While sitting through research presentations in my class. I came across one by Alex about Leadership Development. He found that leadership skills can be influenced through community, school, and extracurricular activities. The thing that came to mind was how leadership isn’t taught enough or supported throughout schools. Or really what is the best way to be taught leadership?

Those kids in school who have their head in a book constantly are not considered a leader yet when children have a question they go straight to those for help. This is an example of leadership. Those who are categorized as “Nerds” for answering every question right on a test or participating in the classroom set the example for everyone on how to be the ideal student. Those kids that were in my class were someone I looked up to and used as motivation even though they were they shy. These leaders are never acknowledged but only complimented. Even though schools strive for their kids to be the kid whose head is constantly in a book they almost shove it down your throat to have these high scores . But in reality if they were led by these leaders instead of demanded these scores by teachers they would get the results they wanted. 

One finding he found stated that placement tests should be incorporated in whatever community to find these leaders. And my first thought was those who do not do well in placement tests but who are natural born leaders how will they be acknowledged? There is honestly no way you can test someone for leadership skills.  Leadership is something that comes out naturally in any way you are comfortable with. Wether you are in a sport, extracurricular activity, classroom or community.  Whenever you find yourself then you start naturally leading because of the confidence you gained.

“Teaching leadership will bring more people together” is something I agree but disagree  with. In many ways leadership can be taught with motivation. I was taught leadership through softball. One of my favorite coaches that taught me everything I know  told me one day that when I go out on the field to never stop talking. She was in search for a captain on her team and I strived to be the best all around captain to win that spot. I slowly became a leader because of my motivation to be a captain. She told me that I need to lead by example, always encourage, and most of all be the hardest working person out there. Later that year she had never announced who was captain but the girls told me that I was one to look to for guidance. But at the same time being taught about leadership in this example led to a lot of people against me rather than joining me. Out of a group of 15 girls only 4 showed they wanted the captain spot. Even because I was trying to be the best others took it differently and soon I became more of an enemy than a team mate. So maybe because it was more of a competition of who can do best it turned out differently but I do think someone making a speech or activities will teach leadership in great ways. 

Teaching leadership I think will be best through activities. There is no easier way to force upon leadership then through playing a game where many don’t even realize they are leading .

What Is Sex Testing?

youtu.be/0Kyvm9uYgCM

While looking through my research topic I came across some related topics that crossed my mind as very interesting. Sex testing is apparently a very big issue when it comes to athletes and sporting events. Gender verification in sports or sex verification comes around often with International competition and when the person competing doesn’t fit the mold in the way that gender is supposed to physically appear, people start to question.

What I found really hurtful is the women who have to be tested because they do not look like what a woman is supposed to look like. Female athletes go to physical extremes to be what they want to be and how good they want to be at their sport. I feel it is disrespectful to accuse a female of possibly being a male, just because she may have features or body structure like a male. A part of me feels bad because I wonder how that woman feels being that everyone accused her of being a male because she does not look like the average woman athlete. Who is to say that her appearance is not what she should look like? It is encouraged in this day and age to be healthy and fit, and just because a woman takes that to the extreme, now she is questioned if she is a man? If sex verification was such a big problem why don’t they test everybody instead of accusing one person of being the wrong gender? Why are they are so concerned if a female is a male or vice versa? This led to a finding that female athletes with levels of natural testosterone have an unfair advantage over any other competitors. I don’t understand how what you were born with can have such a negative impact in the success of being an athlete.

At some point we have to take people for what they are worth, male or female. Maybe the solution is a birth certificate and a notarized document from a doctor that shows the official gender they are, a month before the competition. That way there is no unfairness to argue about! Sex testing seems insulting and a complete waist of time and causes embarrassment and hatred. We need to stop characterizing people on the way they look and start accepting everyone for who they are and just accept their athletic ability man or woman.

 What do you See?

To be a Girl 

https://youtu.be/XjJQBjWYDTs

While thinking about my last archival research I got to realizing how many people over look how much women have fought. Watching the video like a girl by always is the feeling I got when I was doing my archival research about the history of women at Santa Clara. I find it very powerful and full of Happiness when videos come out like this because the expression” to be a girl” is often looked at very weak and not strong. Always is teaching girls to not be put down with what is stereotyped with women. For example women throwing like a girl as in not throwing hard as in a man is so masculine and a girl so send them in and that women can not throw as hard as boys can. I can relate to this because out of all my years growing up I was always the athletic one I was always the tomboyish and  because of my gender as a girl I was always consider not fast or not strong enough around the boys that I hung out with.

Teaching

I love teaching women at a young age that they can be all that they can be because they are a woman and if they have the right to throw like a girl because throwing like a girl is more than throwing like a boy. Throwing like a boy is the average as in throwing like a girl is the new change. There were women that thought it was unusual. Being a girl you deal with struggle and if i was taught at a young age to be confident i would be far more happy. Teaching girls to e confident or teaching anyone to be happy and love yourself is huge. Many schools should teach kids to love themselves.

The Unusual

What Men can do Women can do

What do you see in this picture?

  Just researching archives I found a lot of articles about how women were not allowed to be considered apart of  “athletics” because it wasn’t girly enough. As you look at this picture you might athletes of Santa Clara University. Not just men or not just women are in this. But what stood out to me was this picture shows more women athletes then men .This is  a huge step for women at santa clara to be apart of this picture let alone have more girls then boys in it. Knowing that women were only one forth athletes at this school . Now there are more women in this picture representing then men.

