I think we all have memories of our school days and dank, old, and sometimes weird school uniforms. I remember playing girls flag-football in 7th grade (yes I totally did!) and wearing the boy’s basketball jerseys for it (gross!) Or, when I was in 8th grade and had a short stint on the school’s cheerleading team (don’t ask) and we didn’t even have shirts to match the skirts and pompoms so I had to wear a white sweatshirt inside out. While many schools say it isn’t so, I definitely encountered a philosophy of the girl’s teams having either hand-me-down uniforms or none at all and many women have had that experience. The sad reality is that in 2017 this is still happening, and it’s not OK.
My 9 year old competed in track this fall, and while I wasn’t sure if the jerseys supplied were from the boy’s basketball team, they were certainly one size fits all. Running with a jersey that’s the size of a dress is a hindrance so we modified it by tying the side with a hair elastic. What if the school had the funding for new jerseys for the girl’s teams? What if they didn’t have to be swallowed up by an oversized jersey?
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of girls say they are unable to participate to their full potential in high school athletics. According to research done by Playtex Sport, many Canadian girls say their ability to participate in high school sports is limited because they can’t afford athletic participation fees, uniforms or transportation. The research also revealed that Canadian girls think boys’ teams often get more support.
To level the playing field and encourage girls to Play On, Playtex Sport launched the Playtex PlayON Canada Grant Program in August 2016. Through this program, girls’ high school sports teams had the opportunity to apply for grants of up to $5,000 (with a total of $50,000 in grants available). In March 2017 the 13 grant recipients were announced (you can read more here) and now you can be part of the latest Playtex Sport initiative – Gear Giveaways!
Playtex Sport is asking Canadians to share photos of their old gear (including uniforms) on Instagram for the chance to win new gear for themselves or their team. From April through August, anyone can enter by posting a photo of themselves and/or their team using the hashtag #PlayOnWinGear and tagging @PlaytexPlayOn in the photo. A weekly draw will determine the winner(s) and each person in the photo will receive a $100 Sport Chek gift card (up to a maximum of $1500). Click here for Rules and Regulations
If you have photos of your own gear from a current team you’re on, or photos of your daughters or granddaughters in theirs, now is the time to share! Imagine winning a Sport Chek gift card for one or all the members (up to 15) of your team! Talk about motivation to get out there and kick some butt!
I’ve got an awesome giveaway to share with readers as well! To help encourage and support your girls in sport, I’ve got a Gear Giveaway valued at $195 CDN! Included in this prize package is:
· Under Armour duffle bag
· Playtex Sport t-shirt
· Multi-pack of headbands
· High-quality earbuds
· Heavy-duty jump rope
· Playtex PlayOn! water bottle
· Playtex Sport product – 18 super / 18 regular combo pack
To be in to win, just enter your name and email address in the form below, then click BEGIN!
My daughter was on a couple of teams and it was difficult for them… their high school did not give them the nicest sets of jerseys to wear (hand me downs over many years) because of cutbacks. She did make the provincial team for her sport and we paid for her nice “kit” but a family that couldn’t afford it would definitely find it to be a hardship.
My daughter’s gear so far has been pretty good, as was mine growing up other than some of the protective gear that wasn’t made for female bodies. Hopefully that’s improving now!
My niece plays basketball and she swears by Nike gear!
My daughter plays hockey and we always try to equip her properly. We usually have to purchase second hand because of the price of the equipment and we have a son that is a goaltender and the cost is so super expensive.
We play with girls that usually don’t have the best equipment. This year we have a first time goalie on our team, I offered her my son’s old helmet (She had a player helmet…) Some of the girls on the team are unhappy that the chest protector’s don’t fit for the female chest and makes it feel weird.
I remember our gear years ago being anything but attractive,gear seems to have gotten better over the years but could still use a new look with bright colors!
I honestly haven’t had a personal real horrid experience minus the fact the uniforms were a unisex fit that were huge on gals!
I do remember all the baggy uniforms and the well worn equipment over the years.
For our daughter’s team we were very fortunate that they had a very good local sponsor who supplied jerseys for them. This is why it is important to support your local businesses because they give back to the community.
My daughter’s volley ball team needed gear badly. It seems that we live in a small town and we just don’t get the funding that other places get. If we don’t pay for the gear then the kids don’t get it and it’s expensive.
Often exercises machines are too wide and designed more for men. Otherwise we have not had any bad experiences…but they are still young. Cost has kept us out of some sports such as hockey and encouraged us to lean toward basketball and so forth.
Growing up, girls sports were really big in my area, especially softball and soccer, so we didn’t have to suffer with bad gear. Many sponsors helped keep us outfitted in great gear. I wish all areas were as supportive of girls in sports.
My daughter played soccer for many years. We often bought used gear when possible.
