This was the title of a campaign issued by the Women's Tennis Association in 2011 promoting positive body images in the sport of Professional Tennis. In today's society young men and women feel the pressure to look and act a certain way whether they are involved in sports or not. This pressure often results in the individual developing a negative image of their body and creates an unhealthy lifestyle change. While these pressures are felt across the board between men and women athletes they tend to be more prevalent in women's sports; always looking to lose weight, fearful of gaining weight, strength training and putting on muscle. The WTA brought light to that in a very direct yet subtle way with their STRONG IS BEAUTIFUL Campaign and showed that it's ok to be strong and muscular in sport.
As Athletic Trainers, one of our primary responsibilities is preventing injuries in sport by ensuring our athletes are prepared to compete in any venue while also promoting a healthy lifestyle. All teams, men's and women's, participate in a comprehensive strength and conditioning program and receive nutritional education annually for both sport participation and everyday life. We educate our athletes on the signs and symptoms of eating disorders and maintaining a healthy body. Our goal is to help our athletes recognize the signs in not only their own lives but of their teammates as well and assist those wanting or needing help. Counseling is available if needed and facilitated through our athletic training staff and sports medicine team. Eating disorders and body image issues are a very real and problematic aspect of sport and anything we can do to bring attention to this and promote a healthy lifestyle can only help fight the issue. We have added these videos for viewing over the next month to help bring these issues to light. Enjoy!