obvious response, which is that if it’s good for girls it is also good for boys. I agree that, whether ACL injuries or low self-image, framing the question to be specifically about girls bolsters the argument that gender differences in sports are biologically based and often places female athletes in the “other” category as sport participants. This does not diminish the importance of their impact on girls, instead this suggests that there is a need to examine how girls and boys experience sports differently (and possibly even their play before their involvement in organized sports), which may be another contributing factor to higher incidence of ACL tears or low self-image in girls (not simply the V-notch and hormones as some might wish it be reduced to). What might be the impact on coaching if coaching education (particularly for youth coaches) provided a space for coaches to critically examine and reflect on sports as a gendered domain? Why is this a topic currently limited to academic circles (and very specific circles at that)?
My second concern, who is asking the question. Male youth coaches are desperate to figure out how to coach girls and there are plenty of “how to coach girls” books to meet this demand. Should we coach girls differently? What will that kind of coaching look like, who will be designers of that method, and who will train the coaches in these methods? Or, is this training already taking place as implied by this Dad-Coach’s experience at a PCA workshop? And, what are the consequences if we do coach girls differently? Finally, if we coach girls differently, will they become different coaches (and is that so bad)? What does it mean for female coaches if we view female athletes as unique? Will female coaches then be less prepared to coach boys?
I look forward to reading more from your blog (even if not in response to my questions).

]]> By: nmlavoi http://www.nicolemlavoi.com/multiple-perspectives-about-the-injury-epidemic-facing-female-athletes#comment-137 nmlavoi Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:40:53 +0000 http://onesportvoice.wordpress.com/?p=1036#comment-137 Glenn,I have read the entire book and this piece is a sociological critique of not only that book, but others who take a biology is destiny approach. While Warrior Girls does tangentially mention other factors that contribute to female athlete injury, the major theme that stuck out to me is the biology argument. My point is to highlight that this approach is problematic, not to dismiss that ACL tears of female athletes happen. I disagree that male athlete injuries are "so well known as not to require books" and that consequences of female sport injuries are more severe than those for male athletes. When we think this way one danger is that injuries of male athletes get erased and female injuries are attributed to "the weaker sex". All sport injuries have consequences. The reasons why sport injuries happen are complex and should never be attributed to "female biology or physiology" until the science indicates as such....and to my knowledge, that has not been proven. So yes, I will argue for a gender balance approach to the study of sport injuries as all are equally important. -nml Glenn,I have read the entire book and this piece is a sociological critique of not only that book, but others who take a biology is destiny approach. While Warrior Girls does tangentially mention other factors that contribute to female athlete injury, the major theme that stuck out to me is the biology argument. My point is to highlight that this approach is problematic, not to dismiss that ACL tears of female athletes happen. I disagree that male athlete injuries are “so well known as not to require books” and that consequences of female sport injuries are more severe than those for male athletes. When we think this way one danger is that injuries of male athletes get erased and female injuries are attributed to “the weaker sex”. All sport injuries have consequences. The reasons why sport injuries happen are complex and should never be attributed to “female biology or physiology” until the science indicates as such….and to my knowledge, that has not been proven. So yes, I will argue for a gender balance approach to the study of sport injuries as all are equally important. -nml

]]> By: Glenn Nelson http://www.nicolemlavoi.com/multiple-perspectives-about-the-injury-epidemic-facing-female-athletes#comment-136 Glenn Nelson Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:10:50 +0000 http://onesportvoice.wordpress.com/?p=1036#comment-136 I am more than surprised about the slant you take because your credentials indicate that you would have read Sokolove's entire book, processed it and not have succumbed to reducing its premise via the 25-word-or-less method. I did not read "Warrior Girls" as a biology-as-destiny tome at all and feel like you are itching for a fight and therefore creating your own enemy. I read arguments that biology contributed to the TYPE of injury being discussed (ACL tears), but I also read data and anecdotal information about factors, cultural, psychological, economic, that also contributed to that injury. I'm not sure why you are imposing "gender balance" as a crtieria for a valid examination of the subject matter. The point you bring up about the consequences of NFL careers, as well as points you didn't bring up regarding the consequences of concussions or labrum tears or ankle sprains on male athletes is so well known as to not require books to point them out. Male sports dominate mainstream media to the point that books on those subjects would be redundant. There are a vast number of us "on the ground" who have seen ACL injuries as a major issue in female sports and applaud ANY discussion of it. The consequences also are far more severe than any so-called "male epidemic injuries." To ignore the ACL issue is to bury one's head in the sand and contribute to its perpetuation. I am more than surprised about the slant you take because your credentials indicate that you would have read Sokolove’s entire book, processed it and not have succumbed to reducing its premise via the 25-word-or-less method. I did not read “Warrior Girls” as a biology-as-destiny tome at all and feel like you are itching for a fight and therefore creating your own enemy. I read arguments that biology contributed to the TYPE of injury being discussed (ACL tears), but I also read data and anecdotal information about factors, cultural, psychological, economic, that also contributed to that injury.

I’m not sure why you are imposing “gender balance” as a crtieria for a valid examination of the subject matter. The point you bring up about the consequences of NFL careers, as well as points you didn’t bring up regarding the consequences of concussions or labrum tears or ankle sprains on male athletes is so well known as to not require books to point them out. Male sports dominate mainstream media to the point that books on those subjects would be redundant.

There are a vast number of us “on the ground” who have seen ACL injuries as a major issue in female sports and applaud ANY discussion of it. The consequences also are far more severe than any so-called “male epidemic injuries.” To ignore the ACL issue is to bury one’s head in the sand and contribute to its perpetuation.

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