If you want your daughter to enjoy the health and confidence that come from playing sports, Raising Our Athletic Daughters is a must-read. Parents' personal history colors their approach to introducing their daughters to sports. More people tuned in to televised coverage of the Women's World Cup in Summer '99 than the NBA finals the same year, seemingly disproving the theory that there is no large-scale audience for televised female athletic events. The authors cite studies saying that 95 percent of national sports coverage focuses on male athletes. They say the trend has begun to shift in other venues.
Debate exists regarding the benefits of same sex or coed sports participation.
Kate Morrel is a soccer player whose teammates helped her through a tough time. Girls' games are not often capable of drawing big crowds of spectators, something girls in the book note with disappointment. Fathers and athletic daughters share an unusual bond. The authors assert that how we treat girls and boys even before they start kindergarten shapes their later sports participation and ability. In addition to the teen crime rate tripling, the teen pregnancy rate also rises.