Why don't parents and coaches work harder to support the girls? Perhaps
because they know there is nowhere for them to go in professional sports?
If the boys do well, they will end up with scholarships and on national
teams. If the girls do well, they may get a scholarship, but there are no
national teams for them to look forward to. While this is starting to
change, with the WNBA and other women's leagues forming, it's still for
the most part true that girls can't look forward to making a living as
athletes in team sports. When this situation changes, I bet the parents
and coaches will be just as supportive of the girl's sports as the boys.
As a rec league coordinator for youth soccer, I have lots of parents
volunteering to coach the boys, but I'm desperately short of girl's
coaches. When I try to get parent support as coaches for these teams,
it's much more difficult.
Individual initiative is great, but most young girls can't get the support
for sports from their parents the way the boys can.