Is it appropriate for girls to play on boys teams?

[real green]

To keep another thread from getting derailed.

I am on the fence and can see both sides of the argument. Just curious what the general feeling is for the subject. I have no issue with it up until teams are cutting players. At which point, I start to wonder if it's fair to take a spot from another boy and basically open up a spot for a girl on the girls squad.

Soccer, volleyball, basketball, track, tennis, Baseball/softball etc... If girls are allowed to tryout for boys squad than boys should be allowed to go out for girls squad. There would be zero seperation by sex. You would end up with 4 teams mixed. Instead of a Boy Var and JV plus a Girls Var and JV you would end up with an A, B, C, and D squad. At which point I have a feeling you would end up with many more boys than girls making the cut.

Never quite understood the why argument from the parent I hear so often, "because she wants to." Just like when my son says he wants to play softball at 8yr old, I tell him no. This is after watching his cousin in a Travel Tourney.

I can understand if there is no girl specific option.

[bbrages]

This discussion is all in the context of high school athletics?

[songtitle]

I saw a boy on a youth travel fastpitch team... playing shortstop. We were told that the parents were on a hair trigger to sue anyone and everyone that complained about it.

[Standballdad]

To keep another thread from getting derailed.

I am on the fence and can see both sides of the argument. Just curious what the general feeling is for the subject. I have no issue with it up until teams are cutting players. At which point, I start to wonder if it's fair to take a spot from another boy and basically open up a spot for a girl on the girls squad.

Soccer, volleyball, basketball, track, tennis, Baseball/softball etc... If girls are aloud to tryout for boys squad than boys should be aloud to go out for girls squad. There would be zero seperation by sex. You would end up with 4 teams mixed. Instead of a Boy Var and JV plus a Girls Var and JV you would end up with an A, B, C, and D squad. At which point I have a feeling you would end up with many more boys than girls making the cut.

Never quite understood the why argument from the parent I hear so often, "because she wants to." Just like when my son says he wants to play softball at 8yr old, I tell him no. This is after watching his cousin in a Travel Tourney.

I can understand if there is no girl specific option.

This is an interesting topic. I tend to lean towards not allowing girls to play on teams/leagues that are boy dominated. Not that I think they can't compete, but It opens a whole can of worms and I think long term it would be a detriment to girls participating in sports. At the youth level if both sexes were allowed to participate on any team/league eventually the trend would be to move towards a unisex type approach and the majority of the girls (ones not able to compete with boys) would be left with no where to play. Now at the professional level if a girl can compete at that level, then why not, but what do you do about sports like Tennis or Golf? Do you let the guys compete in the LPGA or WPT?

[Jake Patterson]

To keep another thread from getting derailed.

I am on the fence and can see both sides of the argument. Just curious what the general feeling is for the subject. I have no issue with it up until teams are cutting players. At which point, I start to wonder if it's fair to take a spot from another boy and basically open up a spot for a girl on the girls squad.

Soccer, volleyball, basketball, track, tennis, Baseball/softball etc... If girls are aloud to tryout for boys squad than boys should be aloud to go out for girls squad. There would be zero seperation by sex. You would end up with 4 teams mixed. Instead of a Boy Var and JV plus a Girls Var and JV you would end up with an A, B, C, and D squad. At which point I have a feeling you would end up with many more boys than girls making the cut.

Never quite understood the why argument from the parent I hear so often, "because she wants to." Just like when my son says he wants to play softball at 8yr old, I tell him no. This is after watching his cousin in a Travel Tourney.

I can understand if there is no girl specific option.

I'll let the thread go for awhile... These usually get derailed ... I really don't want to be dealing with antiquated views about the role of females in our society.... so let's keep it focussed on the topic at hand.

As far as my views - I coached girls' basketball for 12 years so I have some perspective....(Also been with my wife for 40 years, have four sisters, and several nieces who were athletes.)

I believe when equal opportunities are not available for girls then let them play. Like the boys they play with and against they will or will not run out of talent at some point. While I have never had a girls team who compete against our boys... I have had several players that would have been outstanding even on the boys team.

Now the problem for some girls is the definition of equal.... We had a girl play LL BB for us this year because our SB program at that level was terrible. She played as well or better than most boys.

[songtitle]

I coached girls' basketball for 12 years so I have some perspective

While I have never had a girls team who compete against our boys... I have had several players that would have been outstanding even on the boys team.

I had 2 girls and a son that played AAU and HSV basketball.

In middle school (6th and 7th grade), the girls are taller and bigger than boys, so this would be true.

After boys have hit puberty (HS), IMO there is not a chance in the world that 99.999% of girls (excluding Maya Moore) could start on a good high school boys team. They would be slaughtered by faster, stronger, and quicker boys. One of my daughters was really good, but she would not have made the boys HSV team. She would not be able to drive to the basket, and her 3s would be blocked.

When you watch a girls HS game, then watch the boys game that follows, you can feel the pace, intensity, and violence of the game is radically different.

[pcarnette]

Oh, boy, this is going to be a fun thread. Here goes...

