Introduction

Hi! My name is Dani, and I am a senior in the Event Planning major here at BGSU. I am taking this class as one of my option electives, and it seems like it is going to be one of the more interesting options available. I really liked Dr. Spencer’s History and Philosophy of Sport class last spring, and I am hoping that this class will be enjoyable as well.

I hope this class will provide me with a good base of knowledge in the area of sports and gender. I think that this is an important topic to study, because sport is a common way that people relate to each other. There are many sports that break international boundaries, racial boundaries, language boundaries and some gender boundaries. For example, more and more baseball players are coming from places like Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Men and women can compete in a lot of the same sports, but they don’t often compete directly, especially in contact sports like football, soccer, or rugby. I am excited to take a more in-depth look into these topics throughout the semester. I think that studying sport and gender is a great way to understand how people interact with each other, which can increase our overall understanding of humanity.

I have never really played organized sports, but I love to play volleyball and badminton recreationally, even though I am not very good at either. When I was in elementary school, I enrolled in a summer volleyball camp at the local high school. One evening, after the very first class, my little brother and I were playing with an old set of golf clubs in the backyard. We were just hitting golf balls around, seeing who could hit the farthest, or who could hit the gnarly pine tree with the most accuracy. We weren’t paying very close attention to the distance between us, and as my brother lined up a shot and took a giant swing, he smacked me in the eye with the club. I was rushed to the hospital, got several stitches, and was unable to return to volleyball camp for the rest of the summer. After that experience, I gave up all hope of ever becoming a professional athlete.