Research Project - Female Administrator Value: 20% of PHED 380 grade Task: The purpose of this assignment is to research and discuss the contributions of a significant female administrator in the...

1

Martina Navratilova has always remained an inspiration of innumerable women both in
the realm of sports and outside sports. The topic of the discussion is going to be centered round
the charismatic Navratilova and the positive impact which this champion exerted upon the
development of women’s sports, which in turn conveyed to the world the capabilities of women
which are at par with any man succeeding in any sphere of life. And such an impact encouraged
me to choose Martina Navratilova as the central protagonist of this paper.
Born on October 18, 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Martina Navratilova was raised by
her mother and her stepfather. From the very beginning Navratilova was keen towards sports and
although being a lean, small child she excelled in several sports including hockey and skiing.
Through such participations she, as a small girl, proved that it was the mental strength and ability
and not always the physique, which counts the most while accomplishing success. It was in her
biography that once she mentioned, “I'm not very psychologically oriented and I have no idea
how I was affected by my real father's abandonment, the secrets and the suicide, or my feeling
about being a misfit, a skinny little tomboy with short hair…” (“Martina Navratilova Biography”,
2012) Her very such feeling and her experience with her real father who committed suicide
abandoning her amidst of this coercive world helped her to emerge as a real woman who was
never afraid of facing this male dominated world in all the spheres of her life. But it is to be
remembered that the openness of culture in Czechoslovakia helped her to test her strengths
through competing with boys in sports like ice hockey and soccer and such encouragement
helped her to prove the notion, possessed by myriads of Americans wrong, that the sexuality of
girls can be affected if they participate and rise in sports. And after taking up the U.S citizenship
in 1981 and then winning important Grand Slam titles, Navratilova proved it to the U.S citizens
2

that women’s role in a society should not only be related to her sexuality and they should not be
treated as inferior by any means to men.
She is a true champion on and off the court and has inspired millions of women across
the world not only as a tremendously successful tennis player but as a true woman who can show
aggression while in a game against a tough competitor, and equally can demonstrate wit,
outspokenness, and such combination in a single character is enough to inspire anyone
anywhere. As learnt from the article “Martina Navratilova” (2012) Navratilova accomplished
amazing feats by winning fifty nine Grand Slam titles which encompass eighteen singles, thirty
one women’s doubles and ten mixed doubles. Besides, she has adorned her lengthy span of
tennis career with a total win of one hundred...