Benefits of Athletics and Fitness for Young Females:

Enhancing athletic opportunity for young women and girls is of vital importance because of the significant physical, psychological, and sociological benefits those opportunities provide. A number of studies have recognized the role that athletic opportunities for women provide in promoting greater academic success, responsible social behaviors , and increased personal skills.       Title IX: Gender Equity in College Sports: An AAUP Position Paper, June 2003.

1. 41% of the women making more than $75k per year described themselves as athletic vs. 17% of the general population.
2. 80% of female leaders in Fortune 500 companies participated in high school athletics.

1. Of 401 successful women in business, 82% said involvement in sports helped them to succeed.
2. 86% said it made them more disciplined
3. 81% said it made them more focused as a 'team player'
4. 69% said it helped them to develop their leadership skills and contributed to their professional development.

More than 4 out of 5 executive businesswomen played sports growing up. the vast majority say lessons learned on the playing field have contributed to their success in business.

Fitness/Health/Self-esteem data:

• Teenage female athletes are less likely to use marijuana, cocaine or "other" illicit drugs. They are less likely to be suicidal, less likely to smoke and more likely to have positive body images than non-female athletes.
  
        The Women's Sports Foundation Report:
  Health Risks and the Teen Athlete, March 2001
  
  
• Teenage female athletes are less likely to smoke than female non athletes.
  
        Women's Sports Foundation 2001
  
  
• Girls in grades five through twelve are at a significantly higher risk than boys to suffer depressive symptoms and girls lose their self-confidence they mature, in contrast to boys who gain in self confidence as they grow older.
  
        Harris Commonwealth Funds' Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls, 1997
  
  
• Half of all girls who participate in some type of sports experience have higher than average levels of self-esteem and less depression.
  
        Colton & Gore, Risk, Resiliency and Resistance; Current Research on Adolescent Girls, Ms. Foundation 1991
  
  
• Teenage female athletes are less than half as likely to get pregnant as female non-athletes.
  
        The Women's Sports Foundation Report: Sport and teen Pregnancy, May 1998;
  
  
• Women who are active in sports and recreational activities feel greater confidence, self-esteem, take pride in their physical appearance and social selves than those who were sedentary as kids.
  
        Miller Lite Report, 1985; Melpomene Institute, 1995
  
  
• Participation in physical activity has shown to decrease a young women's change of becoming overweight and developing obesity related illnesses. And sports participation is also associated with lower prevalance of depression, pregnancy, sexual activity, smoking and drug use.
  
        Keeping Score: Girl's participation in High School Athletics in Massachusetts, Harvard School of Public Health, February, 2004.
  
  

Educational:

• High School girls who play sports are more likely to do well in science.
  
        Hanson, S. L. and Kraus, R. S., 1998 Sociology of Education
  
  
• Female student athletes also have higher grades and graduation rates than their non-athletic peers.
  
        Keeping Score: Girl's participation in High School Athletics in Massachusetts, Harvard School of Public Health, February, 2004.
  
  
• Rural female athletes are less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to attend a four year college than their non-athletic peers.
  
        Empowering Women in Sports, The Empowering Women Series, No. 4; A publication of the Feminist Majority Foundation, 1995.
  
  

Funding and Issues:

• Depending on ethnic background, 18% to 33% of female athletes say their families cannot afford to pay for equipment or lessons.
  
        Wilson Sporting Goods, Co. & The Women's Sporting Foundation, 1998
  
  
• While on the average, 1/3 of the females participate in freshman athletics, the number drops to 17% by their senior year.
  
        Zimmerman & Reavill, Raising our Athletic Daughters: How Sports can Restore Self-esteem and Save Girls' Lives.
  
  
• Since 1982 there has been a 21% plunge in the number of teenagers who exercise regularly.
  
        Zimmerman & Reavill, Raising our Athletic Daughters: How Sports can Restore Self-esteem and Save Girls' Lives.