I Don't Run

A few weeks ago Dan and I went shopping for new soccer (AKA football) cleats (AKA boots). He was still at work, but suggested I look at some local stores' websites to find out what cleats I would be interested in so I can partake in football Wednesdays. So I click on their women's things, and they offer mostly casual shoes and running shoes. I thought to myself, "Perhaps this website is just shitty and I should do a search." So I type "women football boots" in the search box; it returns "SORRY WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO MATCH ANYTHING TO YOUR SEARCH." WTF?! Certainly they are mistaken. Luckily, they have a football section, which leads you to your choice of football boots--available are men's boots and junior boots. Increasing my frustration and curiousity I decided to find out what available sporting goods were for women. And to my dismay they are as follows: badminton, cycling, dance, golf (which I find hilarious and their selection is, to put it bluntly, crap), field hockey (they say hockey; gay), running, swimming, and tennis. WTF?!

After work, Dan picks me up and we go to the store to look at cleats. In the car, I rant the entire time about how their website doesn't sell women anything. He's not surprised, but tries to console me by saying there might be women's soccer cleats there. We arrive at the store, and almost half of the upstairs is devoted to soccer cleats--men's soccer cleats. Dan tells me to just try some on just in case. So I try on a junior size 4--too small. I try a size 5--too big and wide. They don't have 4.5's. After an hour I am too frustrated and tired to try on any more ill-fitting shoes that I just assist Dan since the staff was useless. In the end Dan bought shoes and I bought nothing in protest of their shitty existence!

I must be coming off as some crazy feminist of sorts, but I am probably far from that. I like it when boys buy me things and open doors and do all that chivalrous jazz (even though my boy doesn't do that, but maybe he'll read this and make more of an effort). And even though I like to compare myself to boys when it comes to athletic competition, I will acknowledge the fact that there is a physical difference between men and women; not necessarily to the point where women can't be better than some men, but just different enough that it warrants boy and girl things. And I cannot emphasize how important shoes are!!!

Mens shoes are obviously way too large and wide. And I'm the classic girl who is tiny enough that I can fit in little boys shoes, and I do own little boy cleats (yay, Nike Sharks!). But when it comes to soccer shoes, boys shoes are just too wide and really you want soccer shoes to fit well or you mangle your foot with blisters and you don't get the touch you are looking for on the field. And I should know a thing or two about shoes. My junior year of high school, my coach basically made us run at least 5 miles for practice (and we practiced Monday through Friday if we didn't have games), and I ran with my New Balances. Towards the end of the season my achilles was swolen like no other, my arches hurt, and I hated running even more. It was my shoes' fault! I now run with Nikes because they support my arch and achilles. So I am super particular about shoes and I want women's soccer shoes!

Now, it's not a question that they aren't available. If you are in the US every brand creates a woman's equivalent if not make an exclusive women's shoe. It's probably good business practice not to keep women's sports gear as women aren't going to be playing these sports in the UK. But it irritates me that it's limiting what women can do, especially what girls do! If a girl goes to the store with her dad who is buying soccer cleats, she won't see stuff tailored for her so she's not going to want to play. She'll probably end up seeing the little dance outfits (though there's nothing wrong with that) and will never spark an initial interest to play soccer or basketball or whatever! And now that I think of it, I don't see girls playing team sports any where! It is absolutely horrendous!

Perhaps this is why the US dominates all women's sports. The US national soccer team is one of the best in the world (unlike the men), our women's softball team dominates too much that the Olympic committee is no longer having softball for 2012, our basketball team is awesome--US women athletes just dominate. And I think it's because we encourage women to do anything they want at a very young age, and retailers and designers are continuing to encourage it by designing products targeted to women and girls. If the UK is thinking of getting competitive in any sport for women, they need to encourage their girls to do the sports rather than having them do passive sports (AKA non-contact).

Uh, this has been angering me for the last couple of weeks! If Dan and I were to have children and live here, you better believe I am going to make sure they can play contact sports. And if they are going to be elitist (which I have experienced playing golf in Cornwall), then we are moving back to the States where girls kicking boys ass is normal! Word!