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Report on Nice Play!
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
Let's see some SmartGirls play some sports! For this survey we had a total of 501 respondents for this survey, 461 girls, and 23 boys! The average age of our SmartGirl respondent who took this survey is 12 and 1/2 years old! 193 of you are the oldest in your family, 97 respondents are in the middle, 129 respondents are the youngest in their families and 55 SmartGirls are the only child in their families!
Many of our respondents have participated and shared their ideas from all over the world including: Ireland, India, England, United States, Canada and the Philippines!
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| Do You Like Sports? |
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| Age |
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| Ethnicity |
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From the survey, we learned that 417 Smartgirl respondents enjoy sports, while 73 respondents do not. With this information, do you think that boys like sports more than girls? We learned that based on the respondents, (260 responses) girls, enjoy sports more than boys. (228 responses) Girls can play the game too!
We also asked if they were sport watchers too! And 63% of respondents say they watch sports, while 37% said that they are not.
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| Girls vs. Boys: Who Watches Sports? |
watchspo
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yes | no | [row totals] |
gender
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| girl |
285 | 169 | 454 |
| boy |
17 | 5 | 22 |
| [column totals] |
302 | 174 | 476 |
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Sports can take place everywhere: indoor (like hockey), outdoor (like skiing) or even both! (ex. Volleyball, baseball and even soccer!) In the case of our SmartGirls, we learned that most (288 responses) do not have a preference of where they play, so playing indoor or outdoor, it doesn’t matter! However, we also learned that there are some of you who (145 responses) prefer to play outside with the sun, and some (52 responses) prefer to play indoors where it can stay cool!
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| Where to play? |
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When it comes to watching sports events at the various levels most SmartGirls enjoy pro sports the most with 221 responses. 99 SmartGirls do not like watching sports at any level, followed by 74 respondents who enjoy watching high school level sports games. 60 who enjoy middle school and 34 who watch college level sports.
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| Sports Level |
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count | percent |
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levelspo
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| nolike |
99 | 20.29 |
| midschol |
60 | 12.3 |
| highscho |
74 | 15.16 |
| college |
34 | 6.97 |
| pro |
221 | 45.29 |
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When asking how SmartGirls feel about playing and watching sports, we learned that there was almost a split finding between playing and watching. Most of the SmartGirls agree that like to both play and watch (233 responses), followed by people who enjoyed to play, but not watch sports (145 responses). Finally, there were a few people who said they’d rather watch but not play sports (53 responses) and there were people who do not like to play or even watch sports! (54 responses)
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| Play and Watching |
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Male and female sports are competitive, and depending on some countries, some sports can only be played only by males. So we asked the question, “Do you think guys’ and girls’ sports are equal?” 43% of the respondents agree to this question, 57% of the respondents do not think that guys and girls are equal.
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| Is It Gender Equal? |
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count | percent |
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sportequal
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| yes |
207 | 42.95 |
| no |
275 | 57.05 |
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The World Olympics, which started back in 1896, is the most exciting event which takes place every couple of years! It takes the BEST players and they compete around the world. This summer’s Olympics is going to take place in Athens, Greece, so make sure you’re in tuned with the games!
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| Do You Watch the Olympics? |
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This leads us to our next question, “Do you watch the Olympics?” Most SmartGirls said they watch (375 respondents) the Olympics while 116 respondents said they do not.
The Olympics is a chance to showcase many events and sports. What were some of SmartGirls’ favorite event at the Olympics? We ranked them in order to show you:
~Figure skating (264 responses)
~Swimming (241 responses)
~Ice Dancing (218 responses)
~Basketball (159 responses)
~Volleyball (150 responses)
~Snowboarding (145 responses)
~Soccer (124 responses)
Some respondents also enjoyed the following Olympic sports as their favorite: speed skating, ice hockey, ski jumping, bobsledding, skiing, track and field, gymnastics and more!
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| Favorite Olympic Event |
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The Olympics holds sports for games during the Winter and Summer seasons. Which season do you prefer to watch, the Winter or the Summer Olympics? Most people prefer the Summer Olympics (with 271 responses) and then Winter Olympics (176 responses).
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| Winter vs. Summer |
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What’s your top favorite sport? This is what tops our SmartGirl list:
~Dance (192 responses)
~Baseball (180 responses)
~Swim (147 responses)
Here are some other favorite sports, including football, volleyball, soccer, skateboarding, softball, martial arts, hockey and horseback riding!
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| Favorite Sports |
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Wow! It sounds like many people believe that playing a sport can definitely help young people with school. 77% of respondents agree, while only 23% disagree.
Most people may think that playing sports is all about fun and leisure. However, sports can be intense and can allow people to gain more experience in certain areas. So, what is it about sports that people learn?
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| Sports in School |
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count | percent |
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helpscho
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| yes |
369 | 77.04 |
| no |
110 | 22.96 |
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Here’s what SmartGirls enjoy to do:
“Diving, there's something about jumping off a high platform and twisting and turning and not dying at the end of it that really appeals to me!”
“I would learn how to play water polo. I would want to learn to play that because it takes a lot of ambition and confidence and that is something that I think that would help me prosper in all parts of my life not just the sport. Plus it would help me get in shape and it would be fun to be in the pool all the time. I think that I would enjoy it.”
“Horse-riding in a western style - looks and sounds exiting.”
