One of these is not like the other: The retrospective experiences of girl athletes playing on boys’ sports teams during adolescence

ABSTRACT

Adolescent sport is predominately organised by single-sex sport environments, where girls and boys compete separately. Enhancing opportunities for all youth to compete together may be important for providing broad sport opportunities for girls in sport, reframing preconceptions about the inferiority of girls’ athleticism, and for situating boys and girls within mutually respectful relationships. Yet, limited research has explored girls’ experiences of competing on boys’ sports teams. The current qualitative study explored young adult women’s retrospective experiences of playing on a boys’ sports team as an adolescent. Eleven women (M_age = 20 years) who had played on a boys’ sports team during adolescence participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Using reflexive thematic analysis, three overarching themes were generated including (1) the culture of boys’ dominance and superiority in sport, (2) girls are positioned as the ‘other’, and (3) strategies to navigate the boys’ sport environment. Overall, the women reflected on the boys’ sport environment as superior regarding its opportunity for skill development and competition. However, they also described having to navigate tensions and problematic assumptions of girls’ inferiority in sport that limited their inclusion in the boys’ sport environment as an adolescent. The results highlight the complexity of navigating sex and gender in sport, and unique challenges associated with adolescent girls competing on boys’ sports teams. Researchers and policymakers should continue to understand and widely implement strategies for promoting positive sport environments to support adolescent girls and boys in competing together on sports teams.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent girls
• gender
• sport
• sex integration
• sport stereotypes
• girls’ sport

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by research grants provided to the last author by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant #: 862-2013-0005) and Sport Canada Research Council. This manuscript was prepared while MFV was supported by a doctoral scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. CMS currently holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Physical Activity and Mental Health. Funding sources were not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation, or the preparation of the manuscript for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [862-2013-0005]

Notes on contributors

Melissa L. deJonge

Melissa L. deJonge is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. Melissa’s research interests center around body image, mental health, and physical activity, focusing predominately on young adult’s mental health.

Madison F. Vani

Madison F. Vani is a lab technician and sessional instructor at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD in the Department of Exercise Sciences in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include body image, emotions, and movement, primarily among youth and women and girls.

Karly Zammitt

Karly Zammit completed a Bachelor of Kinesiology at the University of Toronto and is a physician assistant student at McMaster University. Karly’s research interests focus on body image and health behaviours, primarily among women and girls.

Catherine M. Sabiston

Catherine M. Sabiston is a Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto and holds a Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Mental Health. She has published widely in areas of physical activity motivation and behaviour, emotion, mental health, and body image.