Gender, college athletics and noise

In my observations of a college swim team in a small northern New England town, I have seen several behavioral patterns that intrigue me.

First, male athletes in the program tend to create more noise than the female athletes in the program. During dryland training, the male team can be heard yelling, exclaiming and vocalizing with great enthusiasm. Much of these vocalizations are unclear verbally. It is not apparent to me what the meanings, intentions or emotions are behind these vocalizations. They are simply quite loud and they draw my attention to the person delivering the message.

In contrast, the woman athletes in the program are nearly silent during the dryland training program. They certainly socialize and speak to one another before and after the workout, just as the male athletes do. However, during the training, I have never heard loud vocalizations from the women's team.

I have observed a similar vocalization pattern during the water training sessions. All of the athletes - male and female - socialize and speak to one another throughout the breaks in the training session. However, it is the male athletes who are the loudest and most explosive in their vocalizations during challenging sets, during speed sets and during intense times of training. The woman occasionally cheer on their teammates in supportive and relatively quiet ways. They do so less frequently than the men, though.

Finally, this contrast in vocalization patterns is exceedingly obvious during competitions. In comparing and contrasting the first event of a recent home dual meet, I noticed that the women's relays cheered for one another and received some vocal support from the spectators and their team members. However, the noise level for the men's relays was substantially and noticeably louder. The men on the relays (from both teams) exclaimed loud verbal and non-verbal messages before, during and after the relay. Moreover, these men received louder vocal feedback from the spectators and from their teammates.

Is this sexism in action? Are male sports are more legitimate and more worthy of attention?

Is this merely a simple gender difference expressed through sport? Do men and women just communicate differently and this is readily apparent through their participation on a sports team?

Does this point to males utilizing sport as a way to express aggression and dominance?