{"id":12932,"date":"2019-03-28T17:07:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T23:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=12932"},"modified":"2019-04-04T15:17:55","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T21:17:55","slug":"women-and-athletes-one-in-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2019\/03\/28\/women-and-athletes-one-in-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Women and Athletes: One in the same"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From the days of Lusia Harris, the first woman to play in the National Basketball Association, to today\u2019s female athletes who are featured in advertisements for the world\u2019s largest sports apparel company, women in sports have made leaps and bounds. Despite the changes, one fact has always remained: women have a strong desire to compete on all levels.<\/p>\n

Harding\u2019s female athletes say the same desire exists here, too.<\/p>\n

Lady Bisons\u2019 junior guard Peyton Padgett, as well as her teammates junior guard Taylor Sims, sophomore guard Carissa Caples and freshman guard Hayley Kate Webb, said they have experienced a lot of encouragement as women involved in sports here at Harding.<\/p>\n

Caples said that one issue women athletes face is the stigma that only masculine women play sports and that sometimes women feel they have to choose between being feminine or being athletic. However, she said at Harding people give her nothing but respect when she tells them that she is on the basketball team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I talk to will say, \u2018wow that\u2019s hard, props to you,\u2019\u201d Caples said.<\/p>\n

Padgett said it can be challenging to overcome the stereotypes associated with some women\u2019s sports, especially in high school, but she said it is important to be around people that encourage her to just be herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be hard because it can make you second guess yourself and think, \u2018is this what I really want to do?\u2019\u201d Padgett said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that it goes away in college, but for me it has not even come into the forefront of my mind. I think it is just part of growing and being confident in who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Webb said that she is also grateful for the interest that her professors have in her athletic success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a class this semester where every time I walk into class my professor talks to me about basketball,\u201d Webb said. \u201cI think it\u2019s so cool that they want to come to the games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sims said Harding is more than just encouraging to her as an athlete, and she is thankful to be able to play at a faith-based institution. She said Harding not only teaches\u00a0her ways to improve her basketball craft but allows her to grow as a person as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it is really cool that we have a way to creatively express our emotions\u00a0through basketball,\u201d Sims said. \u201cBut, we can also be salt and light to people too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshman Hanna Jones plays second base for the softball team, and she said starting\u00a0college as an athlete can be scary, but her teammates are always there for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the months have gone by, I have seen so much growth in myself as a person,\u201d\u00a0Jones said. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see where I go from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Padgett said as roles of women in society start to progress further, that progress feeds\u00a0into sports as well. She said she is excited that it is now more accepted for women to show emotion on the field of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s OK for women to go crazy and get pumped up for the game and their team,\u201d Padgett said. \u201cI think it brings teams together and lifts people up too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Webb said at Harding she feels free to express who she is as a woman and as an athlete. However, to her, those two things do not have to be mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be classy as a woman and still be able to compete aggressively,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n

Padgett said though women may have different roles and different characteristics, they can blend into one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are slowly redefining the role of women,\u201d Padgett said. \u201cWe\u2019re adding on to it and empowering it, and I think that\u2019s a good thing for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the days of Lusia Harris, the first woman to play in the National Basketball Association, to today\u2019s female athletes who are featured in advertisements for the world\u2019s largest sports…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15109,"featured_media":12933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12934,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12932\/revisions\/12934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}