Quote:
Originally posted by WestMichBlue
Michigan has been a pioneer in girls sports. Long before Title IX we had high school competition and state championship play in several sports. Though Michigan is the 8th most populous state, we rank 4th in numbers of girls participating in HS sports. In the major sports of volleyball, basketball, and softball most schools have full varsity, JV, and freshmen teams and often have to cut to pare down to reasonable team sizes. And college coaches know how to find their way into Michigan as we have hundreds of girls every year moving on to Div I sports.
So we must be doing something right, but these plaintiffs somehow think that our girls are disadvantaged when seeking college scholarships.
Our female basketball players will be hurt the most if the seasons are changed. In the fall they own the gyms, the fans, the media attention, their own tournament. (All, of course shared with boy's football.) If they move to the winter they will have to compete with the boys for coaches, referees, scorekeepers, gyms for practice and games, fans, media, and tournaments. When coaches can not coach two teams anymore, which team will they choose? Some for referees? I have seen 1500 to 2500 seat gyms packed for girls district or regional tournament games; how many will be there when the boy's tournaments games are played the next night?
I'm sorry for the rant; maybe this doesn't belong on an umpire's board. But these people have lost the concept of what high school sports are about. Yes, Michigan's sport seasons are different than the other states; BUT - we have more girls playing HS sports than all but three states. And I think that we rank second in percentage of female participation. Being different isn't wrong - especialy if it works.
WMB
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Sounds to me like this method could be construed as avoiding Title IX as much as enforcing it.
Don't have to provide the girls with equal facilities if they just let them use the same ones the boys use. OTOH, why not have the boys play off-season every other year to make it fair. Or would that interfere with the almighty HS football programs? Is there an ulterior motive here?
BTW, I have never believed in same-type sports teams sharing coaches. As softball umpires, we see what has happened over the years in some areas where the baseball coaches were used for the girl's softball team. Many STILL have no concept that the games and rules are different. Of course, many of us have also witnessed how some umpires cannot equally adjust when moving between the two games.
As far as purists go, basketball is a winter game for one reason, it is played indoors, whether the skies are clear or covered by clouds.
Look what playing HS softball off-season has done to Georgia this year. Girls had to decide whether to partake in the 18U Gold NC or play HS ball. That's a tough call for some young ladies. And, BTW, speaking of scholarships, a young lady is more likely to get an offer through and type of ball before HS ball.
Don't care one way or the other, but being a purists, HS sports should be played in season, no matter what.