Recent growth of sport psychology research has led to studies of the attitudes of women in sports. Using the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Sport Competition Anxiety Test with 736 male and female subjects, one study found that: (1) Males with a masculine self description had the lowest levels of sports anxiety; (2) The "feminine" males had a very high level of sports anxiety; and (3) All females, regardless of sex role endorsement, scored at about the same level. Another study of female high school volleyball teams found that, regardless of the subjects' age, sports experience, and team status, masculine characteristics were attributed to both male and female team coaches. Schema theory (a branch of cognitive psychology that accounts for mental structures that represent internalized knowledge and interpretation) can be used to interpret these findings. Since all athletes have learned the ubiquitous schema that sports are masculine, it follows that males with feminine self descriptions would have higher levels of sports anxiety, and that females, conditioned to think of sports as masculine, are all equally anxious to satisfy their sex role schema. This rationale provides some answers for questions about psychological responses to physical education and about students' role expectations for coaches, but more investigation in these areas is needed. (FG)