Female Sports Research Articles

Embodied interreligious engagement: Female gendered bodies, reconciliation, and sport in Djibouti

Foreign Christian women in Muslim-majority countries may experience gendered culture shock and various forms of insidious trauma. This is rarely addressed by organizations or individuals yet has a significant impact on women, their communities, and their work by causing a rupture in their concept of self, community, and God. This article argues that participation in sports as intentional embodied interreligious engagement offers potential for Christian and Muslim women to mutually discover valuable resources for reconciling what trauma ruptures, namely their relationship with their own bodies and their communities. The article first establishes the experience of gendered culture shock, sexual harassment, and insidious trauma, and reasons Christians may downplay their impact. It then develops the concept of an incarnational ministry of reconciliation. This is followed by looking at how intentional interreligious engagement must begin on neutral ground and identifies sports as one possibility for embodiment in interreligious engagement. The article concludes with suggestions for further research and ideas for further embodied interaction, moving toward deeper and more intentional interreligious engagement.

The International Olympic Committee framework on fairness, inclusion and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations does not protect fairness for female athletes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently published a framework on fairness, inclusion, and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations. Although we appreciate the IOC's recognition of the role of sports science and medicine in policy development, we disagree with the assertion that the IOC framework is consistent with existing scientific and medical evidence and question its recommendations for implementation. Testosterone exposure during male development results in physical differences between male and female bodies; this process underpins male athletic advantage in muscle mass, strength and power, and endurance and aerobic capacity. The IOC's "no presumption of advantage" principle disregards this reality. Studies show that transgender women (male-born individuals who identify as women) with suppressed testosterone retain muscle mass, strength, and other physical advantages compared to females; male performance advantage cannot be eliminated with testosterone suppression. The IOC's concept of "meaningful competition" is flawed because fairness of category does not hinge on closely matched performances. The female category ensures fair competition for female athletes by excluding male advantages. Case-by-case testing for transgender women may lead to stigmatization and cannot be robustly managed in practice. We argue that eligibility criteria for female competition must consider male development rather than relying on current testosterone levels. Female athletes should be recognized as the key stakeholders in the consultation and decision-making processes. We urge the IOC to reevaluate the recommendations of their Framework to include a comprehensive understanding of the biological advantages of male development to ensure fairness and safety in female sports.

An xG of Their Own: Using Expected Goals to Explore the Analytical Shortcomings of Misapplied Gender Schemas in Football

Although professional women’s football has benefitted from recent surges in popularity, challenges to progress and distinguish the sport persist. The gender-schema theory explains the tendency for individuals to hold female sports to male standards, a phenomenon that leads to negative outcomes in areas such as media representation and consumer perception. One area in which schemas have a more discreet effect is player and team performance, where the assumption that technical metrics developed in men’s football are transferable to women’s football remains unfounded. Using expected goals, a metric synonymous with the probability of a shot being scored, we highlight how variables important to shot quality and shot execution differ across gender, and how attempts to evaluate female footballers with models built on men’s data increase estimation errors. These results have theoretical and practical implications for the role they play in reframing schemas and improving the methods used to evaluate performance in women’s sports.

The Role of Antioxidant Supplementations in Female Sports Person

Diet significantly influences athletic performance. Today the Competitive sports man has been made aware of the important role that nutrition can play in both training as well as competition, for there is clear evidence to show that improved eating habits not only benefit health but also influence an individual’s endurance and capacity to perform exercise. Deficiencies of many of the nutrients are known to adversely affect exercise performance. Exercise causes oxidative stress, a type of stress caused by exposure to oxygen. Athletes may have a higher need for antioxidant nutrients. Athletes should make sure they get the recommended daily allowance for vitamins Beta Carotene, C and E as well as the mineral Selenium. The sports person of 102 numbers of students was in the age group of 18-21 years were analyzed. A good nutritional management must have adequate nutrients in terms of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals according to the Individuals needs along with fluid and electrolyte.

Risk of low energy availability and nutrition knowledge among female team sport athletes.

