Women in Sports - By Ms Martina Borg
Photo by Domenic Aquilina @malta_falcon
For over a hundred years, this day has been a means of promoting and celebrating the emancipation and advancement of women in society, irrespective of their job, race or ethnicity. In today’s world, many people tend to take this progress for granted, and the continuous efforts and sacrifices done by women on a daily basis tend to go unnoticed.
Up until the middle of the 20th century, women’s sports was labelled as ‘unfeminine’ and was often discouraged. In the sports industry, women are often perceived as not strong enough or not fast enough as they are compared to men. Equality in women’s sport has always been an issue, and in fact, is something that has often been a stigma amongst the general population.
Fortunately, the fight for change drove progress for women's sport. Women kept persevering and set their objectives bigger and higher and they do not stop until they reach their targets. Sport can give women resilience, self-reliance, confidence, teamwork skills, whilst defeating stereotypes by positioning women and men as equals.
It is impressive how far women’s sport has come, and this interest continues to grow. The success of women’s sport should be celebrated as an immense breakthrough – one that will hopefully continue as today we know that the benefits of sports inclusion are undeniable. This is what it means to be a woman athlete:
Passion
Determination
Grit
Here are a few quotations from some of the most inspiration sportswomen
Maria Sharapova – tennis player
‘Just like in any field, women have to endure and ultimately overcome challenges or misperceptions. Women are continuously judged for outward appearance by the media and the public — so projecting confidence in your own personal power and strength is paramount to redirecting that focus.’
Bethany Hamilton
“Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.”
Donna Orender – basketball player
‘Women: When we team up, we are incredibly powerful. Find someone to team up with … Our voices collectively really do make a difference and change, and perspective is worth fighting for.’
Wilma Rudolph – sprinter
‘‘The triumph can’t be had without the struggle. And I know what struggle is. I have spent a lifetime trying to share what it has meant to be a woman first in the world of sports so that other young women have a chance to reach their dreams.’
Mia Hamm – football player
‘Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her’
Megan Rapinoe - soccer
Women need to “fight like hell” until equality comes to their door.
Ms Martina Borg, Sports and Exercise Psychology Practioner
Martina Borg graduated with a B.Psy (Hons) from the University of Malta in 2017. She completed her Masters in Sports and Exercise Psychology at Staffordshire University UK. She is currently reading an in-depth course in ‘Sports Psychology in elite sports’ with Barcelona Fc University. Martina has been practising different sports since the age of four. She has formed part of the Maltese women's national football team for thirteen years. For the past four years, she has been living in Italy playing football on a professional basis and is currently on the books of Roma Calcio Femminile.
Special Interests: Travelling, Reading, Sports
