Women's sport should get more recognition

A.S.

Are you familiar with the names Kerri Walsh, Tina Charles, Misty May-Treanor, Ally Raisman, Candace Parker or Natalie Coughlin? Well you should be! they are in the top 50 female athletes in the world.What about LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Brett Farve, Michael Phelps or Barry Onds? Chances are you know these male athletes  much better than the female athletes. This is because women’s sport doesn't get as much recognition. This should change there should be equal coverage and NO  favouritism to men’s sports should be given.

Women’s sports doesn’t get anywhere near as much media coverage or even an article in the local papers, but it deserves so much more. This is mainly because advertisers are convinced no one would watch them. So what if they aren’t quite to the standard of the top male sport stars?  With more interest and funding they very easily could be. A survey was done by an English charity  a couple of years ago and they called for more media coverage, more programmes aimed at girls in school, more female leadership in sports organisations and more opportunities for women and girls to get involved in sport. The results were 48% wanted more coverage, 22% didn’t support more coverage and 31% were unsure.

Many argue that women’s sports are just as interesting and exciting to watch as males sports but the media don’t see it like that. They think that males sports are better to watch but how is a game of men’s soccer/football so interesting to watch. All they like to do is attempt to force yellow and red cards on opposing players.It would be so nice to see women on TV playing their game, they train just as hard as men do and are just as skilful so they should be recognised for this. What I mean by that is equal coverage on the TV and in papers. If young girls saw female athletes on TV then that would encourage them to get up and pay sports. Gender should not matter in sports.

One day I would like to turn on the TV and hear names like Kerri Walsh, Tina Charles, Misty May-Treanor and many more female athletes instead of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Tiger Woods. It would be so nice to see women’s sport all in the papers and on the media and people seeing that women are capable of playing sports and achieving to a high standard just like men.

Aleesha King