Nutrition knowledge influences adequate dietary intake in athletes. Inadequate dietary intakes can result in low energy availability (LEA) which can lead to relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). To date, there is little information on the relationship between nutrition knowledge and the risk of LEA in female team sport athletes. This study investigates if general and sports nutrition knowledge are associated with the risk of LEA in female team athletes. A cross-sectional design was used. Female athletes (>16 years) who participate in team sports in New Zealand were asked to complete an online questionnaire. The LEA in Females Questionnaire and the Abridged Sport Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire were included. LEA risk and general/sports nutrition knowledge were assessed. The relationship between LEA risk and knowledge was analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis Test of independent variables and χ2 tests. Among 100 female athletes, 53% were at-risk for LEA, and 70% (N.=67) had poor nutrition knowledge. Athletes who were "at-risk" for LEA and those who were "not at-risk" for LEA did not differ statistically in terms of age (P=0.350) or BMI (P=0.576). Of those "not at risk" 54% had an A-NSK score between 50 and 60% (i.e., average knowledge), whereas 54% of the athletes who were "at risk" for LEA had poor nutrition knowledge. There was no statistical difference between the groups (P=0.273). The poor nutrition knowledge and the high rates of those "at risk" of LEA among team sports athletes indicates the need for more nutrition education in this population.

The Use of Dynamometry for Lower Limb Strength Assessment in Female Team Sport Athletes: A Scoping Review

The Use of Dynamometry for Lower Limb Strength Assessment in Female Team Sport Athletes: A Scoping Review

Effect of dynamic balance on human mental rotation task in female badminton vs. volleyball players.

The present study aims to compare the mental rotation performance between two non-contact sports (i.e., badminton and volleyball) in different upright conditions (i.e., with and without dynamic balance). Thirty-five female sports and physical education students voluntarily participated in the experiment, including fourteen specialists in badminton and twenty-one specialists in volleyball. The experiment involved a mental body rotation task with or without balance exercises on a wobble board. Badminton players outperformed volleyball players in the mental rotation tasks regardless of balance. More interestingly, the results revealed an overall decrease in reaction times when participants performed balance exercises simultaneously with mental rotation. Our findings suggest that introducing dynamic balance on a wobble board has immediate beneficial effects on the mental rotation performance of female badminton and volleyball players. These findings are discussed in the context of sport specificities and cognitive processing framework.

Creation of Deep Learning Scenarios in the Network Teaching of Physical Education Technical Courses

The network teaching evaluation of sports professional technical courses has positive significance for the sustainable development of education. And how to establish an effective evaluation model is the key part. The research introduces the creation of in-depth learning scenarios (LS) into the network teaching of sports professional technical courses, and then constructs a new network teaching mode of sports professional technical courses. The Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm - Attention- Long Short-Term Memory network (PSO-Attention-LSTM) Chinese Emotion Classification Model (ECM) is constructed to classify the online evaluation text to realize the evaluation of online teaching. This model combines the improved PSO, Attention and LSTM classification models. The optimal number of hidden layer nodes for LSTM model is about 100, and the optimal data size for batch processing is 25. The overall error rate of online teaching teachers of male and female sports professional skill courses is 10.1%, and the overall error rate of online teaching teachers of general and advanced sports professional skill courses is 12.8%. The application effect of the creation of in-depth learning scene in the network teaching of physical education technical courses is shown. When the classification threshold is 0.6 and 0.8 respectively, the AUC of PSO-Attention-LSTM Chinese ECM is 0.821 and 0.809 respectively. The research institute has put forward that the online teaching platform of sports professional technical courses has extremely high practical application value and has been unanimously praised by network users.

Who Watches and Follows Girls’ and Women’s Sport?

Despite high and rising consumption of women’s sport in the United States (U.S.), limited research has addressed the social factors that lead individuals to become consumers of girls’ and women’s sport. This study uses 2018-19 National Sports and Society Survey (NSASS) data to examine the frequencies and predictors of U.S. adults’ consumption of girls’ and women’s sport. We integrate social structure and life course theories to consider social structural locations, parental and own sports involvement during childhood, adult gender ideologies, and adult sport commitments as predictors of adults’ consumption of girls’ and women’s sport. The results indicate moderate consumption of female sport, with just over half of adults appearing to spend some time watching/following female sport in the last year. Also, we estimate that U.S. adults average watching/following female sport for about one hour per week, but they report that their watching/following of female sport is typically only a small fraction of their overall sport consumption. Regression findings show consistent evidence of sexuality, number of female family members, parents’ sports fandom or athleticism, childhood sports involvement, adult gender ideologies, and adult sport commitments shaping the consumption of female sport. In addition, there is some initial evidence that gender seems to encourage men to watch/follow more female sports, but women appear more prone to watch female sport as opposed to male sport. However, gender and sexuality interact with one another in predicting female sport consumption, such that gay/lesbian identities particularly heighten consumption of female sport among women. Consequently, there is evidence that lesbians are disproportionately among the most avid consumers of girls’ and women’s sport.

Detection of cyberhate speech towards female sport in the Arabic Xsphere.

