Nowadays, women’s sports seem to encompass an attire that revolves around extremely ill-fitting clothes, including tight spandex shorts and tops that are impossible to breathe in. Cross country, a popular sport that involves running long distances for both females and males, seems to target just the females when having to do with tight sports uniforms. A majority of the time women are forced to wear spandex that can nearly cut off an individual’s circulation and a skintight tank top that does a great job of making any female runner feel insecure during her race. Running cross country includes the whole idea that runners should feel comfortable enough in their own skin while running so that they do not feel pangs of embarrassment or shame because of their body. Sports uniforms that cling to someone’s skin or hug every inch of their body should not be considered sports uniforms.

It is a bit ironic that females are forbidden from wearing khakis that are too short or too tight during school and yet are coaxed into the never-ending downwards spiral of degrading sports uniforms. Surely, every female can remember the time in middle school where their teachers drilled the idea of “shorts reaching to your fingertips” into their minds.

“It is contradictory that the school controls our dress code and tries its best to care about the length of our shorts but that at cross-country meets I am obligated to run three miles in a uniform that makes me feel self-conscious,” said senior Marion Madaras.

However, professionals and officials truly believe that uniforms affect the performance and success of an athlete. The belief is that tighter uniforms will result in faster times due to wind resistance, less drag and an endless ramble of useless facts. It is ridiculous to believe that eight hundredths of a second are the matter between life and death in a high school cross-country race. These girls are not competing in the Olympics, and several thousands of them are running for the mere feeling of accomplishment and triumph.

In order to preserve the self-conscious feelings of humiliation and discomfort, high schools should begin paying attention to all the sports uniforms that are restricting athletes from fulfilling their athletic goals and dreams.