Sport Today

Coachk here ...asst. coach Jeffersontown, KY

We played Arizona twice in the Senior League World Series, losing 4-2 and
3-1. They have a good team and very supportive group of parents that
followed them all along the way.

The Arizona "boys" are very good athletes , but for that matter so were
their girls.

This was our first trip to the World Series and our girls were placed in a
very awkward set of cicumstances.
A boycott was proposed by the Florida coach and all but the Canadian coach
 the other team with a male player) agreed that this was the proper course
of action needed "to save Little League Girl's Softball"
After meeting with our girls we too decided to honor the boycott
But on game day ( We drew Arizona in our first game) We decided to play . We
decided this because our girls wanted to play in the Senior League World
Series. An honor which they worked all summer for.
It did not matter if they won or lost, it just mattered that they be
rewarded for all of their hard work.

Their reward: A chance to compete for the Senior League World series
Championship.

And we did and we are proud of it.

We are proud of our accomplishments this year and  we are determined not to
let politics spoil our "special summer"

We have no solutions for the problems facing the "girls" program in LL
softball.

We just know that we played more games than any other team in the Senior
League World Series because we did not "girlcott", and next year  we plan on
competing again. if there are boys playing we will adapt,adjust, and do the
best we can

This is the overwhelming sentiment of the girls softball players from
Jeffersontown, Kentucky Little League  Senior All Stars

Kentucky District 2 champions
Cental Regional Champions

Coachk

www.eteamz.com/jtdiamonds

Boys Cause Uproar in Softball

.c The Associated Press

 By AMY FRANKLIN

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - The Little League Softball World Series is in an
uproar this year because boys who joined a girls team are playing in what
has traditionally been an all-girls event.

Parents, teams and tournament officials say the five 16-year-old boys from
Arizona have an unfair physical advantage, and may even pose a danger to
girls. Some teams are threatening not to play the team, and the tournament
director himself is protesting.

``It looks like they stacked the deck. Those boys are huge,'' said Val
Maslauskas, a parent from a Massachusetts team whose players wore
mouthguards to protect themselves in a 10-2 loss to the Arizona team
Wednesday. ``We're trying for equality for these girls and this is not
equal.''

The crowd erupted in cheers when one of the boys was thrown out at second
base and booed at a collision between an Arizona boy and a Westfield girl
at first base.

``They made catches in the outfield that no girl could have gotten to,''
said Kelly Popko, who played third base for Westfield.

Little League Baseball Inc. made its softball and hardball divisions
non-gender specific in 1974 after losing lawsuits filed by boys demanding
to play softball, spokesman Lance Van Auken said Wednesday.

The first girl played in the Little League Baseball World Series in 1984.
The Arizona boys are the first to play in the softball series.

``Little League's preference is that the softball division be for girls,''
Van Auken said. ``It would be nice if there were a legal solution to it.''

Richie Reyes and four other boys signed up for the girls team after their
usual summer baseball league disbanded. He doesn't see what the fuss is
about and says the girls' team needed more players.

``We were all brought up to believe that an athlete's an athlete,'' he
said.

Four teams have indicated they won't play the team. A Philippines team had
originally threatened not to play, but players changed their minds and
wound up beating the boys-and-girls squad 3-2 Tuesday night.

Describing an ``undercurrent of unhappiness,'' tournament director Bud
Vanderberg said he will take the issue to the national Little League board
of directors next week.

``I will do what's in my power to change this to make sure it's all girls
playing in this tournament,'' he said.

AP-NY-08-16-00 1818EDT

Fla Team Forfeits Game Vs Coed Team

.c The Associated Press

 KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - An all-girls team from Florida forfeited its game
Friday against an Arizona team playing with five boys, putting the coed
team into the championship round of the Softball World Series.

The Arizona team will play a team from the Philippines on Saturday
afternoon in the championship round. The Florida team will play against a
Kentucky team Saturday for third place.

Arizona shortstop Richie Reyes said he doesn't understand why everyone has
gotten so riled up about his team's entry into the Big League Softball
World Series.

``Girls can do whatever they want, play football or baseball, but the
second a guy tries to do the same thing, it's a big deal,'' said Reyes, 16,
one of five boys playing for the Arizona squad.

In the southwestern United States, Reyes said, it's fairly common to find
softball teams like his that have boys on the team because there's a
shortage of girls to play.

But the Jeffersontown, Ky., team, whose loss Thursday was their second to
Arizona this week, feels differently about boys on the roster.

``The strength and the power that they have, it's not fair,'' Donna
Mullins, whose daughter plays for the Kentucky squad, told the Kalamazoo
Gazette. ``It would be different if they filled in their holes with the
boys and played their girls. They had three girls on the bench yesterday.''

