Is it appropriate for girls to play on boys teams?

[The Uncoach]

Almost four decades after the federal education law called Title IX opened the door for girls to participate in high school and college athletics, a crucial question has remained unanswered: Do sports make a long-term difference in a woman’s life?

A large body of research shows that sports are associated with all sorts of benefits, like lower teenage pregnancy rates, better grades and higher self-esteem.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/as-girls-become-women-sports-pay-dividends/

[Roothog66]

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.

Is it possible that you were once beaten out of a roster spot/job by a woman? As a coach, if a girl trys out for my team and can help me win - she's playing. The best shortstop I've seen all year at 12u (and I've played or seen almost all of the top teams) was a girl playing for the Arizona Warriors. Not only did she make several fantastic plays against us, including a beautiful tag and throw home to get both outs on a double steal attempt, but she also went 4-4 at the plate. I spoke to her coach later who told me all of the top high school softball coaches are already drooling over her and waiting for the day she moves over to softball. They all think the transition will be easy enough.

[Bolts-Baseball]

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.

Wow!?! Really dude...?

Listen to this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0

[leecemark]

1) In a competitive environment girls are not physically superior to boys.
--Prepuberty there is no real physical advantage for boys. Post puberty most girls are definately not going to have the speed and strength that most boys do, but by that time making the team is merit based and if they can't cut it they won't be playing.

2) Boys can't get pregnant
--I don't really understand what this has to do with anything. As far as I know playing baseball is not what leads to pregnancy. Further the vast majority of girls playing on boys teams are young enough that even if this was otherwise relevant it would not be for the ages involved.

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.

--This has not been my personal experience, but I suppose it might be a minor factor in some cases.

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.

--If you believe that is a woman's only purpose then I'm not sure why I'm bothering to attempt to discuss the issue with you. FWIW I think it is psychologically beneficial for a girl to be able to compete (and best if they can) with boys "at their own game". They will be better equipped to deal with boys/men later in life who might want them to think women should always bow down to men. On this issue I'm sure we will find no common ground though.

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).

--I guess they need to get prepared for life in the 21st century.

6) Girls are a distraction once boys hormones start kicking in at about 13 yrs of age.

--They will be a distraction whether they are playing baseball or not. It is a rare teen age boy who will spend more time thinking about baseball than girls.

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.

--I doubt that most parents are pushing their girls to play baseball. In most cases, certainly in mine, they wanted to play baseball because they enjoyed playing in the yard with me and wanted to . The older one lost interest at 9 and I had problem accepting that she was ready to move on to girlier things (she is on the fence about switching to softball next year or giving up the game entirely and that is her decison).

[JJA]

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.

Yeah, let's get rid of their right to vote and roll back the wage scales because of course all they're good for is having babies.

And people wonder why their needs to be gender based laws.

-JJA

[real green]

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0...pay-dividends/

I agree sports are great, but this has nothing to do with girls playing on boys teams.

[songtitle]

And people wonder why their needs to be gender based laws.

trad must be converted or go to jail? huh?

/ this is going to be a weird thread

[real green]

Why???

Someone answer the why?

When I was in HS, no doubt that some of the top girl athletes could have competed on the boys squads.

I am sure it's true at most schools.

If it's OK for the girls than why not the other way?

If you want to argue there is no girls baseball team than you would have to support boys playing on the softball team. That would go over like a turd in a punch bowl.

Again why?

[Bolts-Baseball]

..........

[JJA]

trad must be converted or go to jail? huh?

/ this is going to be a weird thread

No, but we obviously need laws to protect the girls from guys like trad. Heck, even in today's society I have folks telling my daughter she shouldn't go into math and science, she should stick with the humanities. It should be up to her what she does with her life, not other folks telling her what she should and should not go into.

As for the weird thread, that's why we have moderators, who will most likely nuke all of this, for good reason.

[leecemark]

Why???

Someone answer the why?

When I was in HS, no doubt that some of the top girl athletes could have competed on the boys squads.

I am sure it's true at most schools.

If it's OK for the girls than why not the other way?

If you want to argue there is no girls baseball team than you would have to support boys playing on the softball team. That would go over like a turd in a punch bowl.

Again why?

--Well the difference is the girl playing on the boys team is "playing up". The average teenage boy is significantly bigger and stronger than the average teenage girl so it is only the exceptional girl who can play on the boys team while many boys could dominate the girls team. Its kind of like asking why an exceptional 11 yo might be allowed to play with 13 yo, but the 13 yo would never be allowed on an 11yo team - even if he wasn't good enough to compete well at his own age group.
--I do have mixed feelings about allowing girls to play on boys HS teams when there is an equivalent girls team though. With children though I would not see any more of a problem with a boy choosing softball over baseball than a girl choosing baseball. At that age it just about having fun and the physical difference are not significant enough for that to be an issue.

[leecemark]

No, but we obviously need laws to protect the girls from guys like trad. Heck, even in today's society I have folks telling my daughter she shouldn't go into math and science, she should stick with the humanities. It should be up to her what she does with her life, not other folks telling her what she should and should not go into.

As for the weird thread, that's why we have moderators, who will most likely nuke all of this, for good reason.

--Well I am a mod, but not of this forum so my opinion won't be the final one on the subject but I think this discussion is fair enough as long as it doesn't go too far off the rails. Turning a thread where a parent is asking about advise for his girl ballplayer into a discussion about whether she should be allowed to play is a problem. However anybody in this thread knows exactly what they are entering into and need not participate if they don't wish too. That said, everyone should try and stick to commenting on the topic and not the other members in the discussion. BBF rules of civility remain in effect in every thread regardless of the topic.

[real green]

--Well the difference is the girl playing on the boys team is "playing up". The average teenage boy is significantly bigger and stronger than the average teenage girl so it is only the exceptional girl who can play on the boys team while many boys could dominate the girls team. Its kind of like asking why an exceptional 11 yo might be allowed to play with 13 yo, but the 13 yo would never be allowed on an 11yo team - even if he wasn't good enough to compete well at his own age group.
--I do have mixed feelings about allowing girls to play on boys HS teams when there is an equivalent girls team though. With children though I would not see any more of a problem with a boy choosing softball over baseball than a girl choosing baseball. At that age it just about having fun and the physical difference are not significant enough for that to be an issue.

Very good points! I agree with most everything you have said.

[songtitle]

BBF rules of civility

[HeinekenMan]

It is a rare occurrence for a girl to play baseball at a competitive level beyond about age 13. It is even more rare for a girl at that age to be talented enough to make it onto a high school roster. For those reasons, this is a relatively ridiculous topic. Of course, it was never intended to be a serious discussion. It's just an effort by certain people to stir the pot a little more. I have covered hundreds of high school sports teams over the past 15 years, and I have seen only one girl playing a boy's sport at the high school level. And she was a the placekicker for the football team. Don't waste your time on this thread. You're only feeding the trolls by giving them the attention they need.