[bbcoach7]

Originally Posted by tomegun

Why is it that most of the strange situations discussed on this site involve a girls game? I'm not pointing fingers at the officials or the players, but it just seems like things like this happen with girls games more than boys games.

I've coached girls for 9 yrs, and it didn't take long to conclude exactly what tomegun observes. I think I figured out why, and I've never heard this theory before. I've come to believe that the reason girls will "snap" or do something stupid that could (and sometimes does) cause injury is because there's very little chance of getting punched in the face for doing something stupid or aggressive like there is with boys.

Girls come up playing ball under direct supervision of an adult. With rare exception, girls don't play ball at recess, at the park, or in the yard after school; all places where direct supervision by adults is minimal or non existant. Boys grow up playing ball in all these minimally supervised places. When I was 12 yrs old playing pick up ball, if I shoved an airborne shooter into the basket support pole, chances are I was going to get punched. I developed a respect for my opponent, not becasue it was ethically and morally correct, but because there was consequences for doing something stupid. Girls never develop that basic survival respect for their opponent because they never play under the threat or possibility of getting punched in the nose as a consequence for their actions. That's my theory.

Girls will barrel roll through an opponents legs when chasing a ball toward the sideline or endline and an opponents body is btwn ball and barrel roller. Girls will take eachothers legs out on a layup attempt, making no effort to go for the ball. Girls will pinch (purple nurple style) eathother in the torso area when screened. Girls will run their momentum through an opponent, pushing her into the stands or into a close wall on an and line, when they could have taken a slightly different angle, or controlled their momentum slightly to lessen the impact. All the while idiot parents in the stands are yelling, "Nice hustle." Boys learn at a young age a healthy respect for not doing these things. ANd if they do, their will sometimes be punches thrown even in an officiated game.

[QUOTE]One thing I always pregame before a girls game is their "instant on" behaviors. A lot of time, you can sense trouble brewing in a boys game and do something to control it. But many times girls just snap... [QUOTE]

Absolutely true, last night one of my players was punched with an open hand square in the forehead, it was like a right cross punch, but with palm of hand instead of fist. My player (small guard) was defending had just switched onto a post player and was in front of the basket in the lane trying to hold poor (behind) rebound position. As the rebound was secured away from my sm guard, the post player turned around (she had inside position) looked my guard right in the eye and punched her betweenh the eyes. What was the provocation? My guard says she did body up from behind and had leveraged the top of her thigh under the post players back side, moving her forward a little.


2 yrs ago, this same guard (Sr now) had just stole the ball at mid court from the opponents point guard and was taking it to the basket for a layup. The girl she "picked" caught up from behind and ran straight through my guards front leg which was extended in the air as she released the ball. My guard flipped in the air before landing, came down with her hand/arm extended to break her fall and broke a bone in her wrist. The defender never raised her hand to go for the ball, just ran through my players extended front leg. As I was watching it on video afterwards, I noticed that about 3 posessions before the injury, my same player drove the lane where a help defender stood waiting with good position and her hands straight up over her head. My player had a good angle to get past her. At the last second, the defender took a tiny step toward my players path and threw her hip out to the side, making contact with my players hip sending her flying head over heals out of bounds.

I mention these last two examples because they are the kinds of stupid actions boys learn not to do at an early age, or you might get punched. While it's true that girls are less likely to punch someone in the first place, basketall is a whole different social experience when there's always an adult with a whistle present. With extremely rare exception, when girls play basketball, there's always an adult right there.