Five years on the award-winning campaign is seeking to move the dial again by embracing some of the most taboo subjects in women’s sport.
Sport England has also found it helps when sports create an environment where women can feel comfortable, such as offering women-only sessions.
Their insights combined with ours helped us drive a higher proportion of less active women to our rides than our usual demographic.”Aggarwal says that at Olympic Gold Quest, an organisation working with Indian sportspersons, she consciously talks to junior athletes about menstrual health Aggarwal says that at Olympic Gold Quest, an organisation working with Indian sportspersons, she consciously talks to junior athletes about menstrual health
The word period was such a taboo that coaches called it “ladies’ problem” — the term itself is so negative. I got along well with my coach but when I had my periods, I just told him, “I’m tired”.
But that practice isn’t followed in sports.
In the village that Manju comes from, women joining sports was a taboo.
Manju’s father’s friend, Saheb Singh Narwal, who used to train village kids in sports decided to help her out.
By the end of 2013, she ventured into sports.
As part of its women empowerment initiatives, the company is engaged in promoting Indian women in sports via the Welspun Super Sports Women Programme, which aims to support potential athletes from difficult backgrounds and enables them to seek path-breaking career opportunities in sports.
“You cannot every year change the entire sports schedule worldwide for all the major federations.
‘No taboo’ –
The IOC has already set aside $800 million to help organizers and sports federations meet the extra costs of a postponed Olympics.
But Bach said there should be “no taboo” in cutting costs for next year’s Games.
“So this concentration on the essentials should be reflected in the organization of these Games… there should be no taboo.
It had said nothing would be “taboo” as it reviewed its business, with the sport’s commercial ‘Concorde Agreement’ expiring at the end of the year.
Entine has written seven books, four on genetics and chemical risk, and has addressed a range of controversial issues, including the genetics of sports; the shared ancestry of Jews, Christians and Muslims; socially responsible investing; and why organic farming will not scale to produce sustainable food.
Grégoire Canlorbe: You carefully investigated the genetic underpinnings of the over-representation of blacks in many high profile sports.
Jon Entine: I think it’s phenomenal, really startling that if you look at the major sports around the world: track and field, football in Europe, American football, baseball, and basketball, which is an international sport, you see a very odd distribution of which athletes do the best in various sports.
In many of the sports, the ones that require speed, quick reaction time, things like global and American football or basketball or sprinting, it’s utter dominance by athletes of West African ancestry.
The differences in physiology and physique may be small in the case of some characteristics, and there is a great deal of overlap, but those differences are magnified at the elite level of sports competition where a fraction of a second can make the difference between winning a gold medal or being an also ran.
I addressed many of these issues, along with the toxic history of ‘race science,’ in my book Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It.
There is a biocultural feedback loop in sports in which culture helps magnify small but meaningful biologically-based differences.
People say, “Oh, there are few blacks in ice hockey,” for instance. Well, ice hockey is played in northern climates, and there have been relatively few blacks in Canada or in Europe, historically. So, the number of blacks is almost representative of the number of blacks in those regions. And some sports, like gymnastics, for instance, or swimming, require a lot of training. They require facilities, pools that are very expensive. Social opportunity has largely excluded minorities. The more factors that cost a lot of money, like the availability of expensive facilities, then, cultural and social factors come into play.
The sports that I cited: running, football, soccer, and basketball which are usually state sponsored or sponsored by schools—sports like those represent a level playing field. It doesn’t require special financial advantages to be a great long-distance runner or sprinter. It’s really natural talent that comes to the fore. So, it’s best to think of sports as a biocultural phenomenon—sports success. And the lower the cultural barriers to entry, the more genetic factors come into play. And those genetic based differences are not distributed equally among populations. In running, blacks of West African ancestry dominate the sprints, totally. In long distance running, blacks of East African ancestry dominate. And that’s purely a result of our genetic history.
Jon Entine: Well, there has been some speculation on that controversial issue by evolutionary psychologists and others, as well as some geneticists, that some people embrace and some people do not. One of the suppositions is that evolution does shape who we are physically, and there are group differences–overlapping but real. We know that. And so, some people have asked, if genetics shape us physically, and we see the examples in sports, it must shape us psychologically and intellectually, as well. And there’s belief among many scientists that there are patterns of differences based at IQ tests—although many people like to dismiss them as unimportant or pseudo-science or racist. I think there’s profound evidence and belief within the psychometric community that IQ tests are very real measurements of a kind of intelligence. But how much of the differences are the result of evolutionary factors versus environmental and cultural factors, including those that impact biology, such as natal and childhood development. Obviously environmental factors predominant in explaining patterns of differences.
