Not Beckoned Technical Foul ???

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Raymond

I was asking a serious question about why you treat athletes differently based on gender when it comes to hitting the floor.

While there are lots of exceptions, forty plus years of officiating, and twenty-five years of coaching of both boys and girls, including my own son and daughters, have taught me that girls and boys often deal with injuries and pain in different ways.

Girls are more likely to cry, to stay down, and are more likely to want a coach to comfort them on such occasions, and usually don't complain when the coach has them sit a few minutes on the bench to compose themselves.

Boys are less likely to cry, and often likely to be up and walking (limping) before the coach gets to them, insisting that they're alright, want to "walk it off, and want to keep playing.

Maybe the difference isn't observed as much at the college level (they're now young women not adolescent girls), but I definitely see this gender difference in my middle school games.

Again, there are lots of exceptions, many tough girls, and many soft boys.

Of course, it also depends on the injury. When girls go down with a knee injury, I immediately think about the possibility of an ACL injury.

Yes, boys can have ACL injuries, but statistics point out that girls are much more likely to sustain such an ACL injury.

The relative risk of ACL injury in women is 3 to 8 times greater than males.