It’s 2012 and I can’t believe I’m posting this. I spent my childhood playing on boys teams because girls teams didn’t exist. By the time I started having kids of my own, there was a girls team for nearly every boys team thanks to Title IX. I thought my two daughters had it made.
Until now.
I just watched my daughter play her first and possibly last season of high school soccer. My daughter, Katelynn, has been in love with soccer since the age of 6 when she started playing in the local YMCA league. She played spring and fall every year. This year – her freshman year – she was unbelievably excited to be playing on her first school team. We’ve been listening to her go on and on about playing on the school team for months.
We recently found out that the school has decided to cut the girls soccer program. As of next year, the girls will have to try out for the boys team. Why? I’m not 100% certain as I am still gathering facts. What I do know is this… the boys team had 17 members. The girls team had 24 members. So why are we cutting the girls team instead of the boys? Seems to me there is more interest in soccer from girls rather than boys. Is it to create a larger team for the boys? Why not cut the boys program if there isn’t enough interest?
Let’s do some simple math…
There are 24 members of the girls soccer team, and 6 are seniors. Even if NO incoming freshman try out, you are still left with 19 players for the girls team next year. On the boys side, there are 17 team members with 3 of those being seniors. Assuming no incoming freshman and you’re left with 14 players for next year. Which team stands a better chance at surviving next year? That’s right. The girls do. So explain to me again why we are cutting their program? (Please note I am not in favor of cutting either program.)
Why not co-ed?
This is an excellent question. Those of you who know me know that I will always argue that men and women are equal. And yes, I think there are women out there who can compete with men on a physical level. In professional sports, you are dealing with the elite of the elite who come from all over the world to compete. When you bring in pro athletes, co-ed becomes a bit more realistic and fair.
However, this is not professional athletics. These are kids who happen to be on the same team because of where they live, not by how talented they are. Some are good athletes, some are average. Some are big, some are small. High school teams are often a mix of good coaching and random chance. Co-ed in a sport such as high school soccer is not a fair competition. You’re placing 120 pound girls into a contact sport with teenage boys. The physical difference can be huge.
In my opinion, putting together a co-ed team that will face all-boy teams in their division is not a fair competition. It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. Do you hear me?
What do the boys think?
Ok so I have not personally interviewed any of the boys on the team. My daughter, however, has been on co-ed teams with some of these guys through her YMCA league. While a couple of boys might be ok with having a girl or two on the team, I’m not sure they all think that way. I played basketball on the boys team, so I know first hand that it’s not the same as being with an all-girl or co-ed team. Especially when every team you play against is an all-boys team.
Like it or not, as a girl on a boys team you are a minority in that situation and you will get picked on. You will be teased (mostly by the other team but it can be from your own teammates). You will sit on the bench more often. You will get overlooked more often and sometimes the rough plays will be intentional. It happens.
If you deny that it happens, you live in a fantasy world. The old saying that “a woman has to work twice as hard to be thought half as good” reigns true in sports as well.
And what about boys who have been playing getting cut from the team next year because now there will be double the competition for a spot on the team? Let’s not forget this affects the boys, too.
What about Title IX?
Another good question. Did you know that originally Title IX had nothing to do with sports? It originated out of a gender discrimination complaint and was later adapted to include high school and college sports. So where does that leave my daughter’s team?
If you look at the roots of Title IX, it was started not because certain programs didn’t exist or were exclusive. It started because one woman saw opportunity being taken away from females and given to males. This is exactly what is going on in my school. We’re not suddenly just allowing girls to play co-ed, we’re taking away something they had already established.
On top of that, the boys soccer season is at the same time as the girls volleyball season. Now, several girls will be be forced to choose between soccer and volleyball. These are the only two sports my daughter plays and now she will have to give one up. And what happens to a girl who tries out for soccer, doesn’t make the team and has now missed the volleyball tryouts? Girls and boys sports have “seasons” for a reason – to give both genders ample opportunity to be in a variety of sports throughout the year. With this current situation, girls not only lose their soccer team but could miss out on volleyball as well.
So what would be fair?
If the school wants to continue with having a single co-ed soccer program, then I am going to suggest they mandate the following: Since we already had a full girls team and a full boys team, then we should accept only 12 boys and only 12 girls into next year’s program. So if an influx of freshman boys want to play soccer next year, or if the coach wants to keep all of the boys from last year’s team, that’s too bad. Only 12 boys can make the team.
And since soccer is an 11 player game, then I also think it’s only fair to have at least 5 girls and 5 boys on the field at all times. That is fair, right?
And yes, my proposal seems a little crazy. Isn’t sports about putting the right players in the right positions and working together to win? Of course it is. But since the girls have up until now had an equal opportunity to play on their own team, it’s only fair that we make it a 50/50 split for the co-ed team, don’t you think?
What did I miss?
As I stated previously, I don’t claim to have all information or know all the reasons behind this cut. I’ve talked to parents and coaches after the announcement was made to the team, but nothing has been formally stated or released by the school. Several of us will be attending the next board meeting to discuss this matter. If you have suggestions, comments, previous court cases, or any additional info – I’d love to hear it. Please post them below or if you need to discuss anything with me privately, you may use the contact form to email me.
4 comments
Sarah Ruck
This is kind of like what happened at my high school this past year. In 2011 my softball team won state.. We didn’t lose a game all season, well the baseball team only won 2 out of 20 something games. But yet they took away our softball program and turned our field into a baseball field.. And with basketball this year us girls had to get boy jerseys boy shoes and boy practice uniforms and warmups. Well our warmups never came in and 5 out of our 11 girls broke their ankles durin the season.. Those shoes were not what we should have gotten, our AD at our school is ver very sexist and first care if us girls get anything or any sort of scholar ship for college all he cares about is boy sports.
grace
I think for me, the best solution is to try and get my girls to an all girls school. And I know it may not be possible but I always argue that when girls are alone they outperform each other and all the other boys they meet. If you put girls and boys together the adults are favoring the boys, always, even parents who have girls.
I just watched on Tv the other day a technical school that instituted an all girls setup. This same place was a mixed setup and the girls were like 5 girls to 30 boys. With an all girls set-up well it is packed and they have a waiting list. And one of the girls said…I do not want a boy roughing me up, growling at me when I am trying to reach my best.
It is not a good idea to have a girls in a boys soccer team. I think you should protest with all you got and give them the facts.
I have come to hold the view that boys and girls are different, we are not equal. As girls and women we have a different way of doing things and our way of doing things brings great results and definitely we are not less in any way than the boys, we just do want to be growled upon and spat at…no, because that is not the way we do things.
gretchen
In this case, I think the boys are getting a bum deal, too, tho. Not because they have to play co-ed…that’s not what I mean at all! But now there will be LESS opportunity for boys to make the soccer team because there will be more than twice as many students competing for those spots on the team next year.
So while I am fighting for the girls to get their team back, this cut is also about not taking something away from the boys, too.
Debbie Thoss
Doesn’t surprise me, girls are always dissed, I am a Heavy Duty Mechanic, don’t look like one, i am girly, guys don’t like me in their shops, they are always like that, just tell them to fuck off and play soccor anyway, you can do whatever they can do, they are just stupid little boys that are intimidated by girls, they are dicks, GIRL POWER!!!!!