Should girls play on boys teams?
sirlickheralot said:
If the girls can't overcome their physical disadvantages then its a non issue, they don't make the team. If they choose to play and get injured that's their problem. If against the odds some females with exceptional skills are able to overcome their physical disadvantages and compete at the same level I say let them play.
Imagine a 5'6 160 lb guy getting run into the boards by a 6'2 225lb or bigger guy. There's no way someone with such an obvious physical disadvantage could ever compete.
(Theoren Fleury)
I would like to weigh in this subject if I may. Some very good points have been made, now I would like to point out another angle..... hormones..... Having been involved with the community football league for several years now and having had girls on my son's team last year, I can share another side to this debate. If the girls are good enough, great. If they run faster than the boys, (which one of ours did, then great. If they hit harder than most guys, then great. They will make an awesome coup for any girls team.
This is why though, I beleive girls should not be able to play on boys sports teams..... last year, one girl in particular went through about half the team as boyfriends. (these kids are all 10-12 years old). She started with my son but because he wouldn't go to the locker room and french kiss with her, he wanted to play football instead, she dumped him, told him to go fuch himself and moved on to her next quarry. Halfway through the season, she had these boys confused and dazed. They found it harder to concentrate on the game because they were so busy thinking about her. Some of the guys who were older and more wiser than my son, (who was the youngest and by far the smallest), liked the french kissing etc.... and thought about the girl instead of the game, then were left to wonder what kind of mack truck had just run over them when she would get bored with them and move on down the line. (literally). This also caused dissention among the team as they were being played against each other, (which girls are very good at, anybody who says different is either lying or just came out of a cave in the middle east somewhere and has no idea of how things work in this world), and the cohesiveness of the team started to disintegrate. I was quite releived when I found out that this year she moved away and isn't back on my son's team.
My reason for this story is that girls and boys are already so hormonal about each other, it is a very bad mix to have them playing sports together. If the relationship goes south, the team suffers as there are then other issues involved, such as bad feelings and resentment. (Two things that are NOT good for any team). Not to mention, when you don't pay attention, (especially in hockey and football), you'll get seriously hurt. All concentration, focus and effort is needed to play a game and distractions like girls can bring down championship teams quicker than you can say "son....take a condom with you."
If girls were to join in force they would have enough to make girls teams in male dominated sports and the recognition and funding that boys sports gets would also start to be bestowed on the girls teams. Now true that the Canada women's hockey team won the gold and the guys didn't may have meant that on that particular day, they were better as a team, but they were still the women's team and they did just fine in their own element.
I must respectfully disagree with sirlickheralot that a small guy can't even compete with a big guy. The bigger they are the harder they fall. My son is 4"9 and 63 lbs. He was up against guys who were anywhere from 50 to 175 lbs more than him and well over 5 feet tall, but somehow he managed to win best defensive player of the league for last season and earned the nickname "the magician" and "the pitbull", because he appeared out of nowhere at exactly the right time and hit like a bullet train. The big guys might be big, but they are kind of dumb. The little guys are small but they are usually smart, (they have to be so they don't get killed.
) Size has nothing to do with ability, it all comes down to heart and what you beleive, you can accomplish.
On a last note......If you want your boys to win.... don't invite the girls, unless they're cheerleaders. (which is just as competitive and tough in it's own way as football or some other rough and tumble "boy sport"). I know this because I am the head cheerleading coach, (haha I just said "head"
as well as the manager of my son's team and a board executive.
I'm sure there are those of you out there who will say I don't know what I'm talking about, that I'm setting women back 50 years etc..... and Gloria Steinem is probably having a stroke somewhere right now but before you judge me I will state that I beleive firmly in women having freedom and the ability to do whatever they want, but why does it have to be on a boys team? Girls, (and the women behind them), would be making much more of a statement if they actually got enough support to start girl's teams than trying to fight to get a "special few" on to boys teams. Besides, who wants their daughter to get hurt by some offensive lineman zooming in for her because he thinks she's an easy target? Just my opinion. Thanks for reading.
