Author: Becky Riddle

Becky Riddle is a Physical Education teacher and volleyball coach at Cairo American College. Prior to relocating to Cairo, Egypt, she taught 7 years of girls physical education at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Becky holds a bachelor's degree in Physical Education from the University of Utah and a masters degree in Administrative Leadership from Sierra Nevada College. She was a multi sport varsity athlete in high school, competing in Volleyball, Basketball and Track. After graduating high school she attended the University of Utah on a track and field scholarship where she broke the school record and was selected to the All-Mountain West Conference team. While at CAC, Becky founded an organization called Girls Get Strong that utilizes community resources to empower young women in health and fitness and athletics. Becky is passionate about using health and fitness to build self-confidence in her students and athletes.

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Teenage Girls Lives and Physical Activity

Becky Riddle

Published By: Women In Sport – March 2021

Funded by Comic Relief & Sweaty Betty Foundation, this research looked to understand how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the lives of teenage girls and their relationship with sport and physical activity.

We conducted in-depth ethnographic research over a 2-month period with a group of girls aged 13-16 who were both active and less active before the pandemic and how their lives were affected. We also undertook a survey of 1,500 girls, representative of the diversity of people in the UK.

The research showed that lockdown has led girls to recognise the value of exercise for physical and mental health –

  • 52% of girls agreed that keeping fit and doing physical activity was more important than ever
  • 55% of girls said they felt being physically active made them happier
  • 54% said that it made them less stressed

Perhaps most critically 82% of girls say they will put more effort into being active when life returns to normal.

Less positively, half of the girls (51%) surveyed by Women in Sport were concerned that they were losing their fitness and 45% worried that it would be hard to get back into the habit of sport and exercise after the pandemic. Many have lost confidence in their sporting ability (41%) and many more are worried about being in large groups again (40%).

Read the full article here.

How Sports Impacts The Lives Of Girls And Women Long After Their Playing Days Are Done

Becky Riddle

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“The old adage that sports builds character, mental toughness, teamwork and other intangibles that will last a lifetime appears to be especially true for girls and women.

Team sports offer lessons to girls that they often don’t get elsewhere, experts say. And research shows experience in sports is a common trait among top female business leaders.

“Sports, and particularly team sports, tend to give women and girls things that they otherwise have a hard time getting, like resilience, grit, knowledge of teamwork, knowledge of leadership. All of these things are crucial and they all are learned probably better on a sports team than anywhere else,” said Debora Spar, a professor at Harvard Business School, who moderated a panel about women in sports, leadership and empowerment the school hosted on campus earlier this year.”

See more at WBGH.

Women in Sports are Underrepresented in Science

Becky Riddle

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“Despite the gap, Costello’s study did show that women are represented in exercise science studies in general. But I wondered if the trend was improving — and if the type of study mattered. Are scientists studying women in, say, studies of metabolism, but neglecting them in studies of injury?  I looked at published studies in two top exercise physiology journals and found that women remain under-studied, especially when it comes to studies of performance.”

See more at Science News

Sport England: Encouraging Women in Sports

Becky Riddle

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“‘Go Where Women Are’ is about engaging women in sport and exercise on their terms and in their space whether physically or emotionally. This review explores our current understanding of women, their relevant motivations, barriers and triggers to getting more active, and what this means for sports and exercise activities and initiatives.”

See more at Sport England

The Gender Gap in Sports Injuries

Becky Riddle

“From what you see at the game or on television, you might think that sports injuries are more common among male than female athletes. . . . But, women are actually more prone than men to suffer many of the most common sports-related injuries. There are a variety of reasons for this “gender gap,” and there is much about it that remains uncertain. But the recognition of this gap has led to innovative efforts to prevent injuries among women in sports.”

Read the full article on the Harvard Health Blog.

High School Sports Participation Increases for 28th Straight Year, Nears 8 Million Mark

Becky Riddle

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“Led by the largest one-year increase in girls participation in 16 years, the overall number of participants in high school sports increased for the 28th consecutive year in 2016-17, according to the annual High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

Based on figures from the 51 NFHS member state high school associations. . .the number of participants in high school sports reached an all-time high of 7,963,535. The increase of 94,635 participants from 2015-16 is the largest one-year jump in overall participation since the 2008-09 school year.”

Read more at NFHS.

WHY IS THERE A DISPARITY BETWEEN RESEARCH OF MALE AND FEMALE CONCUSSIONS?

Becky Riddle

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“Female athletes with brain trauma tend to suffer different symptoms, take longer to recover and hold back information about their injuries for different reasons than males. Anyone involved in sports should have a grasp of these key facts. Yet the leading national and international guidelines for understanding sports concussions and returning injured athletes to play ignore key differences in how women and men experience brain injuries.”

Read more at ESPN

Sports Coaching Is Still a Male-Dominated Field

Becky Riddle

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“Of course, for girls, the absence of women coaches means a dearth of female role models in powerful leadership positions. And same-sex role models matter, particularly for women. The University of Toronto social psychologist Penelope Lockwood, who has studied the impact of race and gender in role modeling, found that girls benefit from same-gender role models more acutely than boys. Female role models act as “inspirational examples of success” and “guides to the potential accomplishments for which other women can strive,” Lockwood concluded. …Naturally, the lack of female coaches also signals to girls that coaching is not a career option that’s open to them. If the overwhelming majority of coaches they encounter are men, young women would logically conclude that sports and coaching are better left to the males.”

Read the full article at The Atlantic.