Pre WWII Olympics and Empire Games (Commonwealth) is rich with women in sports and Australian family lore is rich with stories of grand-ma and great grand-ma's sporting stories.
The first women in the Olympics were the 1900 Paris Games where women played in the tennis tournament. The first Empire Games women participated were the 1930 Hamilton Ontario Canada Games where women competed in swimming.
Our family's archives have photographs of my late mother playing hockey in the 1930s in Sydney. We were raised on these stories and her girl friends who played with her.
One of the features of women's sport that my mother often spoke were the patterns of sporting attire. Moreover I can recall when our children were little my wife laid out patterns on the lounge room floor so as to make the sport skirts and tops. This is a long tradition in Australian families.
Likewise the colours of women's sporting attire. Well established sporting team colours are black and white, blue and white, green and white, blue and yellow, red and yellow, to name just a few.
Women likewise play their sport with huge determination and concentration. Margaret Court who has won more tennis grand-slam titles than any other person in the history of tennis speaks of this in her interview with the Australian Missionary News IPTV.
http://www.youtube.com/user/marktronson#p/u/4/gKp2XK1LMgE
Another women's tennis player who spoke of this, but in a theological sense, Britain's Sue Barker of the 1970's, noted that to compete to one's utmost, honours your opponent. Anything less would be dishonourable to yourself, your opposition and to God.
Watch women's sport at both the Summer or Winter Olympics, illustrates this focus women give to their sporting endeavours. The ski jumps are not for the faint hearted. Hockey demands ultra fitness.
Every parent who watches the myriad of netball matches on any Saturday morning across Australia knows of their girl's commitment and this is exemplified by their netball heroines on television.
Susan Fuhrmann the Australian Diamonds and Western Australian defender is a well established figure in never say die performances and given much acclaim in securing the goal area. Her interview on the Australian Missionary News IPTV illustrates this strength in ability.
www.youtube.com/user/marktronson#p/u/3/7KmAbOAd5YM
Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke (when PM) having watched another nail biting Australian – New Zealand Netball test match exclaimed that he'd never witnessed previously such a contest in any sport.
The movie, "In a League of their own" of the US women's baseball tournament during those WWII years when the boys were fighting a war, epitomised this strength of competitiveness in women's sport that generations of Australian women are very familiar with.
Talking to my male colleagues, our experiences are all similar. In our 80-90's households when our children were growing up, when women's sport was televised the remote control was out of our bounds and any of our well intentioned (and brilliant) commentary was banned! It must be a dad thing!