The recent rapid growth in the number of Saudi female athletes and sports enthusiasts' presence on social media has exposed them to gender-hate speech and discrimination. Hate speech, a harmful worldwide phenomenon, can have severe consequences. Its prevalence in sports has surged alongside the growing influence of social media, with X serving as a prominent platform for the expression of hate speech and discriminatory comments, often targeting women in sports. This research combines two studies that explores online hate speech and gender biases in the context of sports, proposing an automated solution for detecting hate speech targeting women in sports on platforms like X, with a particular focus on Arabic, a challenging domain with limited prior research. In Study 1, semi-structured interviews with 33 Saudi female athletes and sports fans revealed common forms of hate speech, including gender-based derogatory comments, misogyny, and appearance-related discrimination. Building upon the foundations laid by Study 1, Study 2 addresses the pressing need for effective interventions to combat hate speech against women in sports on social media by evaluating machine learning (ML) models for identifying hate speech targeting women in sports in Arabic. A dataset of 7,487 Arabic tweets was collected, annotated, and pre-processed. Term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and part-of-speech (POS) feature extraction techniques were used, and various ML algorithms were trained Random Forest consistently outperformed, achieving accuracy (85% and 84% using TF-IDF and POS, respectively) compared to other methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of both feature sets in identifying Arabic hate speech. The research contribution advances the understanding of online hate targeting Arabic women in sports by identifying various forms of such hate. The systematic creation of a meticulously annotated Arabic hate speech dataset, specifically focused on women's sports, enhances the dataset's reliability and provides valuable insights for future research in countering hate speech against women in sports. This dataset forms a strong foundation for developing effective strategies to address online hate within the unique context of women's sports. The research findings contribute to the ongoing efforts to combat hate speech against women in sports on social media, aligning with the objectives of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and recognizing the significance of female participation in sports.

Research Across the Female Life Cycle: Reframing the Narrative for Health and Performance in Athletic Females and Showcasing Solutions to Drive Advancements in Research and Translation

Over the last few decades, there has been an unprecedented growth in the number of females in sport and exercise, including an exponential rise in female participation, alongside an increased interest and investment in female sport. This success in many aspects underscores the demand for and importance of female-specific research to optimize health, participation, and performance of athletic females. It has also brought awareness to the numerous inequities that exist between females and males. Indeed, the prevailing narrative within sport and exercise science focuses on the disparity of research in females compared with males, which has led to a lack of a critical mass of high-quality data on athletic females. While acknowledging the current gap and the need for further higher quality data, there is still a body of knowledge pertaining to athletic females spanning over a century. This existing literature, amid its criticisms, offers a valuable foundation to build upon for current translation and to inform future research. Thus, it is essential to acknowledge, interpret, and apply prior learnings from previous work, while also considering any limitations. This commentary proposes a reframing of the current narrative that there is an absence of useful data in athletic females, to one that recognizes both the strides made and how past findings can be integrated into practice today as well as inform future research directions. It also addresses the opportunities that remain, and how a more comprehensive and pragmatic body of knowledge can be developed and translated to better serve athletic females in the future.

Match demands of female team sports: a scoping review.

This scoping review aimed to characterize and quantify the external load demands of professional female team sports, in terms of total distance [TD], moderate-speed [MSR] and high-speed running [HSR], sprint, accelerations [ACC], and decelerations [DEC]. A search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science until 15/04/2023. The Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies (RoBANS) was used. Eighty-six articles were eligible for inclusion in this review, with 40 in soccer, 23 in rugby (6 rugby union, 3 rugby league, and 14 rugby sevens), 8 in field hockey, 8 in basketball, 6 in handball, and 1 in futsal. Soccer is the most investigated sport, and players perform ~9500 m TD, of which ~580 m is performed in HSR, and with a great number of ACC, DEC, and sprints. Rugby league and union players cover a greater distance (~5450 m) when compared to rugby sevens (~1550 m); however, rugby sevens is more demanding in terms of high-intensity actions. Field hockey players perform ~5400 m TD with high-intensity and sprint actions. Women's indoor sports are less studied, and basketball players cover ~5300 m TD, of which 7% is performed in MSR. Handball players perform ~3500 m TD and cover ~423 m in MSR and ~141 m in HSR, and futsal players perform ~5 m × min-1 in HSR and they do a great number of high-intensity activities (HSR, ACC, and DEC). Considering the high physical demands experienced by female athletes, professionals could use the present results for training and return to competition schedules.

