After Atalanta

US women's field hockey will not be advancing to the medal round in Beijing. Needing a win (and some help) against Great Britain the other day, they only managed a (scoreless) tie. The team actually only got one win, against New Zealand over the weekend. I saw some of it and I have to say that, having very little knowledge of field hockey and very little experience watching it, I really enjoyed it. It's a fast and very strategic game.

Last time the US fielded a field hockey team at the Olympics was in Atlanta--and that's because they, as home team, didn't have to qualify. But a good friend of mine who tried out for the team said the US was not really competitive internationally. Things may be changing. Having qualified for the Beijing games, the US has made a little bit of noise by tying Argentina in the first round of play. Argentina is ranked 2nd internationally. This is just a guess but I am thinking that the emergence of intercollegiate field hockey, due largely to Title IX, may have something to do with the strengthening of the the US in world play. Looking at the US roster it is easy to see which schools are field hockey powerhouses. I was actually surprised there wasn't a little more regional diversity. Stay tuned for more potential (near) upsets,

Need a decent-paying part-time gig? Are you a former female athlete? Try refereeing. This article from an old Baltimore Sun addresses the need for refs at the junior and high school level because of the growing number of girls playing youth sports. This piece focuses on the lack of refs in lacrosse and field hockey but the overall trend is a lack of female refs in all sports. Because the pay might be good and it's a great way to stay involved in a sport you grew up around, but the work conditions are not always ideal. The article speaks to "the increasingly hostile environment for officials at games" and related the story of one new referee who quit after a season because of all the bad language directed her way. And one has to think, and there seems to be some research to back this up, that female refs get more crap than their male counterparts. A good example was Celtics commentator Cedric Maxwell saying that NBA ref Violet Palmer should "get back in the kitchen ...

The Hindustan Times has a good article about the utter lack of support for women's sports and female athletes in India. In describing the conditions--lack of quality equipment, poor facilities, no media coverage, and pitiful compensation--I began to think about what state women's sports in the US would be in were it not for Title IX. While Title IX applies only to athletic opportunities within educational institutions and not national teams like those referenced in the article, we all know that colleges and universities provide a training and recruiting ground for national teams in many cases. Of course sometimes the differences are not so exaggerated. Women's sports in the US get very little media coverage and when they are the coverage is often problematic due the sexualiation, infantilization, and general lack of respect for female athletes. And the issue of compensation is also a good one. We all know that athletes on women's professional team sports earn far less ...

1. More competitive opportunities for women's sports in Asia, including the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, are paying off for previously unnoticed teams. The Malaysian (field) hockey team will be participating in its first Olympic qualifying tournament ever because of its performance in these two recent tournaments. Qualifying happens in Vancouver in the spring. 2. In China, officials with the International Table Tennis Federation are worried about the decline in popularity of the sport in the country. Their solution? Encourage the female players to wear sexy skirts and dresses a la Maria Sharapova. While I appreciate Sharapova's--and others'--fashion sense, I am conflicted about using fashion to sell sport. I also have a hard time getting my head around playing table tennis (ping-pong in my mind) in a short skirt. To me, it's more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of sport played in the basement before and after holiday dinners, preferably with a glass of wine near...

This review from an Indian paper explains the plot of the movie Chak de! India in great detail. I have heard the plot is fairly predictable but if you are interested in preserving some mystery you might want to skip this one. But the review does actually talk about the flaws of the film which is something I haven't seen yet. The reviewer is particularly displeased that the film places the blame for the decline in (field) hockey's popularity with the surge in cricket's popularity. And of course it also lists the high points including its adherence to the reality of the state of women's sports in India where even national teams have to contend with sub-par facilities. And good news for me: I found the movie showing in a theater 35 minutes away. I think it may be worth the trip.

A new film about women's hockey (field hockey for Americans) in India is scheduled for release soon. Not sure when it will be hitting American movie theaters but keep an eye out for Chak de India which director Shimit Amin calls a "sister" film to movies Bend it Like Beckham and A League of their Own . Amin spoke of the importance of bringing attention to women's sports which receive hardly any attention in India but also highlighting hockey, a national sport that receives second billing to cricket. Amin hopes the film will stir up some patriotism and some admiration for female athletes. The article gives no indication of a plot but Amin promises there will be a lot of sports action and thinks it will do well outside of India because of the Western world's obsession with sports and their extreme fandom. Addendum: I found the Times review which 1) gave more info on the plot--it actually has one and it looks interesting and 2) that the film opened in the U.S. yest...