Challenges in Girls Junior Golf - Term Paper Example

 Challenges in Girls Junior Golf Introduction The U.S Girls’ Junior Championship started in the year 1949. This was one year after the Junior Amateur Championship. Philadelphia Country Club, which is among the oldest golf clubs in United States, hosted U.S Girls’ championship. Inauguration of Girls’ Junior attracted a total number of 28 girls from seventeen states. Ten of these players came from Philadelphia. The young girls played well and showed true sportsmanship of the game through giving their all. Marlene Bauer from Los Angeles won the first national golf title for juniors. Marlene Bauer’s father, who was a golf professional, encouraged Marlene to golf since the age of three years (Stein & Meyer, 2008). The victory of this girl in golf was the beginning of her distinguished and lucrative career. Girls Junior Championship has enabled the growth of big players in golf (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). These players include Hollis Stacy, who lifted Girls’ Junior Championship from the year 1967 to 1971. Other players include Mickey Wright and Joanne Gunderson Cerner who won in the year 1952 and 1956 respectively. Nancy Lopez and Amy Alcott went with the cup in the year 1972 and 1973 correspondingly (Leon, 2008). Girls’ Junior Champions have represented United States on Curtis Cup team. Despite the success this team has amassed it faces some challenges. These challenges continue to compromise the performance of the team. This paper explores the challenges, which bedevil Girls Junior Golf. Challenges in Girls Junior Golf Girls Junior Golf faces innumerable challenges in United States. The number of girls who participate in the game of golf in United States is dismal. Participation of girls has been declining in recent years. Clubs have not been successful in attracting girls to play. Many organizations have been in a position to provide grant to Girls Junior Golf, introduce, support, nurture and develop girl’s interest and participation in the game of golf (McSorley & Gonzales, 2007). Despite these efforts by organizations and other stakeholders, the level of enrollment of girls to golf game is dismal. There are several reasons that account for this low number of girls in the game. To begin with, girls do not have a lot of interest in the game. It is very hard to get girls who are naturally interested to join golf. Although girls may show some curiosity about the game when they are very young, such interest vanishes when they are about 13 years (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). This is because they realize that golf is time consuming. This becomes a peer and social issue. Parents and friends of these girls discourage them from participating in the game of golf (Schwartz, 2007). This creates negative attitude among girls towards the game. It becomes challenging for stakeholders of the game of golf to change the negative attitude, which parents, peers and friends inculcate in girls (Leon, 2008). The low number of girls taking part in the game is not enough to attract other girls to try it. As such, factors challenging the wellbeing and growth of golf as a game accumulate resulting in a dwindled golfing spectrum in girls in different countries. Consider countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom where this game pays players very well. You will find that efforts towards sustaining the will of girls to engage in golf are minimal. As such, this creates a considerable challenging effect for girls who would like to be part of golf as a field game just like any other (Stein & Meyer, 2008). Second, Girls Junior Golf does not have prudent planning and proper administration. The management of junior golfers fails to recognize that golfer-good habits develop early on and are modified as the children grow. Golf management does not realize that improvement comes with practice and juniors are excited about the game when they are young (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). Management fails to understand the practice for junior players in golf is paramount to the success of the game. When beginners and intermediate players get the right training, the management does not introduce advanced and national-level competition for intense practice schedules. On top of this, the management of golf does not have greater time commitment for the game (McSorley & Gonzales, 2007). Golf is an intensive game that requires children to have personal coaches to help children come up with manageable practice schedules that works best and effectively for the young golfers. Junior golfers need to devote time for all aspects of the short game, long game, specialty shots, mental preparation, physical fitness and strength of conditioning. Management of the junior golf in United States has overlooked this fact resulting in deterioration of the game. Admittedly, no game goes without training. A player of any game cannot make it to the finals and subsequently win a tournament without proper training. This means that training or potential practicing is congruent in any type of a game (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). With that, sources tell us that lack of sufficient training in girls’ junior golf continues to pose a serious challenge to the girls and the game itself. Lack of proper training forces the few girls involved in the game to drop out of it mainly because they cannot keep up to the standards of competition within this particular area of gaming. Inadequate measures of ensuring consistent practice and trials act as directional challenges that make junior golfing in girls a failing aspect (Stein & Meyer, 2008). Even though some of the girls may strive hard to train in order to attain a competent level of this game, stringent drawbacks revolving around the training aspects make it difficult for them to remain active in the game. Additionally, lack of adequate playing materials such as playing and training kits for golfing and playing grounds are challenges limiting the prowess of girl’s junior golf in different countries. It is clear that it takes considerable funding to maintain a golf training ground. With that in mind, it is also understandable that lack of sufficient funds to pay for ground upkeep is a challenge contributing to the limitation of girls’ junior golf (Leon, 2008). Issues related to insufficient funds are in and of themselves a big challenge to girls’ junior golf. This is because of the fact that without money to facilitate the game’s growth and well-being it is impossible to claim that there is a game