A twelve year old girl kicks a whole lot of butt in the game of basketball. Jamie Nared has been playing with the boys team and is probably one of, in not the best player on their team. But for reasons that are ultimately stupid she's being kicked off the team. Neal Frazer, who is the head of this Hoops organization said, "...the problem was the boys were playing differently against her because she was a girl. They'd been taught to not push a girl, so they weren't fouling her hard, and the focus had shifted from playing basketball to noticing a girl was on the floor with them."
He should resign immediately and the parents who complained should be ashamed of themselves. If she is good enough to play with the boys then she should, end of story. She can't play with the girls her age because, well, in one game the score was 90-7. And she can't play with the older girls because, well, older girls talk about things that a twelve year old probably already talks about but shouldn't.
I should also point out that the other boys who play with her seem fine with it. Only parents could be this stupid.
The Rational Moderate
6 comments:
Though I agree that the girl should be allowed to continue to play while the Hoops organization figures out how to grow up, I, also, can see that within a year the girl will be old enough to play with those naughty older girls and then none of this will matter.
But meanwhile, about those older girls, the reason you gave for her not being allowed to play with them was not in the news story. Did you have some other source? I taught a Sports as Literature class one year where a lot of the students were actually star athletes. One in particular was a champion softball pitcher who had been asked the previous summer to join a college age women's travelling team. She experienced her first contact with lesbianism there.
And finally, about the administrator being a jerk. His organization is a business. If the rules of his organization state a policy that the parents who pay his salary want him to enforce, he has little say in the matter. The parents while being jerks are still just being little league parents. But I'd willing to bet that by this time next year that rule will have been changed. Probably by the very guy who had to enforce it this year.
rhbee - thanks for posting!
It's true that given enough time this problem will go away, but I would rather they set a precedent now so that this won't be an issue in the future.
The reason about the older girls is more an extrapolation of possibilities for her continuing to play. She can't play with the girls her own age because it ends up just being practice for her and boring for the rest. That leaves the older girls. Here's Shakesville's comments on it:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/05/keep-up-with-boysbut-dont-be-better.html
And as I alluded to with the comment about things she already knows, I don't necessarily think that solution of playing with the older girls is as bad a one as some might think. But I'd hate to see this as the solution when there seems to be a perfectly viable one already in place: her playing with the 12 year old boys.
About the administrator, I thought jerk was a pretty mild insult which is why I used it. But I don't think this organization is a business in the strictest sense and so I would hope would have priorities that are more than maximizing profits. And despite the personal hardships it might cause him, I think the administrator should still do the right thing and let her play. I reserve the right to be idealistic.
A world without idealists, I don't think so. It's just that we've become so enamoured of name calling that for me the words loose their steam.
Another aspect of this, thanks for the link BTW,is that in our haste to make the world correct for this one girl we are at risk for making her think that this is really all about her and her individual importance. For me it's about the principle of equal chances for everyone. She just happens to be the current symbolization of it.
I completely disagree. I see no reason here why this girl should be playing basketball on a team of boys. At that age, or any age for that matter, a girl has no place in a boys locker room. And vice-versa. She cannot get her own locker room because then she is not bonding with the team/ hearing the coach's instruction. And she cannot share because a twelve year old girl should not be changing in front of boys, as well as seeing boys change. It creates a very uncomfortable situation for all. It is very unfortunate that she is better than the girls competition at this age, but such is life. There are alternatives. How about a travel team, where the competition may be higher? Or perhaps allowing her to practice with the boys team until she enters high school. Boys and girls are different and should be treated as such.
Anon, you probably mean well but on the one hand you are saying there's no way she should be allowed to play on the boy's team and the other hand you say she should be allowed to practice with them.
Meanwhile, aside from a tv show, coaches don't coach in the locker room. They coach on court or in the team room.
Apparently, you don't play basketball yourself so you don't know that everywhere the ball bounces these days, we all play together. Boys, Girls, Men, Women - mixed teams are as easy to find as apple pie in the fall. And as every good coach will testify competition is good for the sport no matter where which sex is providing it.
Anon:
Umm, at that age and at that type of organization there is no locker room. You show up in uniform and you leave in uniform.
And even if there was a locker room (which I want to stress there is not) why would she not just use the women's rather than the men's?
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