The Double Standard

https://youtu.be/HLAJ9qZviM0

I have noticed the uniforms in this picture. I feel that girls have a double standard when it comes to uniforms. Girls were not allowed to wear their tennis uniforms on the court while practicing. They were required to wear long pants and long sleeves because their uniforms were skirts and tank tops. The thought that women were showing  to much skin was my guest to why the required uniform was not allowed unless a game.  But then in the clip women were required to show their skin. Since all these athletes are in uniform I would like to point out women are covered more then men are.  Men do not have a double standard like women. The Water polo uniform is the appropriate attire for a male but as soon as a women were to put on a two-piece speedo there would be talk.

What do you mean girly?

Being a women and playing sports doesn’t mean that I am “Girly”. The real question is why is sports considered masculine?  Men and women keep themselves healthy on a daily basis by running, lifting weights, eating healthy and most of all being competitive. To keep they body in shape is to be healthy. I don’t see why we categorize being healthy in a masculine or feminine way?

The Little Things make Me Happy

In the end many will look at this picture and look at athletes of Santa Clara University. But when I look at this I feel a little taller and I feel a little bit more confident. Not that I don’t wanna see more men playing sports or I think women should rule the world. But seeing how far women have come with playing sports at SCU its the little things that matter.

How many times do you feel all over the place with an essay? Staying up in the library, those late nights to finish up those essays are tiring. And most of the time you know how much tie its going to take to get it done. What if a simple strategy can cut down the times?

The Strategy

Michael Klein’s article, What it is we do when we write articles like this one? and how can we get students to join us? introduces a model consisting of hunting and gathering as a strategy for research. By conducting a research to see if this model he asked collogues who are interested in teaching advanced writing. Their thought was” if we can better understand what  it is we do inquire and write, then we might be capable of leading our students away from night library”(Klein 30). He seems to want to spread this model to college students as a shortcut or strategy to write papers. Having the ability to “Hunt” and “Gather” information can change the way you write papers.

The Advantages

By characterizing the work it allows you  to have a plan, keep focus, and get a better understanding of what your writing about. By “hunting” down the information it  allows you to have goals and constantly review your own work.  Many colleagues found themselves revising and overlooking their word more than once. Hunting and gathering has”Differences across disciplines”(Klein 28)  as I feel like I have a mission to hunt for information, gathering is more of” my personal perceptions of my narrative data”(Klein 28) or in my own views of things.  I think this model would influence many college students if they put this to use. I know that by using the “Hunting and Gathering” mindset it allowed me to achieve goals and keep continuous interest.

No More

Previously I had written about writing to just the requirements when receiving a writing assignment. While in my research project I went into the archives with a broad idea of Women and athletics but once I found my specific piece i wanted to research. I started hunting down anything I can find on just that particular piece. After looking and finding pieces to my puzzle I started the transition of gathering what I wanted to get out of these pieces I found. I looked on wed sites and magazines to further collect before I started to summarize what i have found. This strategy has opened many doors so that I no longer will be just writing to requirements.

This is Marygrace Colby the first women director of athletics as of  September of 1963. Although she did not start teaching till two years after coeducation started at santa clara. She took the one-forth of women in the school and started athletic teams for women. This is a big deal for my archival research because I believe as much as men wanted to enforce this coed athletics they needed a women to really take a stand and make this happen for the university. And this is what she made happen.

“When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates. And the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back”

 Through intramural sports and intercollegiate teams women found a new way to express themselves. As women started to be recognized in the academics there were now allowed to be acknowledged athletically.  If I were them at this time i would be proud to be apart of such a big contribution to Santa Clara University. This is why this is so important for women to be able to play sports because they can show their overall ability and represents their name on the front of their jersey.

This was a huge step for women at santa clara to be able to play sports because this led to a big community of women to come together. All around every team found more and more girls who had something in common and it was to play sports. Then when you meet other sports you become one big community. Later this community becomes more than just women playing sports but something to be proud of. Year after year girls you meet girls who graduate and people know other people and they all spread the love for sports. Every women in this college represents santa clara university  and we are one big community that will live on forever thanks to Marygrace Colby.

Today I am apart of that community!

Santa Clara University is the oldest school in California. There is so much to learn about but I guess thats what makes it so great when choosing a research question about this college. I was considering questions from The Santa Clara Mission to athletic scholarships to women sports.  As i do not have a specific question i have a area i want to work in. But I would like to focus on the popularity when women sports were first allowed at the university, but if it leans another way I am okay with it. I am a women in athletics that feel strongly about the phrase” If boys can do it girls can do it” and I would love to research more about girls playing sports.

This led me to want to find out more about women athletes entering Santa Clara University. Which led me to the Alumni website for Santa Clara University and we are celebrating 50 years of women’s athletics!! I wonder within the process if they knew they would end up celebrating 50 years? It makes me wanna know so much already. When did they start a women team? who helped make that decision? What was the sport that was first played by women? How did the students react to women sports? Did men and women always have the same amount of athletic scholarships to give out? In the end have males or females given santa clara a bigger name?

Galliet’s Archival survival  gave me some real good ideas on how to start my research.  As his order will be different than mine i think that mine is better. Finding research to support a question is harder than having the research and making the question. But I first want to start out  looking through archives to know that i can find something to work with. After i will start finding materials that support my research, any more  documents or journals I need I want to put them all out on the table. Then I want to plan a itinerary or a checklist of the things I need to do. I will analyze my audience and do my best to state my claims clearly. One thing I learned from Tirabassi’s Journey into the Archives was that you cannot have one document to get your research from. There are many documents that play a kinda fill in the blanks with each other. The more efficient documents you have the more blanks you fill.

I cannot wait to find out and share more about Women’s Athletics of Santa Clara University!!