at all. Inappropriate training kits make introduction of new players into the game challenging hence girls who have the will and would like to join in are unable to do so since just mere training kits are inadequate (McSorley & Gonzales, 2007). Apart from these challenges, there is also the problem of awareness. We all know that golf is a rare type of game and commonly played by a particular sort of people. Mostly, people consider these people as rich and powerful (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). Presence of this notion continues to be an obstacle in girls’ junior golf since most of the potential girl-players look down upon themselves and believe that they do not belong to that class. As a result, they find it hard to become golfers and in the end, this notion affects the well-being of girls’ junior golf. Incorporated with this notion is the idea that only rich people play golf. Fact-findings reveal that a large percentage of young girls interested in joining girls’ junior golf are not able to join simply because of their background. They claim that golf is for girls who come from wealthy backgrounds and because they, on the other side, do not come from such, golf becomes automatically out of their league (Leon, 2008). Believably, that skeptical thinking adds on to the challenges that the game is already facing. This notion brings the issue of confidence, which is yet an indigenous challenge for girls’ junior golf. Everyone understands that golf is not like basketball or football where people play as a team (McSorley & Gonzales, 2007). Golf is one singled game whereby, whatever loss or win you sustain is all up to you not the team. Studies seeking to establish why girls shy away from golf revealed that lack of self-confidence are a pragmatic challenge that poses a serious threat to girls’ junior golf. This is because of the fact that girls’ fear of losing important matches against their opponents results in development of bad attitude towards the game (Stein & Meyer, 2008). This makes it challenging for setting up of strategic measures for familiarizing and incorporating the game into the society where girls can find it necessary and imperative to play golf. Confidence as a challenge threatening girls junior golf does not sum up all the challenges involved in this game and is related to emotions and behavior (Schwartz, 2007). Generally, people familiar with golf are aware of the fact that the game is all about respect, inherent practice, high level of honesty and personal etiquette among other factors. A deeper look into these factors shows that most girls that qualify to join in the junior golf clubs possess either just one or none of all of these factors (Leon, 2008). Bear in mind, lack of these elements poses a serious challenge towards the game since federations governing the game’s body cannot allow laxity or incorporation of characteristics that go against the protocols of the game. Clearly, failure to practice hard and lack of respect are among the most common hampering factors (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). In order for any particular game to gain popularity and appeal to the members of the public and the world at large, there must be tangible evidence of training centers for such games. These centers act as proof that people attending there are working hard towards achieving a certain goal. With that in mind, people develop interest in joining a camp or center in order to achieve the goal together. Research results show that there are very few golf-training institutions even in developed countries like the United States and France (Stein & Meyer, 2008). As such, girls find it hard to even develop interest as there are very few training centers. Note that the available training institutions for golf are expensive as they charge so exorbitantly hence deter girls from joining the game. The problem of inadequate training centers is a challenge that has a serious impact on development of golf playing skills among girls (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). According to Class 6A Golf, junior girls’ golf faces the challenge of personal vendetta among the presiding officials. A report released by the federation revealed that most of the activities surrounding golf are attainable through pushing for what one wants not what the golfer can achieve. This means that potential junior girl’ golfers fail to shine in the game since opposing officials bribe game overseers who ensure wins for only those loaded with money. As such, corruption is one of the factors challenging junior girls’ golf since it tampers with cognitive or fair game rules. For this challenge to end, federations in charge of the sport must come up with better skills and technology for overseeing the matches. Conclusion In many areas there may be a collective of girls joining together to form a girls’ junior golf club but the problem is they do not have a trainer. As a matter of course, lack of a coach can be a serious challenge towards developing or nurturing any particular talent in any set type of game (McSorley & Gonzales, 2007). Facts prove that if there is no professional to coach players in a game, then the outcome is always depolarizing. This on the other hand leads to lack of morale and zeal to join in the game, which in turn leads to the diminishing of interest for the game within a very short time. In many countries, there are very few coaches professionally qualified to handle girls’ junior golf teams. As a result, the standard of the game is low hence there are less individual or corporate supporters to fund the game (Leon, 2008). Like in any other game, availability of sponsors facilitates fixtures and promotion of the game. Thus, since girls junior golf receives very little funding from sponsors, initiatives to promote the game are ineffective. All these challenges make the girls junior golf a hampered game hence efforts to make it enjoyable and sustainable have a very limited effect. References Leon, S. (2008). Golf: The Science & the Art. Mustang: Tate Publishing. Masteralexis, L, Barr, C. & Hums, M. (2011). Principles and Practice of Sport Management. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. McSorley, J. & Gonzales, J. (2007). Golf Guide for Parents and Players: Secrets of Success for Junior and College Golf, Professional Tour and Beyond. La Salle: Mansion. Schwartz, H. (2007). Girls' Golf: Teeing It Up. Mankato: Capstone Press. Stein, S. & Meyer, D. (2008). Day Trips from Kansas City: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler. Guilford: Globe Pequot. Read More