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As I said above, we agree on most points, including your lack of desire to ref girls ball being valid. I do not question the reasons you offer in your most recent statements - there are clearly differences between NCAA men and women, differences between boys and girls at HS level in terms of athleticism, style of play, pace, etc. Every ref should decide what levels they wish to officiate - I may not have understood that two years ago when I first joined this board, but I clearly do now and accept it.
I also agree that the girls frequently receive second tier coaches, play with minimal game administration and fan support, and have parents that are afraid their baby will get hurt. I fight that last tendency as a girls AAU coach constantly, but I tell girls and parents repeatedly that high level basketball is a physical game and bodies will go flying and, at times, players will get injured (I have three players with broken bones, plus one badly sprained ankle and one sprained knee since September!). If they can't handle this aspect of the game, they need to find a non-contact sport!
My objection was merely to your representation initially that the girls game has no structured offense, etc, as well as your later statement that "Girls basketball in general stinks." I do not think that what you have said since making those statements is at all in agreement with those early statements, and I agree with most of what you say in your later posts. Girls ball at times stinks (so does boys, though probably not as often) and some girls teams are poorly coached,unorganized, etc - so was my son's boys middle school team (which was coached by a guy who knew the game but had not paid his dues either - maybe he will learn and move up). But girls basketball frequently does not stink and is very organized - it may not be what you want to ref, but that has to do with the athleticism, style, and pace of the game, not its quality.
I have never said you were anti girl, just anti girls ball, and I have seen little in your posts to change this opinion - so be it if we differ. However, I would never suggest that my son's school should not have a boys basketball program or that the boys learned nothing nor gained nothing from their experience, even though they probably looked as bad as the worst girls teams I have seen (except for the talent of the participants). It was some of the worst hoops I have ever seen, but having no program at all would have been far worse. You state a belief that Title IX created a large number of inferior basketball programs. I infer from much of what you said I your initial post about the weak team you saw that you believe that these programs should not exist. I believe they should exist and need to be improved.
I think that this is a fundamental difference that reflects your anti-girls basketball bias and my pro girls basketball bias. I should add that I came to girls ball thinking many of the same things you appear at times to think about the quality of play. I first swore that I would only stay until I got a good AAU boys team or a MS boys team. I have stayed because I found those early opinions to be wrong. Working with these kids has been great, and they have proven much more coachable than many (not all!) boys. On top of that, I am working in a great organization which provides terrific support.
We have a lot of new officials who may find the girls game very rewarding to officiate, and may decide that an early option for doing varsity ball is going the girls route. I presented the opposite point of view from some of the statements in your early posts (listed generally above). I believed (and continue to believe) that such statements do not reflect what is happening in girls basketball. I sincerely hope that the girls game can have more officials of the type who are serious enough to frequent these boards, as well as continue to improve the caliber of coaching across all districts. And if it is not for you, I am completely sincere in saying don't go near it, don't ever ref it - there are plenty of other options out there for you. But if you choose to ref a girls game here or there, please don't feel compelled to put it down by saying it "in general stinks."
[Edited by Hawks Coach on Dec 19th, 2001 at 05:30 PM]
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