Cora Contrabida Putting the ‘Men’ in MVP

After two years of idleness sitting behind computer screens, I can finally touch some grass—literally. Now that we get to experience intramurals again, I have been vigorously stretching and training in the covered court and soccer field, ready to shoot and kick some balls. What? Behind my petite figure hides the muscular composition of an all-around star athlete. You can catch me shooting three-point shots, hitting home runs, and kicking goals, but I bet you didn’t see my teammates and I easily earning MVP titles because—let me guess—you were busy watching the men’s team instead.

In all the games I have played, the audience was always meager in size, with familiar, friendly faces easy to spot. But that did not bother me because as a varsity, I was focused on outsmarting the opponent and winning the game. The small audience and their cheers that echoed a long way to the back of the gym had given me the motivation and strength to score countless points for my team. In the end, the girls and I remained undefeated—don’t you know the C in Cora stands for champion?

After snatching the gold in women’s basketball, there was nothing left to do but to watch the basketball men’s championship. Why not show support to my fellow basketbolistas? Now, imagine my surprise when I entered the gym and it was a full-house! The game has not even started yet and I could already go deaf with their cheers and air horns. Where was this energy when I was slaying the court, shooting three-pointers or layups with–get this–sunglasses on?

I had started to notice this pattern in other team sports too, where the audience on the men’s side always seemed bigger than the audience on the women’s side. This shows that A LOT of people tend to be more drawn to watching men play

(sweat and scream at each other) a sport. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we boycott men’s sports. I like watching sports because I enjoy the collective tension and adrenaline the audience be? I can’t help but notice a group of people standing on one corner screaming someone’s jersey number before one of them shouts louder than the others, “Number seven regards akong mega!” I squint at whoever player number seven is. Ha! Surely not this many people are watching the game just to catch a glimpse of the self-proclaimed University heartthrob and basketball player, Roco? feels. Seeing athletes strategize to win the game always amazes me. It’s just that seeing that huge difference in audience size between men and women’s sports makes it alarmingly obvious that one is more adored than the other.

People may opt to watch any sport they want for whatever reason they have, but I find it unfair that it has been engraved in our heads that men will always perform better in sports. Sports had been stereotyped as a masculine activity, and that women who engage in sports that are more popular for men could not possibly be good at it. I mean, look at me! Yes, even someone as girly as me knows how to play the game. Not only do I enjoy it, my months of training have made me skilled at it too! My evenings and weekends were filled with tireless training sessions with my gals as we worked on our teamwork and honed our skills to athletic perfection. Just like Roco and his team, we had also been working hard training for our big game but we don’t get enough credit for that—there’s just not enough support for me and my girlies.

What makes them more interesting to watch than me and my girls, anyway? Are they more skilled in the game and more charismatic in sports as men “should”

Women in sports deserve our support as much as in men’s games. They might be different, but the rules of the game, the hardship that each player went through, and the skill needed to even be accepted in a team in the first place are all the same.C