Einleitung

Sport serves as a crucible for the inculcation of traditional values regarding competence and gender. That this process is well- established in late childhood and adolescence has been widely documented. What is less clear is the depth of the roots of this sport socialization. Though socialization to gender and competence begin at birth within the family, the school, day care, and sport team represent the earliest public organizations that attempt to channel children's behavior according to where they stand relative to others. Within most communities, organized sport starts at about age 5 or 6; a younger child is not seen as capable of socially coordinated action. Our goal is to describe how status and gender roles can become reinforced at the earliest stage of organized sport. Both coaches and peers convey traditional attitudes that girls do not fully belong in certain - traditionally male - sports and that competitiveness plays an important role in sporting activity. These attitudes lead to rewards and training for those who enter as competent, and to relatively higher behavioral expectations for those, notably girls, who are not seen as equally proficient or enthusiatic. Einleitung