For those of you with daughters

Capt_Apollo
Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
http://creativity-online.com/work/gatorade-keep-her-in-the-game/28264

Don't walk away from sports.
Powerful work from TBWA/Chiat/Day for Gatorade celebrates the 40th anniversary of Title IX -- but tells you that the work is far from finished. The 'Keep Her in the Game' campaign is based on the insight that while both boys and girls are equally active in sports from ages six to 12, girls' participation rates are much higher after age 14.

There is no doubt that societal pressure to look "pretty" has a lot to do with it. Watch athletes transform into high-heel sporting, lipstick-wearing young women that shun sports in favor of looking "beautiful."

One part of the campaign invited women to change their Facebook or Twitter profile pictures to them as a 14-year-old, with the line, "If I walked away then, I wouldn't be here now

Replies

  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    I dig it. I was a marketer in a former life... nicely done. I have a 12 year old step daughter that hates to sweat. I went biking with her 6th grade class today and she was one of the slowest ones - so consumed with what others will think if a bead were to appear on her forehead :(
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    I sincerely love this.
  • kelseyhere
    kelseyhere Posts: 1,123 Member
    This is a great idea. Women need to learn we can rock the weight room, then go strut around in heels after!! Best of both worlds if you ask me :)
  • Shizzman
    Shizzman Posts: 527 Member
    I dig it!
  • downsizinghoss
    downsizinghoss Posts: 1,035 Member
    I coached a highschool girls rugby side for a couple of seasons.
    I always made sure my daughter was there for practice and matches when she was 6-7 yrs old.

    I just wanted her to be used to seeing girls kick *kitten*. btw, she kicks *kitten*.
  • irishcanadianwoman
    irishcanadianwoman Posts: 147
    Wow. Loved it. Thanks for posting.
  • Jules2Be
    Jules2Be Posts: 2,238 Member
    :heart:
  • MThornburg74
    MThornburg74 Posts: 41
    As a female athlete through grade school, high school, and then Division I College Basketball... thank you! Love this! I have two beautiful little girls and they both get filthy and sweaty playing outside, playing basketball, and running wild with their friends all summer long.

    My high school basketball coach passed away yesterday from an aggressive form of cancer. His illness and eventually his passing sparked a lot of questions from my girls about who he was, etc. We looked at old pictures and talked about how basketball shaped my life and gave me opportunities...

    They are watching me with my weight and inches loss and I am proud to be an example of a strong woman who did both...played a sport and maintained my femininity. I hope they continue to play and be proud of who they are. They are going to be tall like me...they are already way off the charts in height!

    Tall and athletic can be beautiful, too!! Thanks for posting!!!!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Driving to soccer practice tonight my daughter (who is 2 years away from graduating HS) told me she'd rather I spend money on a snazzy pair of cleats than a prom dress she'll only use once. I hope she's still saying the same thing 2 years from now........

    She's lucky enough to play for a club that has excellent role models with a strong women's team (USL W-League) and has had the chance to rub shoulders with a number of current and former national team members.
  • chuckyp
    chuckyp Posts: 693 Member
    That's great. My daughter is only 6 days old, but hopefully I can encourage her to get and stay active as she gets older.
  • StarIsMoving
    StarIsMoving Posts: 437
    Great post!
    As a side note: my oldest daughter was competitively running until her RA made her wheelchair bound (getting knee replacement surgery tomorrow) and my youngest was all sweaty from doing my workout with me tonight. They both are feminine, but have learned it's good to sweat and push yourself too. To me, sports was a part of learning self-discipline. Only good comes from activity
  • Meatsies
    Meatsies Posts: 351 Member
    I love this; thank you for posting. *THIS* is why I started my weight loss journey...to OWN my body and to foster confidence, health-consciousness, and beastliness for my kids, especially my daughter. I'm determined that she won't suffer through her childhood and grow up to be a self-doubting woman.

    As a young girl, I showed some aptitude for sports. In elementary school and middle school, I was the one that the teacher would make demonstrate certain basketball moves because I naturally did them properly. And my teachers from elementary school right on up through high school begged me to play hockey, because I was FIERCE at it. It was the one sport for which I was always picked first in gym class.

    But I refused to join any team, because I was self-conscious and overweight and often picked on. I was part of a swim team for a few years, but refused to continue to compete in meets because I was so miserably self-conscious and afraid of letting down my team.

    Now, at 35, I can't tell you how much I wish I had just gone for it. My whole life could have been so much different...instead of dealing with a lifetime of fear of exposure as the 'fat-girl-trying' or fear of failing to run that full mile, fear to go for the job promotion, settling in so many ways for where my life has gone...maybe I'd have learned self-confidence, the reward of pushing through fear and pain, and the kind of self-pride that makes you stand up for yourself, no matter what anyone says.

    I'm losing weight now so that I can play baseball with my kids in a few years when they're big enough, and so that I can chase them around the yard, and take them hiking, and mushroom hunting, and fishing, and swimming, and kayaking, and...and...and...
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