Construction Of Boys In Organized Sports

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Jade Wilson Reaction Paper 1 The article, “Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities” focuses on the stereotype that all “real” boys play sports. It outlines the relationship between sports and social classes and shows how the community and families’ emphasis on sports help define masculinity. Michael Messner, a prominent researcher on the topic conducted interviews with former male athletes of different backgrounds who had played in some of the most common sports like football, basketball, baseball, etc. When asked about how important sports were growing up, a 42 yr. old black respondent said, “It’s a part of your existence…It was just what you did. It’s kind of like, you went to school, you played athletics, and if you didn’t there was something wrong with you.” They saw sports as a boy thing. Boys at a young age crave for unity and connection with others. Involvement with sports seemed like the only common ground all boys could meet on, discover their competitive edge, and make friends. Another black male respondent explained his involvement in sports as more of a community thing. He had his principal and teachers encouraging him to play and keep at it because he “might be pretty damned good” (Messner 169). He thought of himself as a natural as did man of the other respondents, but this self definition of a natural could sometimes be interpreted as a “collective practice” (169). What people failed to realize was that a boy may have great hand-eye coordination, but lack the skills needed to play a professional sport. As well as the community, family played a big role in their involvement in sports. From sports usually comes the father-son relationship and bonding period. Fathers want to share a part of their childhood with their own sons. Fathers put pressure on the sons and tell them about how good they were inferring that their sons
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