Why Coed Competitive High School Teams Should Be Banned - Part 2
Montour High School is one of many high schools that have a few coed competitive sports teams. The more popular sports have both women’s and men’s teams, however, golf and other sports like it are not popular enough to have teams for both genders. Every high school sport should have the opportunity to include both men’s and women’s teams because many problems come from having coed sports.
Coming from a female perspective on a men’s golf team, Sarah Vietmeier discovered that there were many reasons that have developed over the years to prove why competitive coed sports should be banned. Female high school athletes not receiving equitable opportunities to participate in their sport can lead to mental health issues and prevent them from advancing in their sport.
According to the NCAA about equality for athletes competing in sports, “Participation: Title IX requires that women and men be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports. Title IX does not require institutions to offer identical sports but an equal opportunity to play”. (NCAA, How is Title IX applied to athletics?)
Even though Montour High School has given student athletes the opportunity to play, Montour did not provide equal opportunities for Sarah to participate in her sport. She has always competed in golf matches with men and never played with a girl because she was the only girl on the team. The only time Sarah would compete against girls would be during the individual tournaments at the end of the golf seasons.
Sarah would have enjoyed having a team to go further down the competitive route. She had the opportunity to compete individually, however she did not have the opportunity to compete with a girls team and have a chance to win or go all the way to States or WPIAL’s. Sarah wanted to be given the chance to grow as a golfer individually and with a team.
Conservatives feel this is not a big issue because Sarah was able to compete. They would only see this as an issue if she was prohibited from competing. They think that student athletes, like Sarah, are already treated equally and have the opportunity to compete individually. However, students, like Sarah, did not have the opportunity to compete with a "team," and do not receive the same treatment that other high school female student athletes acquire. Not having a women's team creates mental health and personal issues for the female athlete competing on a coed team.
According to Sisterhood in Sports: How Female Athletes Collaborate and Compete, “In the teen years, there is a strong desire for cooperation and connection - and females primarily connect through talking and sharing the intimate details of their lives. Imagine, today over 3.2 million girls in the United States play high school sports. They relate and connect in an emotional way. This verbal bonding is essential to girls in sports and life. Words and the details they express solidify girls’ connections with others. “Half of all girls who participate in some kind of sport experience higher than average levels of self-esteem and less depression.” Their talking may help them to be less inclined toward depression. Without it, they cannot thrive - which is why teenage female athletes need best friends who support their involvement in sports, whether their best friends are athletic or not.” (Page 20, Joan Steidinger)
Every day Sarah would dream about having a group of girls that are not only your friends, but a sisterhood that you built that would always be there for each other. This created her mental health issues. Always living inside your head, having yourself as your only friend. When you only have yourself, you start to wonder why you are alone, leading to depressing thoughts of trying to understand why you are not good enough for people and yourself.
Sarah has had a rough high school experience trying to make friends. Being on a men’s team has taken away the advantage of finding girls to be friends with. When you are on a girls team, you start as teammates, then build a further connection. Once you have this connection, being a teammate is no longer, and you are now something more. After that bond is made, the whole team will do whatever it takes to make everyone succeed individually by helping everyone improve their game. When you do not have a team that works well, it becomes a selfish game of seeing who can be on top, never supporting the other's achievements. Thus, bringing everyone down, including yourself.
According to Transgender Women in Sport, “One of the main arguments against allowing transwomen to compete in female categories is that it is unfair. Specifically, the argument is that transgender women have an unfair advantage since they have an exceptional amount of testosterone that supposedly makes them perform better than cisgender women (Schultz 2011). Since males are, on average, faster and stronger than biological women (Ziegler and Huntley 2013, 474), this argument suggests that transgender women will be unfairly advantaged if they are allowed to compete in female categories.” (Page 3, Andria Bianchi)
Stated above, Sarah was the only girl on a men’s golf team. Additionally, her coach would only schedule matches with other high school men’s golf teams. This presented an issue. Competing with people that are not only stronger and better than her, she was always looked down upon, and her skills and abilities were never acknowledged. Thus, creating an unfair position by not knowing where she stands competitively. Sarah's mental health was already decreasing as it is without supporting teammates to talk to. Adding the problem of feeling less than everyone creates a stronger mental health decline.
This is the same with transgender women competing on a female team. Transgender women, who originally were men, biologically are stronger, faster, and better than females, giving rise to an advantage for them to compete. Conservatives would say to kick them off teams all together because they have an unfair advantage. However, times are changing, and we should support them and give them the equality to compete individually and with a team. In the end, they identify as females and should be treated as such and fairly.
Sarah was able to play from the women’s tee boxes on the golf course. However, women play a lot differently than men, so distance was not an advantage. Women statistically shoot higher scores in golf than men. It is the same with every sport. Women’s and men’s teams of any sport do not have the same exact results.
Sarah's teammates would say to her, “Wow, you have a huge advantage on the course, so why do you still shoot higher than everyone?”
Sarah's response, "Girls still do not carry the ball as far, therefore the distance of my tees does not matter." The reason why there are different tee boxes on the course is to make it equal, not an advantage.
Having a girls team for any sport would make females, like Sarah, succeed higher mentally and physically. It would increase the statistics of female athletes across high schools in the United States, knowing a women's team is waiting for them to present their abilities and skills.
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