“Since my father was a cricketer, everybody knew a bit about me coming into the U14 set-up in Karnataka. I felt there was some sort of pressure on me to perform as they would usually end up comparing me with my father because most of the coaches have seen my father play. It was the biggest challenge I faced as everybody would be like, ‘Oh he has to perform like this’ and everything,” Aryan told SportsCafe.
“I have always believed the issue regarding mental health has always pushed to the back-burner in the fragmented idea of mental toughness. It’s time we need to talk about it and I am extremely proud that Aryan is trying his bit,” Sunil Joshi told SportsCafe.
It was always his choice whether he wants to take sports seriously or sort of whether he wants to take academics seriously.
Like be honest with yourself and that’s what he has been always with academics and sports and he balanced it quite well.
After chalking out the plans, Aryan got in touch with athletes from various sports to tell stories of how they overcame tough challenges in their life and how mental strength helped them overcome those phases. Sourcing those videos, Joshi put them up on his Facebook page called “Mental Strength Matters”.
“I am lucky that a few of my close friends and relatives are sportsmen so they were very open with me and I could question them.
“I myself tried to understand what mental strength is. I personally took videos of athletes so I could share with anyone of my age or younger who wanted to become professionals. But then when there were so many varieties from cricket, football, driving, golf and other sports. I realised that everyone faced different challenges and those were not pertaining only to their sport. So we could’ve faced much bigger challenges in personal life. So I realised that not only athletes but most people can learn from this project.”
Organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto has said the 206 national Olympic committees, dozens of sports federations, sponsors, broadcasters, media and hospitality providers, have been asked to find ways to reduce the size of their delegations arriving in Tokyo.
Muto said organizers are “reexamining service levels and requirements in every possible area.” IOC President Thomas Bach has said “nothing is taboo” as billions in costs pile up.
IPL 2020: To break taboo, Rajasthan Royals to sport logo of a sanitary pad brand on their jersey
India has a long history with social taboos involving menstruating women. On many occasions, especially in the rural areas of the country, menstruating women are made to sleep separately and are even banned from entering temples.
After all, we’ve had storylines of gay footballers revealing their sexuality in mainstream TV shows such as Coronation Street and CBBC’s Jamie Johnson, and Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign has worked hard to promote equality and inclusivity in the sports for the last seven years.
In December last year, Graeme Souness went viral after speaking about the issue on Sky Sports prior to the Brighton vs Wolves match, which was being played as part of a weekend of Premier League games to celebrate Stonewall’s campaign.
The sports pundit went on to say that he came from a generation ‘where it was extremely homophobic, the banter in our dressing room. ’ However, after attending Pride events and becoming the ‘boss’ of Proud United, he admitted he’d learned so much. ‘It changed my attitude,’ he added.
‘Things will change eventually if the support is there,’ Jay adds. ‘But it’s naive to think that just because one player comes out a whole load will follow. Just look at the other sports where people have come out, they haven’t seen a stream of people follow suit, either.
The Sports Bra gives every woman support and protection whilst playing any form of sport. Yet that very armour is considered taboo by certain sects of society in India – still seen by some as a negative western influence on traditional ideals.
To defy this judgement, a host of celebrities gathered to lend their voice for the movement. Among them was Shaleena Nathani, a leading celebrity stylists in India and a member of Nike running club. Sportskeeda caught up with her to get her views on the movement and how wearing the right gear is important when gaging in fitness activities.
What are the benefits of wearing a sports bra for fitness activities?
Wearing a sports bra is a necessity, it gives you the most imp support that you need. It’s extremely necessary to wear a sports bra, you can harm yourself if you don’t and it adds such a cool quotient as well – you can wear just a sports bra or club it with a t-shirt, so yes, it is essential. In the absence of LGBT trailblazers such as Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova in the women‘s game – and more recent openly gay players, such as Belgium‘s Alison Van Uytvanck – Vahaly looks to have his work cut out. Because the question is not whether there are more gay male players, but why there is still a taboo around homosexuality. The reality is that homosexuality in men’s tennis will be most discussed this year in relation to Margaret Court, the 24-time grand-slam winner. Court, a Pentecostal minister, regularly denounces homosexuals, but the second-biggest arena at the Australian Open still bears her name, despite pleas from King and others to rebrand it. Former tennis player and current Pentecostal minister Margaret Court, who has been vocally homophobic. Credit:AAP According to the players themselves, men’s tennis has never been more welcoming. Speaking to 25 players at the elite level, from world No. 1 Novak Djokovic to doubles players further down the hierarchy, the majority insisted the locker room would support someone coming out.
