Girls playing on a boys' team
By Leah Seftel
Did you know that in an 2011-12 season of hockey about 50,000 girls between the ages of 8-18 registered with USA hockey, and that that number is on 17% of the TOTAL number of boys that registered? The number of girls that make the team is even lower! (a girls team, or a boys team) Girls playing on boys' teams with the right skills can boost their confidence and provide life skills.
If a girl with similar skills wanted to play on a boys athletic team she should be allowed to regardless of gender. According to the article Making an informed decision about girls' participating on boys' teams "There is no physiologic reason why individual female athletes cannot play and compete with males of the same calibre." Which means that a girl that knows how to play the sport, and can play at the same level as the team then there shouldn't be anything wrong if she was playing on that team as the boys. Girls who desire to compete in a boys' athletic team should be allowed to as long as they have similar skills, size and strength as the boys they are competing with and against so therefore can do so safety. (Women's sports foundation) For example if there was a girl played soccer her whole life and she moved to a school without a girls soccer team, according to law she has to be permitted on the boys' team however depending on age, everyone (including boys) can have different skills. According to the text Should my Daughter Play for a Girls' team or a Boys' team? it is proved that "Girls also hit puberty on average, two years before boys so they will be slightly taller and stronger than the average boy". Showing that at a younger age it's not big deal but during pre-teen years it could allow a girl to play better.
Girls participating in boys' teams can lead life skills and builds self confidence. In the article "Giving girls a sporting chance" it proves that "other independent studies have confirmed that girls who play sports score better on achievement test; they also are more likely to graduate from high school, to continue their education, and thus to have greater earning". Therefore if anyone plays on a sports team no matter what gender, they generally have better grades and if they enjoy playing that sport with other people it will encourage them to play more. So telling a girl she can't play on a boys' team could damage the motivation she had to play the sport. A 6th grader named Taylor Nelson who also happens to be a competitive swimmer and soccer, basketball and lacrosse player, says that "I think the boys have gotten good with our playing with them, because we can beat them at stuff and they can beat us at stuff - it goes both ways". (Driscoll) If girls and boys can play together and have fun at recess then it makes no sense how it could possibly be any different at an authorized sport. According to Driscoll, "43 percent of players are girls, so the experiences of athletic competition is increasingly a common denominator between the sexes, helping prepare both boys and girls for the future." So in the future setting of, work, for example there isn't a boys building and a girls building for them to work in. They aren't going to be working on different things based off of gender, they would be working off of their own capabilities.
Those who disagree may state, girls who desire to play on boys' teams should not be permitted todo so because they would lack leadership, exposure to what can be achieved, and the specific needs of a female player. Maybe this is true in some situations.(American Development Model) However, any team regardless of the sexes playing on it can lack of leadership with boys too not just girls. As well as being exposed to what they can achieve can be just simply playing on a team with good players can be enough exposure to set future goals. As far as the specific needs of female players, everyone is different and not every girl is gonna need 'special treatment' because she's a girl.
Girls playing on boys' teams with the right skills can boost their confidence and provides future life skills. Discrimination against girls is a problem and is a ridiculous thing to take playing a sport with the opposite gender away from them because of their gender. Not only is it unfair but it take away opportunities from the girls who have the correct capabilities to have an advantage on the given sport. In the future could you imagine boys being afraid or intimidated to play against or with a girl, because she's a girl? Or just imagine a world in the future where we defeat what society is trying so hard to go against and let everyone do things with everyone such as sports in this scenario.