From when I was young girl the gear has changed a lot. There is so much more for girls that are into sports from shoes to clothes and so on. They are able to join more and feel better about what they have to go into these activities.
Sophie has played soccer the last three years. The first two years the gear was minimal and poor quality. Last year Tim Hortons provided uniforms. This year it will be more competitive so we bought Under Armour gear. Hopefully it helps her to play her best.
Growing up I always had to spend a fair deal on sports gear!
I don’t have any bad memories of any gear I used. I’m pretty sure I usually had used stuff, but I think it always did the job!
Gear is good.
I am in LOVE with the Under Armour bag!! I actually really need a good gym bag, and that one needs to be in my life! 💖
They’ve started to come a long way. Under Armour and Adidas seem to be hits with my daughter.
I did not really notice a big difference re the girls vs boys gear when I was younger in high school. Do not have daughters so not sure about now
I really haven’t had any experience with this issue.
With 3 sisters and a daughter I know all about the troubles of inadequate gear!!!
in school we didn’t have the nicest jerseys to wear. We as the PAC did a bunch of fund raising and we finally was able to get some better looking jerseys for our school 🙂
My niece was on a soccer team last year and their uniforms were horrible! They really needed new ones! I also remember when I was a kid, we had terrible jerseys/uniforms!
In elementary school I played girls touch football. But because it was new at the time, all we had we the “pinnies” from gym class (that every boy wore and stunk up) until we were able to get uniforms. In high school when I was playing basketball we had the craziest old jerseys when I started out. They were still from when the school opened … and I was there in 1999. New gear makes you feel good, move better and is also more hygienic.
As a child, I had no gear so I understand the importance of having the right gear to participate in various activities.
My granddaughter could use some new gear for her sport.
Growing up all my sports gear was hand me downs . But as a kid you’re just happy to play .
I find that there’s definitely more options for girls’ gear now than when I was a child.
My gear growing up was rather on the pathetic side, passed down from older cousins but I made do!
I had little gear or borrowed gear when I was growing up. The girls today have great gear.
When i was younger, i was just wear t shirts. I didn’t realize how nice workout gear was until I was older and discovered dri fit. So helpful to keep you dry when you’re exercising!
when I was in school years ago our gear wasn’t as nice as they have now, we just had certain colors we had to wear, our school color was red, others schools had yellow, green etc
My daughter’s gear so far has been pretty good
I was on the track team and we were very poor so we didn’t have much in the way of clothes. I ran long distance and did hurdles barefoot as I only had a pair of shoes that were more like dress shoes.
I like the fox bag
I remember playing soccer in high school, and the shirts we had to wear were way too big.
I was on a couple of teams and remember not having the best gear
It’s so important for girls teams to have just as good equipment as boys teams. In my experience, that’s not always the case.
Our volleyball team had to share jerseys with the boys team, they played tues and us Wednesday it was awful but there was no funding
I went to a small school, and we never seemed to have anything, unfortunately….but we had fun!
I didn`t really play any sports as a kid,our school was only small and there wasn`t any sports teams that I remember.
As a child I did not have the proper sports gear/equipment for the activities I was doing. It made me lose interest. I hope to provide my daughter with what she needs to love the activity/sport she loves.
My daughter and I never had problem with gear when playing sports!
We’ve never had any issues with with any of the gear my kids have used for their sports, except maybe the cost!
My niece plays ice hockey and sometimes it’s hard for her to find hockey gear that fits her right. She usually ends up with younger boys equipment that she tries to ‘break in’.
I actually was very lucky to play at a high school where the girls program was much more heavily funded than the boys. The athletic director coached us, and he had a lot of say in where the money went which luckily for us went mostly to the girls teams (and we were also the better players, so it kind of made sense – the girls made it to provincial championships year after year, we had a good run of great players for quite a few years). We had great uniforms, the best gym times, lots of road trips etc. And we ended up being the provincial champions in basketball our senior year (after coming second twice before). Interestingly enough, one of the sponsors of the championships always gave team rings to the winning team of the province, both boys and girls, each year, but the year they won they decided to only give them to the boys! Our coach would not have it, and pressured them immensely until they gave our team our well deserved rings too. I can imagine that if it were the days of social media like now, they would have received some serious backlash for leaving out the girls, but back then it was just one on one pressure from the coach/school. Anyway, one of my daughters just started playing team sports this year, and so far her uniform and equipment are good!
I have three little boys but I would have loved this as a kid! I was in every sport imaginable in elementary school.
They always seem to be in need of new jerseys!
My daughter didn’t have any problems with gear in her sports but the cost does add up.
I played hockey with the boys when I was growing up as there was no girls’ team in my small town. I remember gear never really fitting me that well. I was always smaller than the other kids on my team.
My daughter played baseball & never seemed to have any problems getting uniforms.
My daughter takes Acro-Dance so no gear needed!
