16/07/2021
PLAYING PROMOTES HEALTHY COMPETITION
When asked what they liked most about sports, three-quarters of the girls surveyed by the WSF said “competition.” Per the researchers, “Competitiveness, including liking to win, competing against other teams/individuals, and even friendly competition among teammates, was one of the primary reasons girls provided for why sports are ‘fun.’” If we want more women kicking butt in the boardroom, we should get them used to doing it on the playing field. The WSF researchers note that if women didn’t play sports as kids, “they haven’t had as much experience with the trial-and-error method of learning new skills and positions, and are less likely to be as confident as their male counterparts about trying something new.” As research published in JAMA Pediatrics shows us, the kids who are the most healthy, motivated and successful in life are the ones who have a growth mindset—meaning they believe things like academic achievement and athletic ability are not fixed traits but acquired skills, attainable through hard work and perseverance. Sports show kids that talent can be honed and developed—in the classroom and on the court.
According to the WSF, 80 percent of female executives at Fortune 500 companies reported playing sports as children.
