I remember a few gender moments
participating in youth sports. I know that when I was in Kindergarten through
second grade there was co-ed baseball through the grade school that I went to.
There was also co-ed baseball locally in Springfield Township. I remember
playing with my cousin who is a year younger than me in the Springfield
Township league. Some boys on our team would pick on her because she was one of
two girls on our team. She was my cousin so I stuck up for her since she was my
family. I also remember watching my sister play youth sports as well and I
would practice with her teams and guys on her co-ed soccer teams would say that
I was better than her and I know that made her feel uncomfortable. I felt bad
for her but I just wanted to be able to be involved in what she was doing as
well. I think that my youth sport experience would have been different if I was
the opposite sex. I think I would have always wanted to play with the boys when
I was younger, especially if I was at the same skill level as males because I
would want to be challenged. I know I would have gotten picked on, but if I was
beating them they would not have been able to say much and I would have put my
focus on beating them.
I know I
could have played volleyball as a male, but there aren’t really any
opportunities in the area to do so. If I were a female I would have loved to
play volleyball. I remember playing in gym class, and I really enjoyed playing
in gym. I know men’s volleyball is more of a west coast sport for men, but it
would be nice to see it make its way to the mid-west and east coast. I know
that Springfield High School won a boy’s state volleyball championship in 1990,
but the team soon could not be funded anymore and was cut from the high school.
I do not think I would have wanted to play softball if I was the opposite sex.
I think that softball would have been very difficult, and everything is so
close I feel like it is very dangerous as well.
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteGrowing up I played many different sports, but t-ball is the only one that was heavily co-ed based. Soccer was such a popular sport in my area that they had enough teams for girls to have their own league. So I agree with you when you talk about co-ed baseball being something that you participated in. My coach for t-ball was actually my dad and my best friends mom, so I was taught how to play by a male and a female which was the only time that I had a female coach. It was a great experience, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed that experience when I was an older kid.
Volleyball is always a sport that I have enjoyed playing as a male. During gym class in middle school is when I learned how to play and had fun with it. I remember going out to the beach with my family and friends and we would play beach volleyball until sunset. That is definitely a sport that I would have played had I been a girl because it was so popular in my area. I always loved playing sports with friends, so I know that I would have had a lot of friends playing volleyball. Softball, is a sport that I would not have played because baseball wasn’t my thing. Once t-ball was over I didn’t have as much fun with it, so I don’t think I would have played softball as a girl.
Brian Kochheiser
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteYour post is not the only one that talks about how if you were a female you would have played volleyball, especially because there were not many opportunities to play men’s volleyball. That is interesting to me because my high school offered both male and female volleyball and many schools in my area offered it also. We did not have a recreational league, but a lot of athletic guys tried out for the team and were able to pick up on the sport quickly. I’m from Pennsylvania though, so I find it interesting that Ohio does not offer men’s volleyball. It does make sense that guys would like to play volleyball if they were female because I know that if I would have been born a male, I would have definitely tried football. I definitely think that if given the opportunity, each gender would play the opposite gender’s traditional sports.
Nicole Zawislan
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteIn my post for this week I also mentioned that I played on the same baseball team with a girl. However, I was not related to her. Both of our female teammates got made fun of based on their gender and that is unacceptable. My teammates never made fun of my female teammate because their was always a level of respect towards her. I honestly do not know if that would have been the case if she was a bad baseball player. I feel like childhood and more specifically teenage years can be tough for some people. Teenagers tend to make fun of people for being different and their harsh words can cause a lifetime of pain. Many people do not fully realize the consequences of their actions until adulthood.
Corey Krupa