The gears today are much more attractive, it’s a good thing if girls want to play any sport because of it.
My daughter’s school soccer team didn’t have team shirts – just a solid coloured t-shirt,…….all the teams they played against had school uniform jerseys….I felt bad for them. It was like they didn’t have an identity…but they still played better than the rest!
I’ve personally never had an issue with equipment other than it can be expensive.
As far as gear we usually bought used when ever possible for our girls and boys. My daughters had the worst time finding uniforms that worked for them. One size does not fit all very well , my youngest daughter is taking her gym credits and just joined a soft ball team and it would be nice for her to have something fresh and awesome.
When I played soccer we were sponsored and our sponsor bought the gear. During school sports our gear was pretty terrible.
When I was a girl we had to wear horrid orange nylon shorts and kneesocks for gym. The trauma lingers on…. The gear kids have today is so much more stylin’.
we usually try to go second hand since they grow out of things so fast
Years ago I remember our girls team gear was awful and sometimes we were embarrassed to wear the team shirts.My daughter also played ball and her team t-shirts looked much better than ours did.
I think the duffle bag is super cute!
I remembered when I was young, we did not have any nice gear since my school did not have a lot of funding and donation was not enough to cover expenses like this. So we basically only had very little resources.
My nephews gear has been great so far but when I was a kid I was on an all girls hockey team and everything was definetly a size too big!
My daughter loves playing basketball and is on Cross country team. They have struggled many times with shortage of uniforms and kids had to bring t-shirts that match teams colours. This would be awesome to win. My daughter would be over the moon
When I was growing up the gear was nothing to brag about but it did the job.
i always got run down hand me downs from my cousins. all my younger cousins get nike or under under armour gear. how things have changed lol
it is so difficult to find a water bottle that doesn’t leak!
It is nice to see that gear has changed so much over the years. It is way better variety than what was available when I was a young girl.
When I was coaching cheer there was no money for uniforms provided. The girls had to fund raise and buy them themselves. I don’t think that would have been an issue if it was the football team that needed jerseys.
My sons soccer team is always looking for sponsors to help out ! We buy the gear we can afford !
My daughter’s gear so far has been pretty good
my daughters team would love some feminine looking gear (they love their pink) and some new jerseys that are not just one size fits most (because they don’t!)
I have always been very active but my gear is certainly nothing flash lol.
Back in highschool, our gym gear just not attractive. It was the same t shirts for both guys and gals.
Gear always seems to be designed and marketed towards males. It’s frustrating.
my neighbors girls do roller blading and wear old navy gear that just doesn’t hold up or look the greatest
I didn’t play team sports as a child but I was on a swim team for a few years. We all had tee-shirts donated by our sponsor. We were always jealous when we went to meets & some teams all had matching suits!
Our uniforms were horrendous back when i played on teams. Too big, too small or just falling apart. What a great thing for Playtex to support girls teams!! and thnk you for the chance to win this prize pack.
I do recall unisex clothing, which was, of course, oversized
My daughter runs 3 to 5 k
I wish I had more gear when I was a teenager. I only had the bare minimum.
At my school, we didn’t even have enough money for gear, so I didn’t use them until I was an adult.
When I was playing rep ball, we were given full uniforms. Now that my boys play, they only supply shirt and the parents are on the hook for the rest. I think the lack of equipment spans the genders.
I had some issues with gear when was at school, it some kind of unisex and for girls it was same as for boys, But girls body is not as boys so it technically did not fit and was quite uncomfortable.
my gear when I was young did not fit well – it was always hand me downs
My daughter is still young but i remember having terrible gear as a kid, sports are so expensive.
My biggest problem with gear was finding stuff that fit. Even things that were suppose to be my size would be off in sizing or be cut funny and not fit right. The selection for girls gear is still horrible and often hard to find.
There’s definitely more options for girls gear now than when I was a kid. My gear was not attractive.
My daughter has only participated on a couple of sports teams through school and thankfully both schools so far have had pretty good resources for sporting gear. I have seen some in the past that have struggled so its great to see companies wanting to help out
Right now it’s just a matter of having other essentials to worry about paying for so I make do with what I have for earbuds and shirts and stuff.
I didn’t have to worry about gear in High School….I was on the Swim Team, just needed a bathing suit. My tween daughter would love these nice prizes.
Our girls did deal with older, worn out and soiled gear. I have noticed that the gear is newer and nicer now.
My highschool had a very small number of girl’s teams compared to the boys.
My daughter played fastball, and was the smallest on the team. we bought her the equipment she needed to play safe. Son plays soccer, which takes much less equipment
My school couldn’t afford to get new gears but my teammates and I made the best of the situation and enjoyed playing together!
I don’t have any bad memories of any gear I used.
I played soccer and slow pitch for a couple years. Thankfully both require little equipment but the cost of jerseys were always a surprise