“There’s far greater understanding of the issues now, and there would likely be a great deal of interest from commercial backers,” says Nigel Currie, a sports marketing consultant. Tennis also benefits from the absence of partisan crowds, which could reduce the fear players have in coming out. And yet, in spite of this supposedly hospitable climate, tennis’ wait for a first openly gay active male player since the 1940s continues. Why?
Indeed, according to Andy Lane, a sports psychologist at the Centre for Health and Human Performance, one of the most consistent traits in sportspeople is hiding any characteristic that could be seized upon as a point of differentiation.
It’s just going to take the right person at the right time.” The Telegraph, LondonA sports coach who recently featured in a BBC documentary about the UK’s first all-Asian girls cricket team has called on the wider Asian community to no longer consider girls playing sport a taboo subject.
“As long as there is a safe environment for them to play and train it is good,” he said. “It’s a positive thing and it needs to be promoted. It’s not something that should be frowned upon or seen as a taboo. It’s only fair that they get their chance.
Sports Co-editor
Formerly taboo, selling beer and alcohol at college sporting events has become prominent across the country in the last few years.
“I don’t know why it was taboo before; it certainly was,” Hendricks said. “I think people were initially concerned that you’re going to just open up a can of worms from a standpoint of fan behavior.”
Soon, the Athletic Department may look to expand beer sales to other sports.
On Friday night the NBA’s commissioner, Adam Silver, made a statement that was both shocking and profound: many of the league’s players, who have an average salary of $7m a year, were “truly unhappy”. He told the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: “The outside world sees the fame, the money, all the trappings that go with it, and they say: ‘How is it possible they even can be complaining?’ But a lot of these young men are genuinely unhappy.”
Silver’s willingness to address the subject was welcome given how mental health issues remain largely taboo in elite sport. No Alpha Dog wants to be seen as being soft, weak or a little barking. But there is increasing evidence that it is a bigger problem than might have been thought.
Tellingly the authors of another study – among footballers in five European leagues – suggested that mental health issues might be higher compared with the rest of the population but pointedly added: “We would like to emphasise how difficult it is to gather scientific information about mental health in professional football, since such a topic remains a kind of taboo.
A couple of decades ago sports stars could make mistakes that were the equivalent of bears defecating in the woods, given that no one heard about them.
Other leaders – including in British sport – would be wise to follow his lead. The below article is the first in an occasional series on sports betting and broadcasting.
Jon Anik always wondered why the sports world was so hesitant to acknowledge the obvious: Sports fans bet on sports.
“I just feel like my whole generation, we’ve been betting on sports. I’ve been scratching that itch for 22 years. Once some of us got into position where we could affect some change, I think we did.”
After Anik took his place cage-side, he helped champion that shift. With the UFC headquarters in Las Vegas, fight promotion was always a little more willing to acknowledge betting lines on pay-per-view and cable partners such as Spike, Fox Sports and now ESPN. To Anik, relaying that betting information before a big fight was a no-brainer.
When the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in May 2018 and opened the door for states to join Nevada in legal sports betting, broadcasters saw an opening.
But according to Charlie Dixon, Fox Sports’ executive vice president of content and original programming, conceptual discussions for the daily Lock It In sports betting show on FS1 began a few months even before the PASPA repeal.
“I’ve been taking pitches for as long as I’ve been in sports television about gambling in this space,” said Dixon, who previously produced poker broadcasts. “The two biggest pitches I’ve got in my career are gambling focused and ‘I want to do The Daily Show for sports. ’”
It wasn’t the first sports betting show, but it certainly had the biggest platform.
The TVG Network, a small cable and satellite channel owned by FanDuel Group and dedicated to horse and greyhound racing, partnered with Barstool Sports in September to launch a series of Sunday morning programs devoted to sports betting.
Additionally, CBS Sports’ streaming service CBS Sports HQ hopped on the betting bandwagon that same month with its launch of Sportsline Edge.
Sportradar and SportsGrid even recently announced a partnership to develop a 24-hour network on a proprietary platform dedicated to sports betting.
But Fox Sports’ Lock It In was the highest-profile project of its kind upon its launch.
EST and features host Rachel Bonnetta, as well as panelists “Cousin Sal” Iacono , analyst Clay Travis and former oddsmaker Todd Fuhrman. They focus on the biggest games and biggest sports, with each panelist wagering virtual dollars. That way, Dixon said, there’s a winner and loser – some friendly competition. And who doesn’t like bragging rights?