“Snow boarding because it looks awesome and I would like to do flips and sweet stuff like that”
“Pro Basketball cause it's cool. Plus it would be nice to learn some new trick's rather than to keep doing the same old trick's as usual.”
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Most SmartGirls believe that they teamwork is the best quality they learn from sports. (253 responses) Other Smartgirls believe that discipline is another great quality they learn (41 responses), dedication (27 responses) strength (39 responses), and finally leadership! (25 responses)
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| Good Qualities |
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We have to admit, sometimes we get so excited about watching games, that we can possess a bad sportsmanship spirit, where we end up yelling, and making other people feel bad. How many of our parents have been guilty of bad sportsmanship?
We asked SmartGirls, “Have you witnessed inappropriate behavior of parents (ie. Shouting, criticizing, abusive language) toward children, team coaches or officials at youth sporting events?”
The majority of SmartGirls said they’ve witnessed parents get out of control. 240 SmartGirls had not seen inappropriate behavior (which is a good thing) but still think it’s a problem, 152 SmartGirls believe that bad sportsmanship is not a problem.
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| Bad Parents |
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Let’s turn the spotlight on you. Have you fallen victim to inappropriate behaviors at a youth sports event? The majority of you said no, (380 responses) while only just a few said yes! (97 responses) We’re proud of you for staying out of trouble!
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| Inappropriate Youths |
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count | percent |
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badyouth
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| yes |
97 | 20.34 |
| no |
380 | 79.66 |
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How much do SmartGirls agree with this statement, “Inappropriate behavior amongst parents and coaches has become so predominant that it destroying that youth sports are meant to be.”
Most of you agree that it is very inappropriate (with a total 301 responses) for aggressive behavior between parents and coaches, while only a total of 173 of you do not believe in the statement. Who’s playing the game, anyway?
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| Bad Behaving Parents |
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With school, extracurricular activities and leisure time, how much time do you participate in sports-related activities? We asked our SmartGirls how much time they give to playing, teaching, and watching sports and most spend anytime between 1-3 hours week. (162 responses) Next, 89 participants said they spend between 3-5 hours a week on sports, and finally 72 Smartgirls say the spend between 5-7 hours a week! SmartGirls are keeping themselves busy and active!
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| Hours Spent playing Sports |
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We asked Smartgirls if they agree with the question, “Do you think if a parent is a coach that their child should NOT be on his/her team?” Our findings revealed a close call! 272 participants disagree with the question, and believe that being on the team (with their parents as coach) shouldn’t matter. 205 participants agree that there should be a degree of separation between parent and coach.
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| Parent Coaches |
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count | percent |
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parent-coach
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| defagree |
61 | 12.79 |
| agree |
144 | 30.19 |
| disagree |
176 | 36.9 |
| defdisagree |
96 | 20.13 |
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People join sports for other athletic reasons, including teamwork and belonging. We wanted to know how many of you participate in sports-related activities to make yourself feel good. Surprisingly, most people do not join sport-related activities so that they can feel good about themselves. (288 response) Only 182 participants want to feel good by being involved.
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| Participation: To Feel Good |
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If your friend was playing on a specific team and sport, would that encourage you to play the same sport?
We learned that most of you (284 responses) do not get influenced by your friends all the time! 217 participants said they agree that they choose to play sports because they know that their friends are playing the same sports.
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| Participation: For Friends |
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Is sports goal-driven for a group or for individual achievement? What a close call! Half of you (233 responses) agree with this statement, while the other half disagree! (235 responses) Almost a tie!
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| Achievement: Individual? |
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count | percent |
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indiv achieve
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| sagree |
53 | 11.32 |
| agree |
180 | 38.46 |
| dagree |
190 | 40.6 |
| sdagree |
45 | 9.62 |
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Do you smell victory when you play sports? How many people agree with the statement, “I would rather win an easy game and be a “winner”, than lose a tough game but become a better player.”?
A total of 123 Smartgirl respondents agreed the statement above. However, 347 Smartgirl respondents disagreed, and want the challenge of a tough game than the easy win! SmartGirls are tough!
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| Winning |
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count | percent |
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winner
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| sagree |
43 | 9.15 |
| agree |
80 | 17.02 |
| dagree |
194 | 41.28 |
| sdagree |
153 | 32.55 |
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Picture this: You and your best friend go to different school and met through playing sports. Both of you like to watch one another play and you cheer one another on whenever your team does not have to play. At the end of the season, the championship game/match is your team against your best friend's team. You're put face to face against your friend in a race to get the championship title. How do you react? Does this change the way that you play the game?
Here’s what some SmartGirls say:
“No, I think that you should win because you want to win. If your friend found out that you lost the race because you wanted her to win, she would probably want to do it again because it wasn’t a fair match. So do your best even if it is against your pal, because you’re the one that should deserve the credit for doing well not your friend!”
“I play my hardest, with more push to do better then her. After the game or race, I will just forget about who won and go hug them and congratulate them on a good job, win or lose. I feel that if I let them win, it would hurt our friendship, but if I am bragging about winning it or something, that could hurt our friendship. So, no, it probably wouldn't change how I play.”
“No Way!! If we have truly become good friends and we are faithful to each other then it shouldn't matter who wins, we should still continue to cheer each other on!”
“This friendship has nothing to do with the game. Both friends should realize that it is only a game and if they both like sport they will both understand that. Sport was designed to be fun so it’s the taking part that counts and if they really are friends they will be pleased for the other person if its their team that wins.”
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2000.
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