Article

This is an original article as printed in the Guardian Weekly which is suitable for advanced comprehension classes written by Amelia Hill.

Sport's 'warrior' girls run risk of serious injury

A "warrior girl ethos" is leading to an injury epidemic among young female athletes, according to research by one of the world's leading sports specialists. Those taking part in the "jumping and cutting" sports, such as football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics, are up to 10 times more likely to suffer certain injuries, some so serious that they can lead to permanent physical disabilities.

"Girls and young women are increasingly playing competitive sports according to a warrior girl ethos, whereby they play through pain and rush back from injury," said Michael Sokolove, who has published six books about the sociology and culture of sports.

They are more then five times more likely to rupture the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee than men in sports that both sexes play under similar rules, Sokolove discovered. Reconstruction surgery for ruptured ACLs is complicated and the rehabilitation process is long and painful.

In Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Women's Sports, published in Britain last month, Sokolove writes that girls and young women are 10 times more likely than men to injure themselves playing football and 3.5 times more likely to hurt themselves playing basketball.

A campaign was recently launched in Britain to increase participation in sport and exercise across the population by 1% every year. But Sokolove believes that, unless such campaigns are matched by research into injuries, they could end up harming young women.

There are many examples bearing out Sokolove's theories. Martina Hingis, who made her tennis tour debut days after her 14th birthday and went on to win five Grand Slam single titles, was forced to retire at 22 after foot and ankle injuries. Anna Kournikova retired at the same age with a badly injured right foot.

However, other experts are concerned that drawing attention to the issue will backfire. "Sex differences can easily be perceived as weakness," said Mary Kane, director of Britain's Tucker Centre for Research on Girls and Women in Sport.

"We need to do everything we can to prevent injuries. But it does seem that there is a disproportionate emphasis on things that are presented as signs of women's biological difference or inferiority," said Kane.

Glossary

run the risk of

(expression) to put yourself in a situation in which something bad might happen to you

ethos

(noun) the moral ideas or attitudes of a particular group of people

reconstruction surgery

(noun)a serious operation that repairs a badly damaged part of a person's body

backfire

(verb) to have the opposite effect of the one intended

Questions

The questions below are divided into three groups - before, during and after reading the above article.

Before reading

Read the headline, photo and caption of the article. Answer these questions.

1. What do you think "warrior" girls are?
2. Why do you think they run the risk of serious injury?
3. Can you think of any famous "warrior" girls?

Look at the words below. Check any unknown words in a dictionary. Tick the three words that you think won't appear in the article. In what part of a newspaper might you find these three words?

Look at the rest of the words with a partner. How do you think they fit into this news story?

While reading

Read the first three paragraphs of the article and answer these questions.

1. Why do young female sportswomen have a lot of injuries?
2. In what types of sports are women likely to suffer serious injuries?
3. What exactly is a "warrior girl ethos"?
4. Who has conducted this latest research?
5. Which part of the body are women more likely to injure than men?
6. Why is this injury a problem?

Read the rest of the article from paragraph four onwards. Decide if the sentences below are true or false. Correct the false ones.

1. Men are much more likely to injure themselves playing football than women.
2. There is a campaign to encourage British people to do more sport and exercise.
3. Sokolove thinks that campaigns like this could benefit women.
4. Hingis played on the tennis tour when she was just fourteen.
5. Cruciate ligament injuries caused Hingis to retire.
6. Kournikova retired from tennis when she was 22.
7. Kane thinks talking about sex differences might make people perceive women as weak or inferior.

After reading

Read this summary of the article. Use the words in brackets to create new words to complete the text.

Choose five of the words and use them to write your own sentences.

Look at these phrasal verbs in red taken from the article. What do you think they mean? (paragraph numbers are given in brackets)

1. ... they play through pain and rush back from injury ... (2)
2. ... they could end up harming young women. (5)
3. There are many examples bearing out Sokolove's theories. (6)
4. Martina Hingis ... went on to win five Grand Slam singles titles ... (6)

Put the phrasal verbs from exercise 2 into the sentences below. You may need to change the form of the verbs.

1. Some young women ___ having only a short tennis career because they push themselves too hard.
2. The pressures of modern competition mean that many athletes ___ to their sport after surgery.
3. Although she was badly injured at the beginning of the season, she ___ beat all her rivals at Wimbledon.
4. Evidence ___ the fact that female athletes are more likely to injure themselves than their male counterparts.

Activity - Discussion

Put Agree or Disagree next to the statements below. Discuss you opinions in a small group. One member in each group acts as secretary, making note and reporting to the overall group or class.

1. Young sports stars shouldn't train every day. It's physically and emotionally bad for them.
2. Money is more and more important in sport nowadays. That's why some sports-men and women train too much.
3. Injuries are a normal part of every athlete's life. They need to just accept them.