This essay is written based on an interview with a woman named Sunny from India and her experiences in sport participation. To the interview paper, growing up in India as a woman, the chances of participating in sports and becoming national champions are low compared to being a man (Khondker et al., 2018). Being a woman, Sunny needs to be made aware of the existence of sports activities and a physical education teacher to develop her interest in sports. From the interview, it is evident that Sunny culture is one of the effects affecting her interest in sports activities, among other factors such as the low level of income of the family and the perception of women’s future endeavors following the family setting in India that subjects girls’ in house chores to in preparing them for marriage.
Sunny brothers participate in sports at school, and one of her brothers is even a national athlete. Sunny attends school but never engages in any sporting activity because the school she attends does not have PE lessons, and as a girl, she is forced to focus on her marriage and dowry. According to Sunny, her parents prefer her to stay at home and not focus on sports, unlike in most communities where the male is responsible for dowry payment (Khondker et al., 2018). Although Sunny favorite sport is American Football, her growing up in a low-level income family inhibits her chances to explore her abilities to discover her talents in sports activities.
Sunny is a homemaker who spends most of her time assisting her mother with the house chores, such as taking care of cows and buffalos being her main activity. Her school life came to an end when she was in grade 8. While in school, she had few friends they could meet in the streets and play a game called Kho-Kho on a rectangular pitch requiring no equipment. The kho-Kho game requires two teams to play the game with twelve players, which entails chasing and running, with the chasing team sitting or kneeling on the court. The chasers of the Kho-Kho game are supposed to end within the shortest time possible (Kumaran et al., 2019). While playing the Kho-Kho Street game, Sunny explains how she learned about teamwork and the ability to believe in one another.
Learning house chores to prepare for marriage is the main focus for the girl child in India. According to Sunny’s interview, society has a negative attitude towards women’s sports participation, another reason inhibiting Sunny’s participation in sports. Sunny needs to gain the benefits of participation in sports activities, including self-confidence, leadership, and problem-solving skills (Pierpoint et al., 2020).
As mentioned, Sunny best sports activity is American football, one of the most popular games in the US, a game that generations, both males and females, enjoy watching (Pape., 2020). Although Sunny has an interest in American football, asking her parents about any sporting activity seems disappointing to hear them; according to Indian family settings, girls are expected to learn house chores, not necessarily put effort into sports. On the other hand, Sunny’s brother is a national athlete, and because he is a man, he can participate in any sporting activity. We note that her brother is a national athlete. Despite the urge to study and get a job, Sunny still wants to succeed in sporting activities. When she moves to the US with her family, she aims to ensure her children learn and get better jobs so that they can participate in the sports activities of their choice.
Throughout the interview paper, the only game that Sunny could play is Kho-Kho, a game she plays with her friends in the mud that could not prepare her for any professional-level sports competition games. Sunny could only play the game with her friends because it was readily available and cheaply available materials. According to Sunny’s interview, Kho-Kho is a traditional game played in India by girls, does not require any skills, and is not played professionally (Gomez et al., 2020). The kho-Kho game is simple, and Sunny refers to the game as having no equipment required.
From Sunny’s interview, women are denied equal opportunities to participate in games, thus decreasing the number of women participating in sports not in India alone but across all nations. Sunny’s interview is a true definition of the increasing rate of women’s sports participation and gender biases in sports (Cooky.,2018). Participating in sports enable women to take part in society’s involvement.
As is evident from Sunny interview paper, women from low-income families have lower chances of participating in sports activities of their choice than women brought up in high-income families. Women’s participation in different sports depends on income and the culture’s perception of the participation of different genders in sports activities. Sunny’s parents are not financially stable and need help to pay their kids’ sporting fees. She, therefore, believes that taking her children to a school in the US will help make them lead a good life and participate in sports activities regardless of gender. Although Sunny is interested in sports, she fears asking her parents because she views the action disappointing. After all, her parents need her to focus on what she will become: an excellent homemaker to her husband.
In conclusion, Sunny history of sports participation is dependent on factors such as the culture, family level of income, and the level of education of the family around which she is brought up around. The history of a woman in sports, as depicted by Sunny’s interview, shows the story of how women are denied equal chances to participate in sports due to the community’s perception of women and activities in sports, families’ level of income, and the level of the school attended by women promote women participation in sports in comparison to men. Moreover, Sunny’s lack of interest in sports influences the family’s attitude toward how women grow up and view sports activities. Besides Sunny having four brothers actively participating in sports, she is still denied a chance to participate in any sport. She is also unaware that some sports activities even exist. However, Sunny hopes to work hard in her studies so that her children can get a better life than how she grew up and be able to participate in a sports activity of their choice, regardless of their gender.
References
Cooky, C. (2018). What is new about sporting femininity? Female athletes and the sport-media industrial complex. New sporting femininities: Embodied politics in postfeminist times, pp. 23-41.
Gomez, K., & Raizada, S. (2020). Preferences and future of gaming and E-sports in India. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health.
Khondker, H. H., & Robertson, R. (2018). Globalization, consumption, and cricket: the Indian Premier League. Journal of Consumer Culture, 18(2), 279-297.
Kumaran, G., Haq, I. U., & Uma, V. IMPACT OF LADDER AND SAQ TRAINING ON PHYSICAL FITNESS PARAMETERS AMONG KHO-KHO PLAYERS LIVING AT MODERATE ALTITUDE IN KASHMIR. Age (yrs), 13(14.2), 14-4.
Lebel, K., Pegoraro, A., & Harman, A. (2019). The impact of digital culture on women in sport. Digital dilemmas: Transforming gender identities and power relations in everyday life, 163-182.
Nair, U. S., & Eapen, N. R. (2021). Women and sport in India. In Women and Sport in Asia (pp. 58-69). Routledge.
Pape, M. (2020). Gender segregation and trajectories of organizational change: The underrepresentation of women in sports leadership. Gender & Society, 34(1), 81-105.
Pierpoint, L. A., & Collins, C. (2021). Epidemiology of sport-related concussion. Clinics in sports medicine, 40(1), 1-18.
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