AP-NY-08-18-00 1740EDT

i agree with the idea behind this. why can a girl go and play football while a
boy cant play softball?? it is soooooo hyocritical(i dont know if that spelling
is correct, oh wel)

at the same time, I would have forfeited a 16u game that had boys on it as I
dont think its right. I like the idea of telling the boys they can play, but
deep down hoping they would see its wrong. doesnt make much sense does it??  i
guess the difference is a girl that wants to play football cant play in a girls
league, as there are none that im aware of. while a boy can play baseball and
stay with the boys.

corey

Several schools (High School/J.C's)  have stopped their annual softball game of
girls softball team vs. boys baseball team due to serious injuries that usually
were the result of a (girl) pitcher standing 40 feet away and being hit  in the
face/head by the  male batter, who-- like it or not, according to the physiology
books , is  more likely to have the build/muscles/weight  etc.  that can cause
these injuries (if he gets  hold of a pitch).    It's not hypocritical at
all--just physiology.

Sharon

Sharon,

I'm wondering about the competitive level of the LL championship
softball teams vs. ASA championship teams at the same age level, and how
these LL badboys would fare against a hotshot 16-year-old ASA pitcher.
If those LL pitchers are lobbin' 'em in there, then they're going to get
hurt, no question. If the ball is zippin' by the plate at 60+mph,
however, different story.

David

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

We went over this some last year with the team from New Mexico.  

This is a "damned if you - damned if don't" situation.

We, parents of female athletes, have fought long and hard to have our
daughers be able to play on boys baseball teams when there isn't a
girls team available.  In Minnesota, girls played and still play on
boys' hockey teams.  There are several female wrestlers -- wrestling
boys.  There are football teams with girls on them.  I'm sure the list
goes on and on.  Girls on boys swimming teams? Diving teams? Rodeo?
Basketball? Soccer?

The Little League doesn't have to abide by any Title IX rules.  So the
only law that may apply -- and it's a whopper -- is gender
discrimination.

The Little League is taking the "easy way out" by allowing the sport
to be gender neutral.  One might wonder what the ASA would do if five
boys and seven girls from "middle of nowhere" decide they want to be a
team?   There isn't an opportunity for the seven girls if the five
boys don't play and vice-versa.

-Vince Muehe

Peanuts, Pennants and Protests

Here's a couple of articles from ABC News and Associated Press that
highlight a little of the "other side" of the issue.  Some argue girls
need to compete with boys...

--Vince

Little League Softball World Series Goes Coed

Aug. 19  For the first time in the 26-year
history of the girls Little League Softball World
Series, a team with boys won the championship
game  but only after the opposing team from
the Philippines forfeited.

A coed team from Eloy, Ariz.,  playing with five
male starters was to play against the all-girl Far East
team in the championship game today at Vanderberg Park
in Kalamazoo, Mich. And lots of parents and coaches
werent happy.

"What theyve done today is turn something  a good
thing that was for girls into a bad thing," said Mary
Doyle, coach of a team from Inverness, Fla."And now
its gotten ugly."

But the coach of the Arizona team, which also has
seven female players, says he had to recruit boys for the
team because only a handful of girls showed up for the
tryouts.

Boys Allowed

The rules have allowed boys to play girls softball since
1996, but some parents want the rules changed.

"These little girls need a place to play,' says Wendy
Malik, a parent of a Little Leaguer. "And next year theres
going to be eight boys here. And the year after theres
going to be 12. And then theres going to be no girls."

The Arizona team had lost only one game in the
tournament to the same all-girls team from the
Philippines that it met in the final. The team from overseas
won 3-2 Tuesday night.

Another team had forfeited its game against Arizona.
On Friday, the team from Florida refused to play Arizona
in the semifinal in protest. The gesture left players on both
sides disappointed.

"I hate giving in to boys, it makes me sick," said
Brittney Doyle, a player for the Florida team that played
against an all-girl team from Jeffersontown, Ky., today for
third place.

"The girls probably want to play us, but its up to their
coaches," said Arizona player Martin Juarez. "And if
theyre not going to give their girls a chance to play then
its their loss.

Injuries Inevitable?

Softball coaches say that while girls can beat boys at
softball, boys in the 14- to 16-year-old age group tend to
be bigger and stronger than girls, giving them an unfair
advantage on the field and putting female players at risk of
injury.

"Winning is nothing compared to a girls career," said
Pete Maggiore, manager of the Florida team.

But Amy Love, who was one of the first to play when
Little League Baseball changed its rules to allow girls to
play back in 1974, says safety is just an excuse.
"Youre saying to those girls they are not good enough
to compete with boys," said Love, who is now the
publisher of Real Sports. "Twenty years ago, wed been
trying to break down these barriers, saying girls can
compete with boys."

