Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This startling piece of news was revealed in these very pages last week: In Pennsylvania high schools, boys are eligible to participate in any girls' sport they choose.
It previously had been believed boys could participate in girls' sports only when that particular sport was not offered to boys at their school.
Not so. The doors are wide open for macho young men who wish to test their athletic prowess against girls.
There might be any number of boys out there who feel the need to compete against opponents that, generally speaking, are smaller, slower and weaker than them. There also might be some boys -- teens being what they are -- who just might think it's a kick to go out en masse and perhaps take over a girls' team.
It's perfectly legal. And perfectly ridiculous.
Five years ago I witnessed such an athletic event. The Woodland Hills girls' field hockey team used four boys in a game against Fox Chapel. Woodland Hills did not have a boys' field hockey team. Two of Woodland Hills' boys -- actually, they were young men -- looked more like they belonged on the football team.
It was disgusting sight, and I'm not talking about the boys competing in kilts. I'm talking about the coach of the Woodland Hills team allowing this to happen. I'm talking about the principal of Woodland Hills not heading this off before it became an issue. I'm talking about the PIAA and WPIAL sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring the issue because of the specter of a costly and possibly losing court battle.
These are the people who are supposed to be watching out for our children. If they are allowing boys to compete against girls and merely shaking their head in dismay, they're not doing their job.
Girls should not have to compete against boys. It is the epitome of unfairness and goes against everything athletic competition stands for.
Of course, there will be yahoos out there insisting if girls can play on boys' teams, then boys have a right to play on girls' teams. That's not even apples and oranges; that's apples and meatloaf.
Does this make sense?
If freshmen are eligible to play on the varsity -- and they are -- should seniors be eligible to play on the freshman team?
Of course, they shouldn't. Seniors would have an unfair advantage in any number of areas over freshmen. Just as boys have any number of advantages -- speed, size, strength -- over girls.
Girls who are athletic enough to compete on a boys' team should be congratulated, much the same as a freshman who can make the varsity. Boys who compete on girls' teams should be condemned, much the same as a senior wishing to compete against freshmen.
High schools should do everything possible to discourage boys from competing against girls and that means taking the issue to court if necessary.
That's what the Ann Arbor, Mich., school district is doing. It's a school district that puts fairness and safety in front of political correctness.
Maxime Goovaerts is 13. He's 5-foot, about 100 pounds and a native of Belgium. He wanted to go out for his middle school girls' field hockey team. The school district said no. When the Goovaerts family threatened a lawsuit, the Ann Arbor School District didn't back down. The matter went to court last week.
George Fornero, the superintendent of the Ann Arbor schools, said: "We're pretty strong in our position that this is a girls' sport. We don't want to get in a situation where we take up slots with boys for girls' teams or the boys physically dominate the girls out there."
This is an administrator with a backbone.
Too bad two Western Pennsylvania school districts didn't have similar gumption.
Pietro Pezzella, a 5-8, 140-pound senior, is a member of the New Brighton girls' volleyball team. Josh King, a 6-5, 175-pound senior, is a member of the Southmoreland girls' volleyball team.
Both of these school districts abdicated their responsibility. Sure, there's no boys' volleyball teams at those schools. So what. Let these aspiring athletes try another sport if the competitive urge is so great in them.
They should not be allowed to compete against girls. This isn't just a fairness issue. It's a safety issue.
In 1999, a Fox Chapel player was sent to the hospital twice in boy-involved injuries with Woodland Hills, which, by the way, has boys on its field hockey team again this season.
No one wants to take on this issue. The schools defer to the WPIAL. The WPIAL defers to the PIAA. The PIAA looks to the courts and doesn't want the expense of a lawsuit.
One of the most positive things happening in athletics in the past 30 years is the way girls and women have been given a chance to compete, just as men have for decades before that. Bully boys and weak-kneed educators should not be allowed to undo this remarkable achievement.
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.)
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