Feminism and Support for the Transgender Movement in Britain

To what extent do feminists support the transgender movement? This visualization presents a recent British survey, which asked whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in female sports. Graphs depict how attitudes vary with feminism and age. Overall, feminists are more likely than nonfeminists to favor the rights of trans women, but this association conceals significant differences among generations. For young people, the relationship between feminism and support for transgender women is unequivocally positive. Among older people, by contrast, feminists are polarized. They are more likely than nonfeminists to strongly support trans women but also more likely to strongly oppose them. Whether this polarization is peculiar to Britain, where the transgender movement has met with particularly strong countermobilization, is a question for future research.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Team Sport Engagement: The Perceptions of Adolescent Females in Victoria

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively investigate the impact of restrictions in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on team sport engagement from the perspectives of Victorian adolescent females. In 2022, 10 female athletes aged between 14 and 17 years, recruited via snowball sampling, took part in semistructured interviews exploring their experiences and perceptions during the pandemic. Three higher order themes emerged: (a) team sport barriers during COVID-19, (b) emotional responses of athletes during COVID-19, and (c) behavioral reactions of athletes during COVID-19. Findings indicated that athletes reported harsh restrictions, a lack of social interaction, and resources severely impacted training, ultimately resulting in poor motivation, lowered mood, and decreased sport enjoyment. Athletes also expressed concern in relation to spreading the virus, adhering to restrictions, and discovering lost skills and ability postlockdown. Guided by the self-determination theory, the perceived reduction in motivation and sport engagement for Victorian female athletes during COVID-19 was a result of the added depletion of autonomy, relatedness, and competence during the strictest lockdowns worldwide. The practical implications of this research offered new qualitative insights into how extended lockdowns and limited sport engagement impacted participation of female youth athletes who resided in the most locked-down state in the world. It also provided a strong foundation to enhance female motivation and sport engagement through addressing athletes’ self-efficacy levels and encouraging enjoyable and socially simulating sporting contexts following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring Basic Needs, Motivation, and Retention Among Female Sport Officials

Sport officials in general, and female sport officials specifically, are underrepresented in the research. More work is required to better understand what attracts female sport officials to the role, along with what facilitates their retention. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between female sport officials’ motivations, basic needs, and intentions to remain as officials. Through an online survey, 186 female sport officials responded to (a) the Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sport Scale (BNSSS), (b) the Referee Retention Scale (RRS), and (c) questions assessing Reasons for Becoming Officials. Pearson correlation tests established relationships among various subscales, and regression tests were conducted to determine whether any variables predicted RRS scores. All five BNSSS subscales significantly correlated with most RRS subscales and one Reasons for Becoming Officials subscale. Further, regression analysis revealed that increased scores on the BNSSS—specifically feelings of competence, choice, volition, and relatedness—predicted intentions to remain as officials, as measured by the RRS. Since the BNSSS predicts retention, sporting organizations should implement retention strategies that focus on building competence, volition, and relatedness among female sport officials.

Self-Categorization and Sport Management Students: Perceptions of Industry and Discipline by Self-Identified Gender

Previous research has identified the saliency of gendered experiences in sport industry and educational settings. Drawing from self-categorization theory to better understand the impact of in- and out-group membership on experiences and perceptions, the purpose of this study was to examine college students’ perceptions of gender in both the sport industry and their sport management discipline. Data were collected from a sport management student population at a moderately sized, urban-serving university using an exploratory questionnaire. Descriptive and bivariate results indicate statistically significant differences in perceptions of equality, fairness, and experiences between male and female sport management students. Results, which are in alignment with previous research, are discussed along with study limitations.

Inclusion of Female Muslim Students in Sports and Games in Islamic Schools: Standpoints of Teachers and Muslim Parents in Mampong Municipality, Ghana.

The impact of Muslim parents on their daughters’ sports and games in inclusion varies, spanning from progressive endorsement due to the physical and social advantages to reservations grounded in traditions and religious convictions. This has culminated in limited Muslim female inclusion in sporting events. This study explored the inclusion of female Muslim students in sports and games in Islamic schools using a qualitative research approach with 20 participants, which include 10 teachers and 10 parents. Concerning parents’ and Islamic teachers’ perceptions of Muslim females’ inclusion in sports and games, three core thematic areas were revealed: positive influence on character development, school for Important Skills, and secret Code for Success, which favourably influences the diverse development of Muslim girls. Numerous considerations at individual levels of the Social Ecological Model (SEM) influence parental decisions about Muslim female sports inclusion. Individually, parental choices are induced by weighty factors, including religious convictions (prayer periods), cultural principles, and modesty concerns. The study further unearths how teachers shape the sports climate at the organisational level. The organisation’s endeavours to provide inclusive and supportive settings for Muslim female girls are shown in the adaptation of activities, deliberate education and awareness promotion, partnership promotion and incorporation of scientific notions into sporting events. As sports are seen as important educational instruments for fostering the development of Muslim female students, they must be integrated into the curriculum. Stakeholders in the education sector must collaborate to guarantee Muslim female students receive a fair opportunity to excel in sports and games while respecting their cultural and religious beliefs utilising these synchronised initiatives.

