Beads of sweat roll down her forehead as she rubs a very prominent muscle in her calve. Her breathing is deep and hard but steady as she regains her focus to another place in order to numb the pain. She reaches into a place in her mind where she has stored an energy that only a dedicated athlete has come to know. An energy that will take her that extra distance to her finish mark. This is a female athlete, a women that is not only strong, willful, and dedicated but has invested most of her youth and/or adulthood to get to this height of excellence. This women is a competitive professional athlete. In the world of men's sports, these women have had to climb mountains and jump very high hurtles to get even a small fraction of respect as competitive, serious athletes. These women are exemplary in there show of positive self-esteem. A positive self-esteem has given them strength to never give up on their dream. Their dream of becoming a true world champion female in the sports world. Through their years of excruciating training they have learned a few very important positive characteristics such as: -setting goals
-achieving a dream that for many become unreachable
-learning to perform under pressure
-understanding the meaning of a team player
-learning how to earn and achieve through hard work
-how to accept failure and appreciate succession. Other very positive things come out of women making sports a big part of their lives. -females in high school do not have time to get pregnant
-as little as four hours per week of physical exercise helps to reduce a teenagers risk of breast cancer by up to 60%. Breast cancer effects 1out of every 8 American females.
-it has also helped to reduce the amount of females suffering from osteoporosis(brittle bones).
-females engaging in sports are less likely to experience depression. Female athletes are also very much more positive in regards to their body image, again a show of positive self-esteem. They are trained early in life to respect their health and nurture their psychological well-being. These character traits are a must in achieving the limits that are needed to compete as a professional athlete. These women have to be on the top of their game, so to speak. With that in their focus they glow with positive self-esteem and confidence. They also need all of these positive attributes to get them where they want to be in regards to their workplace. About 80% of women that are in high executive positions were athletes during certain periods of their lives. This is a good thing. Through their training and disciplined lifestyles, they have succeeded not only in sports, but also in their careers. These female athletes also made a mark in history and continue to do so, against all odds. Unfortunately as in any thing we deal with in life, there is the reality of abuse and stereotyping. Many woman fear the label of being called a lesbian, or fear that they would come into contact with lesbians in the sports world. Sexual harassment, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and even physical abuse are also very common negative realities in the sports world. We need to shout out as loud as we can to get rulings to protect all athletes in the sports world. To make life even more unfair, after they have trained and suffered much pain to win many championships and meet the challenges that come with being an athlete, they continue to battle nonsensical enemies such as the media. Oh yes, our great media strikes yet again. They have taken pictures of female athletes and turned them into sexual objects. Sporting them in magazines, scantily clothed as if they were posing for a pornographic magazine. They have robbed them of their achievements as serious female athletes. They have offered them up as sacrificial pieces of meat to satisfy the male appetite. They rarely if ever show the reality of the female athlete. Rarely if ever do you find a picture of a disabled athlete sporting the front of a magazine, but there you have it, even in the sports magazines they have to use sex to sell. They cannot even depend on their own merit anymore. In fact the media continually shows just how cheap they can be. They show no respect for the reality of people anymore. The media has totally blinded the world as to what a competitive female athlete is all about. The female athlete is all about: strength skill power ability to achieve a goal pure self-discipline desire to achieve excellence determination to win the drive to push against against all odds Women of the sports world, I commend you for your courage and ability to reach your destination. You show all the women of the world today that we can do it. You show us how very important it is to have a positive self-esteem. You show us professional female athletes at their best. For that, I thank you! "Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete"
-Willie Shoemaker |
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