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Originally Posted by lukealex
From someone who actually does practice with the women's team at the college I go to, I can tell you the women on the team enjoy having us (3) practice with them and us being there improves practice and gives the women on the team a different player to practice against instead of practicing against the rest of the team (14 in this case) all the time. We usually only participate in 5 on 5 drills and when the next opponent's offense and defense is practiced against. The only time we are involved in other drills is when some players aren't practicing that day and we are needed.
I'm not saying the women can't improve without us, if anyone does think this, they need to rethink their logic.
I do not get a scholarship to practice with the women (although it would be nice with rising tuition costs, especially graduate school) and I do it to help improve the women's team and for the enjoyment of playing organized basketball instead of just pick-up games all the time. Practicing with a D2 team is faster, can be more physical, and is more demanding than almost any pick-up game I will ever see at my college.
In my opinion, having men practice with women is a good thing. The women on the team may lose some practice time, but the way people are shuffled at practice is enough that each person on the team practices with everyone else at some point.
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I agree with this. And the heart-warming stories (truly - no sarcasm here) in that first of the two article links BoBo posted of the grey-squad players were moving, and helps to illustrate the good that it does for these people, and how their lives are enriched. Unfortunately, this is not actually a relevant issue, at least when discussing opportunities for women in intercollegiate athletics. It's an interesting area of Title IX that I haven't even heard discussed yet - and like most here, my knee-jerk reaction is to think it's dumb. But when you remove emotion, look at the law, and listen to the pundits decide whether or not it applies to the practice squad, we may find that it actually does. Those in the decision-making circles are a lot more informed and educated on the matter than most of us here (and most of the general public), and will have their reasons (debatable, generally, yes) for whatever they decide to do. I'm really curious as to the inside scoop on how this initiative was started, and who the vanguard is/are. Unfortunately, the link to the NCAA CWA's release on this isn't currently working, and hasn't been all day.