Wednesday, August 06, 2008

New website and the state of women's sport in Britain

I am actually not sure how new this website is--it's new to me. I found out about it from a reader.
It's called Sportsister and is out of Great Britain. It has an array of features and topics. I have been impressed so far at the range. There are features on Olympians, professional, Paralympians. Articles on recreational sports and fitness and what to put in your kit (loose translation: gym bag). They report on breaking news as well.
It looks to be an important site given the problematic relationship between women and sports in the country that I have talked about before and that will now be addressesd formally by the newly formed Commission on the Future of Women in Sport. This editorial by the commission's chair, former Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, that lays out some of the problems with encouraging participation in and excitment for women's sport, is eerily familiar to things we have heard in this country. Same issues, different continent. Though it seems that, in terms of participation, fewer British women are participating in sport and physical activity on a regular basis. But when we're talking about coverage of women's sports, the same old tired argument is being used across the pond: media outlets won't cover women's sports because they say there is no interest; but it's pretty hard to build interest when there is no coverage.

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