Poor, urban African-American girls are discouraged from opportunities to participate in sports and as a result are unable to experience the many benefits that are associated with sports participation for girls (Bungum, 1995; Colchico, 2000; Harvard School of Public Health, 2004; Surgeon General's Report, 1999). Particularly troubling is the fact that these girls, grow up amidst such difficult circumstances of poverty and the intersecting oppressive forces of culture, race and gender.

Research demonstrates that involvement in sports can improve the lives of children, especially girls. Female high school athletes demonstrate higher graduation rates; are more likely to do well in math and science; and more often complete their homework and take more honors classes. Teen-age female athletes are significantly less likely to get pregnant as female non-athletes. Finally, involvement in sports has been proven to decrease rates of breast cancer and at-risk behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and drug use (Harvard School of Public Health, 2004; Women's Sport Foundation, 2004).

This ethnography demonstrates how poor, urban African-American girls continue to be discouraged from engaging in sports and physical activity. I investigated girls' lack of access to sports through observations of a class of fifth-grade girls at a large, public K–8 school in Philadelphia and through interviews of 12 fifth-grade girls and 3 teachers. The role of the school in discouraging girls from opportunities to play sports was significant.

In this study, I argue that discouraging girls from participating in sports represents hegemony. Additionally, I demonstrate how the girls in this study internalize and contribute to maintaining this hegemony. One major characteristic of hegemony is that dominance by the group in power is historically maintained. Another characteristic is that those being oppressed contribute to this oppression by accepting their circumstances and supporting those in power through behaviors and beliefs that are traditionally enforced and furthermore, unchallenged. The findings of this study indicate that hegemony is a persistent force in the lives of the girls which inhibits them from accessing athletic opportunities. Furthermore, in shutting girls out of athletics, male domination of sports is maintained.