Artistic Swimming The Pros and Cons of a Female Dominated Sport
The fact that I was a young girl in sport was never something I thought much about growing up as an artistic swimmer. Locally, it was an all-girls sport, so I was constantly surrounded by incredible girls and women while training, from coaches and teammates, to sport physicians, and psychologists. Within my sport, I never experienced discrimination due to my gender. I was never compared by athletic ability to boys. Never told “you’re good… for a girl”, and was never afraid of opportunities being taken from me by a man. I am incredibly grateful to have been able to grow up alongside and under the influence of the strong, incredible women I did. When I was at practice or competing in my sport, boys were never something I thought too much about. We were all completely in our own world.
The lack of male involvement in our sport did have an enormous impact on me outside the pool. When asked about the sport I did, people would respond with things like; “what even is that?” “Is that like, with their flowery caps and stuff?” and my least favourite, “that’s not even a real sport!” It made me so angry! I wish they could see how strong, hard-working and determined my teammates and I were. I wish they could hear my coaches, full of tough love, pushing us through another hard practice. I wanted so badly for them to realize that yes, it is a real sport, and a hard one at that! I knew that they were probably just misinformed because the sport really isn’t very popular or mainstream, but it still made me upset.
I can’t help but think that maybe it wouldn’t be such a mystery to them if it was a sport dominated by men instead. I hated having to explain my sport to boys who didn’t care about learning or being respectful. “Yes, I can hold my breath for a long time.” “No, it’s not easy.” ” No, we don’t touch the bottom.” “No, you couldn’t beat me in a competition!”…
And it wasn’t just young boys either! Sometimes adult men made comments about my sport. It became exhausting and frustrating to constantly be explaining, and validating my sport to my peers and family. As I got older, I would sometimes lie and say that I was just a swimmer because I wanted so badly to be perceived by them as a real athlete. I knew inside that I loved my sport and that yes, it was in fact real, no matter what they thoughtIt was this knowledge that helped me keep going in the sport I loved. All that mattered was how I felt at practice with my incredible community of strong, female athletes. Now I am proud to say that I am in Artistic Swimming. I don’t mind explaining my sport to people as much as I did, then, because I am secure and confident in the fact that I deserve to call myself an athlete. As the sport gains traction and more public attention, people are getting a better idea of what the sport really is, which couldn’t make me happier.
Sadly, I still hear stories from young girls who I coach that the boys in their class say synchro is easy or dumb. I feel for them because I remember how furious those types of comments made me at their age. I hope one day, these amazing young athletes won’t have to explain their sport to others, and that the others will be more receptive and understanding. But until that day comes, and even when it does, I will strive to create an empowering environment for them to develop in, just like the one I had.