Tournament director Bud Vanderberg said hell take
the issue to the Little League board of directors next week
to make sure next years softball world series is girls only.

--ABC News

Female Football Player Suits Up

ELGIN, Ill. -- Opponents of Elgin High Schools
football team this fall may ***helmets with a rather
unusual player: a girl.

Four***-year-old freshman Adrianna Delhotal will
take the field for the Elgin Maroons later this month,
becoming the first girl to play football for either of the
citys public high schools.

The five-foot-seven, 170 pound Delhotal said she
enjoys the physical nature of the sport and feels like one
of the guys.

"Its not like Im fragile or anything," she said, referring
to a number of bruises from this weeks practices. "I have
a good stance and Im able to hit people hard. They treat
me like Im one of the rest of them."

Still, she didnt like cutting 12 inches off her hair this
summer so her helmet would fit correctly.

Despite paying the $25 team fee and practicing all
fall, a school rule limits her participation to only two
games this season. Delhotal said she doesnt think its
fair but still plans to practice and dress for every game.

One solution, she said, is a separate girls football
team.

"There are girls out there who actually want to play
football," she said.

When she was in seventh grade, Delhotal and a friend
joked about playing football and a gym teacher
encouraged the girls to try out. But Delhotals mother told
her to wait a year.

She began playing football last year for her
eighth-grade team.

Delhotal doesnt plan to play the sport much longer.
"When you get older, the guys keep getting bigger
and bigger," she said. "Im thinking Ill play freshman and
sophomore year and then, when Im a junior, join the
pompom squad."

She said she wants to take up kickboxing and karate
this winter, and plans to play softball in the spring.

The Associated Press

But its ok for girls to force their way on too boys teams without fear of
getting hurt.

I guess in the college game pitchers and corners are not at risk cause of the
gender factor.

Nope its hypocritical. Girls say I want I want I want and when the boys want to
play SOFTBALL then  its go to baseball you ***.

If boys want to play softball and there are not BOYS teams to play on they
should have the same rights a girls wanting to play male dominated sports.

Not signed.

A few years back a desperate (high school/middle school ) baseball coach I know
lacked enough players for a game due to a scheduling conflict with an important
academic exam. Instead of forfeiting  he borrowed one of the (girl) softball
players, put her on first base and even let her hit.    She did better than some
of the boys--made the plays, got a bon-a fide triple, (despite the boys on her
team telling her to move back in the box), and didn't fall apart when in her next
at bat the boys on the opposing team   threw at her head .

No one objected to the girl playing because she was, being half the size of the
boys, hardly a physical threat. With the reverse situation  --putting a boy  with
the girls, and given that the boy, due to physiology would be a physical threat--
the situation  would then in all liklihood become dangerous.  (Visions of Mike
Tyson vs. a smaller stature lady boxer come to mind-----  Would you let your
daughter fight Mike Tyson?  )

Sharon

Hang on there, Vince.  I'm no big fan of LL, but if you are going to make
accusations, make sure you know everything about the situation.

Little League Baseball, Inc. lost lawsuits in California and Vermont filed by
boys demanding to play softball.  You cannot blame them for what happens in
this case.  In the area the Arizona team comes from, there is no baseball
program for the boys to play.  Would you waste your money to continually fight
lawsuits you don't have a chance to win?

The only way for LL to resolve this problem is to stick to their name LL
BASEBALL, Inc. and leave the softball to the softball organizations.

Of course, then they would be blasted for abandoning the young ladies.

Mike

I have never submitted anything on this board before.  But when I read about
your suggestion of the little league girls just lobbin' 'em in, I was
disappointed. My daughter is a pitcher on a travel ball team, and early in
the season, one of the coaches from our local LL team called asking her to
pitch for them.  (For as much time as she could give.)  She decided it would
be fun to play for her city, knowing that going to Western Nationals for
travel ball would interfere with attending the World Series.    She played
for both teams, and our Glendale LL team made it to Palmdale (Western
Regionals). This is where we heard about the Arizona team carrying five
boys.  We were anxious to play them, but lost to a fabulous Oregon, Oak Park
team, one game away from the challenge.  Oak Park Oregon lost to the AZ team
and off they went to the world series.  My daughter pitched a fantastic
game, but some of the team had left for vacations, (something that happens
only in little league).  This gave way to a weaker infield giving up errors
and unearned runs.   (On radar, my daughter pitches at 59 mph.)  Give the
girls in little league a little bit more credit.  I only wished I could have
seen her pitch against the badboys.