Shortly after the PASPA repeal, ESPN teamed up with the Action Network to roll out I’ll Take That Bet. Former ESPN Editorial Director Chad Millman hosts the sports betting show, which is focused heavily on giving out picks, on the ESPN+ streaming platform. But with Daily Wager, the worldwide leader gave sports betting a home on regular cable TV.
Doug Kezirian hosts the studio show, which airs daily at 6 p.m. EST on ESPNews. It features dozens of ESPN staffers and contributors and focuses heavily on data and analytics. The go-to descriptor for Daily Wager is that it’s SportsCenter through a sports betting eye.”
“I think the biggest compliment I could pay Daily Wager is I feel like it’s been on the air for a long time, even though it’s only a couple months old at this point,” said Ilan Ben-Hanan, who oversees sports betting initiatives as ESPN’s vice president of programming and scheduling. “It feels smart, it feels engaging, the graphic-look is really interesting, and the information is top notch. I think, really, while it’s information for those who engage in sports betting, I think it’s good information, in general, if you’re a sports fan and want a different kind of lens to view an upcoming game.”
“I think sports fans can always sense authenticity, and sports betting fans are no different,” he said. “You know that Doug knows what he’s talking about. You know that he is comfortable in his space. He knows the people he’s talking to. He knows the right kinds of questions to ask.”
However, Joe Lucia, managing editor of Awful Announcing, which covers the sports media space, said casual gamblers will probably always be the focus.
Showtime’s recent four-part docu-series, Action, found that out with dramatic results. The series focuses on folks from all walks of life in the multibillion-dollar sports betting world: professional gamblers, handicappers, content creators and even an illegal bookmaker.
The social media savant calls himself a “sports information consultant,” but most folks in the industry refer to him as one of the dirtiest four-letter words in sports betting: tout.
When the show aired, sharps and other sports betting proponents decried Oancea’s involvement, with vitriolic tweets often directed at Action producer Bradley Jackson.
“It’s like, well he’s part of that sports betting industry, whether you like it or not.
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Bet on future sports betting programming
ESPN and Fox Sports executives said they’re open to additional programming but currently focused on their existing shows. Although, smaller players are also likely to continue entering the space.
Additionally, with PASPA repealed and sports betting no longer such a taboo topic, even non-betting programming is likely to have more betting references. A few regional NBC Sports affiliates, for example, have offered alternative, gambling-focused feeds of NBA broadcasts.
Currently, only nine US states have passed legal and regulated sports betting, although legislation is underway in many others. Awful Announcing’s Lucia is optimistic about the future of sports betting programming, though he’s not sure it’ll ever reach its full potential until legal sports betting is nationwide.
“I would be more optimistic if, nationally, everyone on the same playing field.”Stigma is the main reason why elite athletes with mental health issues don’t seek the help they need, finds a summary of the available evidence, published in a special issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine devoted to the topic.
Coaches and sports governing bodies have a crucial role in helping to de-stigmatise mental ill health and promote a culture of mental wellbeing, say the researchers.
Mental illness affects up one in three elite athletes every year. The elite sports culture, with its heavy training demands and constant drive to improve performance, only serve to heighten the risk, the evidence suggests.
Several key themes emerged from among the 52 studies included in their review, which covered more than 13,000 elite athletes from 71 sports.
It includes psychiatrists, psychologists, exercise scientists, neurologists, and sports medicine doctors, among other professionals.
It also looks at major stressors, such as harassment and abuse, the barriers to seeking help, the end of an elite sports career; and future directions for research and clinical practice.
A linked editorial, which explains the impetus for the development of the consensus statement, expresses the hope that it will help to break a taboo, and act as a catalyst for organisations, coaches and sport governing bodies to create an environment that is conducive to mental wellbeing.
“For a long time in Tonga girls didn’t play contact sport – it was also a bit of a taboo topic like domestic violence,” Taufa said.
“We no longer want this to be a taboo topic, we want people to talk about it, be aware of the issue and know that their voice matters.
“We are all here because we love the youth of our country, and what better start than to create a prevention approach that changes the lives of our young people to allow them to become the best young man and young women they can be, so we can become a prosperous society.”Warming up before any type of exercise, even a kickabout in the park, should no longer be a taboo, a top knee surgeon has urged to help prevent injuries.
The text of this article was generated by the Breaking The Silence system that collected 20 news articles posted on the web from January 2019 to September 2020 and clustered for the taboo subjects related to sports
