By Geoff Lee
With team names like the Lovebugs, it would be hard to confuse the Girls N’ Women and Sport basketball league with the WNBA.
But the sweat-stained, reddened faces of the girls on the court shows their effort was no less than that of the big-leaguers.
The league, for girls 13 to 17 years old, had its opening night on Feb.1 at the Boys and Girls Club on Nepean Street.
Tania Larabie, 14, a Centretown resident and five-year veteran of the league, says she likes everything about the sport and is grateful for the opportunity to play, even though her team, the Lovebugs, lost both of their opening games.
“Basketball is fun,” she says. “It’s a challenging sport. (Coming to the club to play) gives me something to do. It keeps me out of trouble”
The league, which is in its 15th year, is part of the Girls N’ Women and Sport program.
The Ottawa chapter, established in 1985, was spawned by a federally-sponsored initiative called On the Move. The federal government’s goal was to encourage girls to play sports and, in so doing, develop their physical abilities further and learn more about the social aspects of team sports, such as co-operation and team strategy.
The Ottawa chapter became a model for other municipalities across the country, who adopted their ideas and began to encourage more women and girls to take up a sport. In 1986, the Ottawa branch won the Breakthrough Award from the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport, a national non-profit organization concerned about gender equality in sport, for paving the way and becoming a prototype for other communities.
Sue Hall, recreational coordinator for the girl’s program, says it’s important to encourage adolescent girls to play sports.
“Self esteem is such a big factor with kids 13 to 17. It’s (playing a sport) such a confidence-builder, self esteem-builder and it’s a great way to meet people,” she says. “The reason (adults) I know, don’t get into sports is that they didn’t do it when they were younger. That’s why I think it’s really, really good this women in sport program is here. If only parents realized how important it is, not only mentally, but physically. There’s not enough physical activity for young girls these days”
Program coordinator Karen Venema agrees with Hall, and says that seeing a young girl progress through the league and eventually play for her school team is the exciting part for her.
But Venema says that it is still a big challenge to get girls out to play sports.
Although a steady core of about 100 girls take part in the basketball program each year, it still has a ways to go toward getting more girls involved.
“There’s still that problem with girls doing sports and sweating and the whole idea of getting involved in extracurricular activities,” says Venema.
“Some girls get a group of friends together and join. They’re brave. How many high school girls do that. They’re all focused on homework, babysitting and getting jobs. There are so many distractions it’s hard to get girls out. It’s always a bit of a struggle.”
Larabie and her friend, teammate Brittany Semple, 11, say they love playing basketball and have made lots of friends in the process. But program director Leslie Coburn also has concerns about female involvement in physical recreation programs. She hopes a new basketball program called “skills and drills,” whichwas developed last year for girls 7-12, will encourage them to get involved in sports earlier and continue the habit later in life.
Girls not already registered in the league can enrol throughout the season and will be charged a lesser amount than the full season rate of $18. For registration information call The Girls N’ Women and Sport office at 798-8160.