By: Nate Dudzik
During the last week of class, the major discussion was about men vs. women and the difference perceived between the two. For example, one discussion was the video in class that pitted Lucia Rijker, an undefeated womens boxing champion against Mo Ganyou, an olympic boxer. The popular television show Sport Science wanted to test the theory if Rijker could hit just as hard as Ganyou. Ultimately Rijker's results were better than Ganyou's, but overall we still don't know who is the better athlete.
Many male athletes who compete in sports such as football, basketball and baseball are led to believe that they should be better than women at their sport. In any circumstance if a guy was to lose to a girl in a pick-up game of basketball, everybody watching would taunt the guy with the well-known quote, "You just got beat by a girl." It's a social inequality that really needs to be reexamined because there are a good number of female athletes that have more talent than a lot of males in their respective fields. Does that mean that Serena Williams could defeat Roger Federer heads-up? No. But I can guarantee that Serena could beat a good number of male tennis players.
The main topic that I'm focusing on is the question of whether or not it would be a good idea to let women and men play together. From experience I was teammates with a girl when I played select soccer. Normally by this time/age guys and girls no longer play together on the same team and are put into their own respective leagues. She was just as good as us and just as physical as us. I was glad she played on our team because our coach showed us that he was picking people based on talent and work ethic, not gender. But even at that age, it would still be more embarrassing if she was the one to cross you over or score on you. Even at that age the difference in gender was in our minds. There are still many factors that would make it a bad idea to let men and women play together. Guys don't hit girls, it's how every guy is raised (hopefully) and many male athletes would be hesitant to tackle a girl in football or check a girl in hockey. I don't think Kobe and Candace Parker would be the best teammates in L.A. because there's reputation and ego to defend. Kobe isn't going to let Candace Parker out-stage him or out-perform him, especially with social media nowadays.
Some sports like football and golf would be extremely difficult to mix together. Like previously mentioned, the sheer difference in physicality would make it difficult for women to mix with men in these sports. However, the powerpoint did mention doubles competitions in tennis which I could see working. If this integration ever were to happen it would need to be a very slow process. However, I don't ever see men and women playing together, especially in our 4 major sports.
Hi Nate,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good analysis of the pros and cons of having males and females compete together in sport. I wondered what age you were when you played select soccer - i.e., when you said there was a female on your team. You are right that there is the social perception that guys should not lose to girls and that could lead to taunting. Think of how many professional coaches use comparisons to females as a threat to their players. I think it was Bill Parcells who referred to one of his receivers as "she." And that is the ultimate insult. I think there are ways to play together but the rules probably need to be structured in such a way as to foster cooperation.
This is a nice entry Nate.
Dr. Spencer
Hi Nate,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog about whether females should or could compete with males in the main four sports. I had a similar example where a friend of mine played little league until she was 12, and she competed and was better then many of the other players out there (which were young males ages 10-12). I have also seen girls play on All Star Little League teams. However, jumping from a youth league, or even High school to professional sports is a dramatic change. In my opinion there is slight chance in the top four sports that a female could compete and have great success when playing against top competition. However, if they earn a position on the team they should have that opportunity to compete and play against males. Solid blog entry!
-Brett Creamer
Nate,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great blog entry and raised some good points, as well as examples. I personally never had a girl on my team past the age of 7 or 8 in coach pitch baseball; which at that point we were all on the same level because none of us were very good. However, E:60 and many other papers and news sources have covered the little league pitcher Chelsea Baker. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/e60/news/story?id=5386830 This is one of the rare examples of a girl being allowed to play in a boys league at a later age that I know of. Your comment about Kobe is interesting because of what you said about social media and defending his ego. Remember when Lebron was upstaged by a no name in a pick up game a few summers ago? He was mad that he had the video removed from the internet. I cant imagine what Kobe or Lebron would do if they were upstaged, even if it was Candace Parker.
Derek Zyski
Nate,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your thoughts on whether or not girls should play on teams with guys. I think that it would be somewhat easy to create competitive leagues where guys and girls can play on the same team but I'm not sure it would get the same amount of respect as the other leagues. I also thought it was interesting how you explained how players will be taunted if they get scored on by a girl. When I played club soccer we practiced the same time as the girls team and would scrimmage them at the end of each practice and sometimes mix the boys and girls teams up. A lot of work still got done and I do not see why girls couldn't play with boys.
-Joey D'Agostino
Nate,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I really agree with your points about mixing guys and girls in together. I agree with the Candace Parker and Kobe Bryant point you made and can only imagine what Kobe's reaction would be if he was told Candace would be the Lakers new player. The whole concept of equality makes sense but at the end of the day, I don't think it would work. I also don't understand why these is such a raging debate on this issue. Is there really a problem with women playing together and separate from the men? In my opinion, there isn't and I like the fact that each sex has their own sporting events.
Wes Gates
I completely agree with this post and because of a prime example of when Michelle Wie tried to play on the PGA tour and never made the cut on a PGA tour event. She did make the cut at an Asian tour event, but the difference between the PGA tour and the Asian tour is comparing the New York Yankees to the Toledo Mud Hens. What I don't understand is why Michelle Wie kept trying to make the cut in men's tour events when she wasn't even winning LPGA tour events. Annika Sorenstam was a significant amount better than Michelle Wie and she only played in 1 PGA event unlike Wie who played in 13. I think that both of these female golfers are prime example that when it comes to professional sports, men and women need to be separated.
ReplyDeleteOllie Goss