Sports Participation and Osteoarthritis in Females: A Systematic Review.

Sports participation and the risk of osteoarthritis (OA) have been a concern for decades. Few research efforts have been dedicated to clarify this issue for females, although they are considered at greater risk of developing OA than males. In contrast, several reviews have established an association between sports participation and OA for males. The aim of the systematic review was to assess the association between OA and participation in popular sports for females. PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched and yielded 578 articles. Nine eligible studies were included and covered ballet (age range: 19-54 years), running or tennis (age range: 40-65 years), Olympic sports (age range: not specified), volleyball (age range: 16.0 ± 0.8 to 46.8 ± 5.1 years), and cross-country skiing (age range: 15 to ≥60 years). For females, participating in sports at an elite level was associated with a higher risk of OA and an increased need for surgical treatment. At non-elite level, it was associated with a higher risk of OA, but it did not materialize to an increased risk for surgical treatment. Few studies compared females and males, and these studies suggested that sex did not affect the risk of developing OA from participating in sports. Nevertheless, to isolate the precise effect of sports participation on the development of OA remains difficult as injuries are common among athletes and are independently associated with an increased risk of OA.

Commendation of Sporting Excellence: the Arjuna Award Recognizing Outstanding Performance and Character

The Arjuna Award for exceptional performance in Sports and Games" is conferred as an acknowledgment of exceptional achievements demonstrated over the preceding quadrennial span, alongside qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, and discipline. This esteemed accolade is dispensed annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to recognize remarkable individual accomplishments in the realm of sports. Following its establishment in 1961, the aggregate number of individuals from the realm of sports who have been bestowed with this accolade stands at 941 individuals up to the present juncture. With-in this overall tally, a notable subset comprising 244 individuals, amounting to approximately 25.93 percent of the total, has been attributed to exceptional female performers across diverse sporting disciplines. This proportion of female awardees has demonstrated a propensity to surpass the prevailing national average for female participation, which stands at 25.93 percent, over a span of 29 years. Conversely, during the remaining 33 years, the proportion of female awardees has fallen below the national average. Consequently, the computed annual average for female sports personas receiving the Arjuna Award approximates 3.9 individuals. When the comprehensive parity index for the entire temporal span from 1961 to 2022 is computed for female recipients of the Arjuna Award, the resultant ratio stands at 1:0.37, signifying a discrepancy of 0.13 units beneath the benchmark of gender parity. This elucidates the observable disparity between male and female recipients of the award. Furthermore, in the year 2022, female recipients demonstrated a noteworthy overtaking of their male counterparts, securing 13 out of the total pool of 25 medals. It is important to note that Anna Lumsden, an Indian hockey player, stands distinguished as the inaugural and sole woman recipient of the Arjuna Award, having received this honour in the inaugural year of 1961.

Effects of intra-articular administration of hyaluronic acid or platelet-rich plasma as a complementary treatment to arthroscopy in horses with osteochondritis dissecans

Although arthroscopy is the treatment of choice for horses with osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), it is not yet known whether intra-articular therapies in the postoperative period can bring any benefit to the recovery of these animals. This study evaluated the effects of the intra-articular application of platelet-rich plasma (PRP), hyaluronic acid (HA) or lactated Ringer's solution (LR) in horses with OCD undergoing arthroscopy. Eighteen male and female Brazilian Sport horses aged between 2 and 6 years were evaluated. All animals presented OCD fragments in the middle crest of the tibia. Ten days after surgery, animals were randomly distributed into three groups and received intra-articular application of PRP (n = 6), HA (n = 6), or LR (control group, n = 6). Clinical, radiographic, ultrasound and synovial fluid evaluations were performed on the day of surgery and after 10, 30 and 60 days. An increase in the thickness of the joint capsule was observed 30 days after surgery in the three groups evaluated. In the control group, there was significant improvement in the flexion test 30 and 60 days after surgery, and in the PRP group, there was worsening of this parameter in the same evaluations. In the control group, there was a reduction in the degree of synovial effusion, and in the PRP and HA groups, there was increased effusion. There was a significant increase in the number of leukocytes in the HA group. Intra-articular use of PRP or HA ten days after arthroscopy did not promote positive effects on the recovery of horses with OCD.