Throughout the past week in class we have discussed whether
or not sport should be divided up based on gender. After class discussion and reading this
current article, sport should be divided up based upon gender but until a
certain age.
Growing up playing just about every sport you could possible
think of, at a young age I had girls on just about all of my teams.
From baseball to basketball, bowling to
soccer we all played on the same field, court and lane. At a young age it
should be okay to play a sport side by side with the opposite gender.
At that age sport is just about introducing
it to the youth and getting them active. Also, the skill level and physical
ability is predominantly about the same give or take a couple very gifted kids
which most likely are already in an advanced level game.
However, when youth becomes ages of seven
eight or even nine is when it becomes a different issue.
At this age this is where each gender starts
discovering who they actually are.
Around this age is where I believe sport should be divided
up based upon gender. This is where youth begin to develop their physical
ability as well as their skill ability.
The nature of male sport is completely different
than the nature of female sport as well as the way it is socially accepted.
For example, It is seen as “okay” or
encouraged for males to fight or be very physical in sport, i.e. “Why do most
fans go to hockey games?” “Why do most fans watch Nascar?” However, on the
other hand most fans watch female sport for the execution of the game, they
take the techniques and master them.
For
example, I remember when I was in the 8
th grade and it was always a
big deal when the guys team got to scrimmage the girls team. It always made the
guys team very made because 75% of the time they would beat us because they had
proper technique and would dominate the game, and we would always try and use
our physical ability to try and beat them.
I also remember our coach telling us to rough
them up a bit or play more physical, but whenever this would happen it would
really fluster the girls team.
Based on reading the article and comparing it to my personal
experiences and things that I have seen and noticed in sport I believe that
sport should be divided up once youth reaches the ages of seven, eight, or even
nine.
John,
ReplyDeleteI agree that sports should be divided by gender. In my opinion it is no different than dividing sports up in age. Although you may have the same gender those in charge separate it by age due to differences such as size and maturity. So when talking about gender we must understand although we are equal it is not always physically fair to have no barriers.
One thing that interested me was you recommending permitting males and females to play together up to the age of nine. I'd like to take this even farther and say that sports could be integrated until the sixth grade. In most schools this is the beginning of middle school and most students are realizing differences among each other and among sex. By this time children have played sports together the most of their childhood, so in growing up they have that sense of equality for each other from some many years of playing with one another. The only issue that could arise with waiting until the sixth grade is physical differences. There are some children who will still grow quicker and be bigger, but the flip side is in later years are that sports are competitive. Whether or not parents want to allow their children to face this at an early age is the question.
Sincerely yours,
DeleteGreg Gantt
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Greg's suggestion to encourage children to play together until 6th grade. Of course, I believe it may differ based upon the sport, but as I mentioned in class, I have seen girls compete against boys in tennis until 14 or 16. I wanted to ask about your coach telling you to rough up the girls' team and play more physical - did the girls' coach know about that? I wondered how s/he would have responded.
Dr. Spencer