Dr. Christine E. Haycock, a
surgeon in Newark, N.J., also is
0, star pitcher for the North Bergen
r , LU-bUi oujiuuu teurii, itew
she has been state women s fenc-
evTl'i H ing champion, and has also played
ield hockey, basketball, and golj. A major in the
U. S. Army Reserve, Dr. Haycock spent two years
on active duty and was the Army's first tooman
interne at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Wash
ington, D.C.
I'm tihed of hearing flabby, round-shouldered
women patients complain to me that they have
no energy, feel tense, and need a tranquilizer. I
contend that if more American women went in
regularly for almost any form of athletics or exer
cise, we doctors would see fewer of them in our
waiting rooms.
There are many reasons why women should stop
sitting around and getting soft. Much of their diet
problem is rooted in submerged emotional con
flicts. Recurrent tension and pressures of everyday
life which often lead to chronic overeating
can be released in the excitement of a competitive
game, whether it's golf, table tennis, bowling, or
some other sport.
Such physical activity should be part of a daily
routine, even if it's nothing more than an hour's
swim at the local "Y." It should be fun, giving a
feeling of accomplishment, rather than performed
in a lackadaisical manner.
Women athletes seldom need a tranquilizer. I
know that when I'm out there on the mound pitch
ing a Softball game, I forget my personal problems
and release my frustrations and hostilities.
In my practice, I see many women who suffer
from swollen ankles. Office workers and factory
girls who sit at a desk or bench all day need mus
cular action to prevent or overcome this condition.
Indulging in a sport also gives a woman a good
chance to expand her lungs, and if she's a heavy
smoker it will aid in curbing the habit. And for
those afflicted with insomnia, exercise that leaves
a woman pleasantly tired and relaxed will enable
her to drop of! to sleep more easily.
Even duiiing a normal pregnancy, I believe wom
en can continue to indulge in sports. They can
play golf, for instance, right up to the seventh month
and occasionally beyond. If they're inactive, preg
nant women tend to overeat, become overweight,
and run the risk of developing toxemia.
Recently, I visited a friend who was four months
pregnant. She behaved like an invalid; her hus
band waited on her, hand and foot. "You'll never
be in such good physical condition as you are now,"
I told her. "You ought to get out of that lounge
chair and go back to your bowling."
Which sports are appropriate for the average
housewife or working woman? Tennis utilizes al
most every muscle you have without overdevel
oping any one muscle. Bowling offers enough com
petitive drive so that you can become mad at the
bull when it slips into the gutter. Fencing enhances
2 Brazilian
tennis champion
Maria Bueno
LET'S HAVE
MORE
WOMEN
IN SPORTS
Unladylike? Nonsense,
says this woman
doctor who offers her
prescription for greater
zest, poise, health, and beauty
By CHRISTINE E. HAYCOCK, M.D.
with Theodore Irwin
your sense of balance. Basketball is fine for girls
and for women not over 30 but a player must be
dexterous, swift on her feet, have good wind, and
be in top condition. Golf lures you out into the
open air, strengthens your arm, shoulder, and back
muscles, and helps slim that waistline.
Even calisthenics at home are an acceptable
form of exercise, but generally women find push
ups a dull chore. It's preferable to go to your local
"Y" for a swim or take a slenderizing course with
other women. Walking is of real value only if it's
done for a fair distance, at least a mile each day.
I suspect that many women still abhor the notion
of taking part in competitive sport because of the
stigma that used to be attached to female athletes.
In the past, certain sports were considered unlady
like and the participants too aggressive. As a ic
sult, grace, glamour, and figure have been accen
tuated in athletics for women, as in ice skating,
swimming, and tennis. This prevailing trend has
dropped our women's sports level below that of
many European countries.
We have had some superb women athletes who
have added luster to the world of sports. The late
Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the greatest
women athletes of all time. In the recent Olympics,
Wilma Rudolph was the first American girl to win
three gold medals in track and field. Patty Berg
proved that you don't need a great deal of brawn
to play golf. While Gussie Moran was never a bril
liant tennis player, her famous lace panties made
the sport more appealing to our sex.
Too often doctors hear what we have come to
call the "Teen-Age Lament." I encounter this
syndrome when Mama brings her pudgy 15-year-old
daughter to my office. "Mary is tired all the
time," I am informed. "She has headaches and
backaches, and she has no appetite."
Usually it develops that Mary is a sitter, not a
doer. Her chief interests are boys and clothes. Like
many teen-agers, Mary fears that becoming an
"athlete" will hurt her chances with the boys. On
the contrary, exercise will give her poise, straight
en her back, and help her lose that; "hippy" look.
What our nation needs, in my opinion, are more
opportunities for teen-age girls to enter organized
sports such as Softball, basketball, and volleyball
leagues. It doesn't have to be a compulsory mass
program as in the Soviet Union. Our sports facili
ties for girls should be made so enticing that teen
agers would inevitably be drawn to athletics as a
thoroughly enjoyable activity. This sort of pro
gram requires re-education of our school boards,
and it should be discussed and supported by PTAs
and women's clubs.
I keep thinking of a gentle, white-haired 78-year-old
widow who consulted me in my office a
few weeks ago. On examination I found that her
blood pressure was rather high, which is not un
usual for a woman of her age. Actually, she looked
at least 10 years younger.
What was she worried about, then?
"Doctor," she asked apprehensively, "will I have
to give up my golf?"
I wish there were many more women like her!
COVER:
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March 19, 1961
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