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
> 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
> weren't happy.
> "What they've 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
> it's 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 there's
> going to be eight boys here. And the year after there's
> going to be 12. And then there's 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 it's up to their
> coaches," said Arizona player Martin Juarez. "And if
> they're not going to give their girls a chance to play then
> it's 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 girl's 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.
> "You're 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, we'd been
> trying to break down these barriers, saying girls can
> compete with boys."
> Tournament director Bud Vanderberg said he'll take
> the issue to the Little League board of directors next week
> to make sure next year's softball world series is girls only.
> --ABC News
> Female Football Player Suits Up
> ELGIN, Ill. -- Opponents of Elgin High School's
> 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
> city's 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.
> "It's not like I'm fragile or anything," she said, referring
> to a number of bruises from this week's practices. "I have
> a good stance and I'm able to hit people hard. They treat
> me like I'm one of the rest of them."
> Still, she didn't 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 doesn't think it's
> 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 Delhotal's mother told
> her to wait a year.
> She began playing football last year for her
> eighth-grade team.
> Delhotal doesn't plan to play the sport much longer.
> "When you get older, the guys keep getting bigger
> and bigger," she said. "I'm thinking I'll play freshman and
> sophomore year and then, when I'm 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