Gender Issues in Sport

As a former AAU and high school basketball player, I now coach the kinds of kids that I once played with. For many of them, college scholarships are attainable, but only if they dedicate themselves to excellence, on and off the court. Part of this process entails the shedding of ancillary considerations having to do with popularity and, of course, identity. If young people are too mired in the confusion of their identity, all tasks begin to appear more daunting than they are. In brief, I am here in order to learn how to manage all manner of identity-based conflicts in the kids that I coach, including ones rooted in gender norms.

Since Caster Semenya famously carried South Africa’s flag into the 2012 Summer Olympiad, the gender normative issues facing modern sport have gained international attention. Basketball tends to take on a hetero-normative dynamic that unnecessarily complicates the way young players can engage the game to the fullest. Just as Semenya, a transgendered woman, faced certain pressure to feminize her appearance, so too do many young girls face the pressures of remaining prim and proper while also excelling on the court (Associated Press, 2012). Similarly, young boys are urged to adopt hyper-masculinized on-court personas as a means of announcing themselves to their competitors. These kinds of unofficial mandates serve to impede identity-based development in young athletes, who spend more time trying to be something they’re not than they do focusing on what they need to do in order to succeed.

Of course, the recent coming out of NBA player Jason Collins, in addition to the success of openly gay WNBA star Brittany Griner, makes this a perfect time for me to begin considering the many different identity-based struggles that young athletes face today. I faced struggles myself as one such athlete and I now hope to help others through similar hardships.

Reference

Associated Press. (2012). London 2012: Caster Semenya to carry the flag for South Africa. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jul/19/london-2012-caster-semenya