I have a 10 year-old boy and a soon-to-be eight year-old girl. My daughter is very competitive and is more of a natural athelte than my son. While being around boys only increases her competitiveness, we have stuck to girls-only teams for the most part, with the exception of a co-ed, basketball church league last winter. We will probably continue to do this too. Why? I can't really say. It just feels right?

I've heard a lot of arugements for why girls participate in baseball in our Pony league. Even still, I think there we only had two girls in our 10-team Mustang division this spring. Some argue that there isn't a lot of interest in girls softball in our area and the league isn't very competitive at the 5-7 and even the 8-10 age groups, and others have said that there isn't enough expected of girls in girls-only rec sports. While some of that maybe true, my daughter had a blast dominating in 5-7 girls softball this past season, and it really helped her interest level in softball.

Perhaps it is sexist of me, but I felt bad for these girls in Mustang because I have a hard time imagining that they want to be out there on an island like that. In coach pitch, I feel most boys are still nice enough to be able to hang out with these girls and welcome them as teammates, but I think they start to wonder, "Why are you here?" around 9-10, and by 11-12 they're not very accepting of it in general. Forget skill level, why would a girl want to be subjected to that? What is she or her parents trying to prove? If she's got the skills and it is improved quality of play you're after, find a softball travel team. That's what we'll do if we find ourselves in that situation.

[HeinekenMan]

If girls are aloud to tryout for boys squad than boys should be aloud to go out for girls squad.

ALOUD? Seriously?

[real green]

ALOUD? Seriously?

Corrected, thank you for pointing out my spelling/grammar error. I am sure there are many others. I am a numbers guy. Never did very well in my english classes.

Cheers,

[songtitle]

HineykinMan is on speling watch now.:o

[Bolts-Baseball]

On the youth-sized field it's fine... after that... nah... what's the point?
Unless of course, she throws 90 or hits 400 ft bombs...

[real green]

On the youth-sized field it's fine... after that... nah... what's the point?
Unless of course, she throws 90 or hits 400 ft bombs...

Even than, wouldn't that just be a self serving disservice to the HS softball team. Our local softball is very competitive, maybe even more than baseball which might be influencing my opinion.

Last year we had a "stud" girl in LL that made a big stink about playing for the middle school baseball team. I lost track of it and am not sure where the dust settled. Last I heard there were threats of law suits and all that goes with it. I just have not heard a good argument for the why!!!

The same argument I hear is, "because she wants to, and if she is good to enough to make it than she should be able to."

A perfect example of an early bloomer, she was 5'8" 150ish pounds. She was/is good enough to compete on the 7th grade boys team, but what about the boy that lost his spot to her. Maybe when he hits puberty he passes her abilities, but since he didn't make the cut in 7th grade he lost interest in baseball.

[mudvnine]

HineykinMan is on speling watch now.:o

Et lest hes now gota purpus fer his posts. End hay...you spled "speling" rong!!

[shake-n-bake]

I think it's a bit selfish honestly. If the girl is a good athlete she could be helping a girls team. Forget about wins and losses, but she could help elevate the other girls' game. I think she makes others better in that environment, but I don't see that to be true playing on a boys team.

Then I think you have to look at the argument from the boys that are participating on the team or in the league the girl is in. They really should be at the forefront of any such conversation. Like someone said earlier........t-ball: no problem........LL minors (8, maybe even 9 under): I think boys will be mostly indifferent........after that I'd hope the boys would be tolerant and polite, but I think they do now have an opinion and it's probably not one of real acceptance.

I believe the boys have the right to feel however they do. It's their game. That sounds a bit harsh, but I believe that's the reality of the situation. Girls would, and do, feel similarly when boys cross over into their realm. They see it as a bit of a violation of their social circle. There's a boy in my daughter's cheer organization. He's not on my daughter's team, but she and her friends absolutely hold an opinion about it. They understand that there's not a boys cheer organization. They still don't like it, and this is without a doubt the majority opinion. Still they are tolerant and polite, but really wish this was left as a place where a girl can be a girl absent of boys.

[tradosaurus]

Oh boy am I exicited about this thread. :clowning:

Let's just hope the moderator police don't delete my reply for the umpteenth time.

I will try to stay away from religious reason and limit myself to answers this pagan world would understand.

Topic: Is it appropriate for girls to play on boys teams?

Short answer: Absolutely not!

Long answer:
1) In a competitive environment girls are not physically superior to boys.
2) Boys can't get pregnant
3) It's not appropriate because boys are hardwired to be aggressive and competitive. The boys may feel that they shouldn't play as aggressively when around girls to keep from hurting them.
4) It's psychologically damaging to a girl because it makes her believe she can be and act like a man when she is biologically created to attract a mate and have children.
5) It's psychologically damaging to a boy if a girl (at younger ages) bests him as it makes him feel less than a man (welcome to future marriage)
6) Girls are a distraction once boys hormones start kicking in at about 13 yrs of age.

I would only see an exception if cooking is every classified as a sport.

IMO, I think most girls don't want to play boy sports but it's the parents (aka the mother leveraging divorce over the father) pushing their daughters to play.

I'll stop there because I'm having too much fun.