[Rick Durkee]

Before becoming an official, I coached both boys and girls varsity sports (basketball and softball) for about ten years. I am going to support what others have already said, but try to connect the ideas.

I think there is one big differences, and that is the amount of time the boys participate outside of the season and practice time, including watching games on television.

Boys play a lot without somebody coaching them. They become more creative and find moves and styles that work for them in pick-up ball. This goes a long way toward explaining why the boys games look different from girls games. Boys demonstrate a larger repertoire of skills and moves and individual flexibility, and the girls try to follow the coach's guidance, which looks more "fundamental". Coaches ask boys to stop doing things that have made them successful "on the playground" because they may not work in a more structured game or doesn't fit into the coach's "system" or team concept. They have developed habits. They are resistant to change and more difficult to coach. Boys watch more hoops on television. They try to emulate players, echo things that announcers and analysts say, and think they know more than their local coach or official because the heard it from somebody associated with an NBA game.

As much as I hate to say it, the average girl may be more coachable because she has lower self-esteem than the average boy (at least with regard to athletic ability). This makes girls more coachable because they are more apt to believe that the coach knows more than they do.