I have never been a fan of Title IX in sports. For the uninitiated Title IX states
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…
In practice, the provision forces schools to have both boys and girls teams for sports, or to allow girls on to boys teams, or even cancel certain sports if they can’t afford both gender teams.
I am not a fan, but the law is the law.
Now, while it typically forces girls on to boys teams, the law allows for inclusion in the other direction too.
So it is that a young 13 yr. old boy from Southampton NY was allowed on to the H.S. Girls field hockey team, since there is no boys field hockey team.
But that young man, all 4′ 8″ and 82 lbs of him, has recently been given the boot from the team. Not because Title IX has suddenly been revoked.
No, it is still the law of the land that you cannot be discriminated against because of gender. No that would be illegal. No the young man has been given the boot because he is too successful at the sport he plays.
A 13-year-old Long Island boy who has been a star of a local high school girls’ field hockey team for the past two years has been kicked off the team for being too dominant of a player, MyFoxNY reports.
Keeling Pilaro was told he could no longer play for Southampton High School’s varsity girls’ field hockey team this year after becoming the team’s star over the past two years.
In an Obama world, we cannot discriminate against gender, but we must prevent too much success at any cost.
This is where we are now. We are redistributing field hockey success.
While I feel sorry for the boy, at the end of the day he is probably better off. If he is that athletic, I am sure he will do well in other sports. Besides, not a lot of future potential girlfriends on the field hockey team. Well, at least not for him.
April 26, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Please, sir, do enlighten me. What does ANY of this have to do with President Barack Obama? This was the decision of a school on Long Island.
April 26, 2012 at 5:41 pm
He must have really liked hockey.
April 26, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Way to blame Obama when it has nothing to do with it. You rail on the tactics of others – check out your own agenda!
April 26, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Anonymous 11:42: President Harry Truman's motto was "The buck stops here" When one is president, it is his office to deal with this kind of law.
April 26, 2012 at 10:00 pm
was this boy enrolled in a program that received federal financial assistance?
I like this blog, but this post offended me.
Title 9 was established in an attempt to reduce discrimination and is probably one of the main reasons that a hard-working female athlete like myself was able to play a sport in college.
Did I deserve it less, because I'm a woman and less people watch female sports than male sports? No. I worked just as hard and contributed positively to my school community than many of the male athletes.
I think you should re-examine your understanding of Title 9.
April 26, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Is it discrimination, or the fact that MANY female sports are, frankly, not as interesting intense or violent? You can't force people to like a sport, and I (a female) find women's sports less than "competitive" shall we say. Sorry, but the truth hurts.
April 26, 2012 at 11:09 pm
Ahem… it's Dumb Blonde, with an e….
April 27, 2012 at 11:50 am
@Mark
Blonde can be spelled with out without the 'e'.
@DUMB BLOND
"Did I deserve it less, because I'm a woman and less people watch female sports than male sports?"
Yes. Actually, I'm just being controversial, since it's not about what you deserve or not. There wasn't enough popularity for your sport (female side), and that should have meant that you couldn't play. It's called life, it's harsh. When we enact these kinds of laws to try and improve reality, it's just going to mess things up eventually. As we see in this article and otherwise. Everything can't be perfect, again, that's life.
"I like this blog, but this post offended me."
Well, boo-hoo.
April 27, 2012 at 3:53 pm
One of my pet peeves is people who say "gender" when the meaning is "sex". It's wrong for many reasons, not least because it's a total buy-in to the GLBT narrative and agenda.
April 27, 2012 at 4:23 pm
I have to say that I regularly read this blog and consider myself a conservative, but I am glad that Title XI exists…I played both tennis and softball in high school all four years (scouted for college but decided with double majoring theology and accounting it was too much). That does not mean I like how it plays out sometimes. There should not be girls on boys'teams and vice versa. But to have a certain amount of girl teams for boy teams is a matter of justice (although this falls under personal judgment)
April 27, 2012 at 5:14 pm
The fact is most female sports programs at the college level are losers financially, while the big three men's teams either contribute financially or at least break even (the big three differ depending on region, but usually Football, Basketball and Baseball/Hockey). Title IX basically ruins things because the opportunities for the less mainstream men's sports are reduced by reducing the number of scholarships available for them. And yes, women's sports (at least the one's that are duplicate of men's) are like watching in slow motion. If not for continuous financial contribution, the WNBA would have disappeared long ago (is it even still around?).
April 27, 2012 at 6:36 pm
It's personal judgement but I find high level women's soccer is more interesting to watch than high level men's soccer.
If you don't believe me, and are open to enlightening yourselves, actually turn the TV on to watch the women's college cup next fall. You'll probably be surprised by what you see.
Female sports do tend to be losers for colleges financially (and trust me, the male athletes DO reap the benefits of that, in the form of better, more well-paid coaches and trainers, better and more equipment, more funds for team-building activities, more contacts with alumni who can help them find jobs after college etc. etc. etc.). Female sports (in general) do not bring in the same kind of money; however, is worth only judged by the amount of money a group can bring in for an organization?
Don't you think it's possible that female athletes can bring more to the school than just money?
And @fugerunt, I wasn't crying. Get a life. I made the comment to let others know I'm not a troll who lurks around here trying to stir up trouble. (Good job with your spelling though)
But frankly, this post is offensive. And I hoped my comment would open up some minds.
Female sports aren't valued the same as men's sports because we live in a society that was built on a deeply sexist foundation, one that a lot of us women are still trying to climb out of. And if you don't believe that, you're probably a man and/or brainwashed.
April 28, 2012 at 3:17 am
So much for the Glass Ceiling. I guess this poor young man was blasted clear through the roof!
And we wonder why America is on its last leg with people being allowed to make such decisions and not be medicated and institutionalized for such
gross malpractice!
April 28, 2012 at 4:18 am
He oughtta suit and make them all change it to a co-ed league – then he can play and be a star.
April 28, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Title IX was supposed to bring "equality" to college education, not necessarily only their athletic programs. Women currently make up 57% of students in undergraduate and higher percentages when you get to the graduate levels.
If Title IX proponents were honest they would be adding opportunities for men at the expense of women. Then again, this was never about being pro-women or being fair.
April 30, 2012 at 4:03 am
When my son went to the public middle school, he wanted to play on the volleyball team. There was no boys' volleyball, but he was not allowed to play on the girls' team. We were told girls could play the boys' sports but not the other way around. It seemed like reverse discrimination. Being the kind of person I am I complained to the appropriate federal agency in Kansas City. They investigated and did nothing because they looked at the school's overall numbers of girls and boys in sports. As long as the participation was about even overall, they were not going to get involved. Then, my son did not want to pursue it further.
April 30, 2012 at 4:04 pm
> "In an Obama world…"
Obama is on a Long Island school board?
> "Besides, not a lot of future potential girlfriends on the field hockey team. Well, at least not for him."
Wow, a simultaneous misogynist and homophobic slam against women who enjoy sports (i.e. they must be lesbian for not living my sugar and spice vision).
Keep it classy.
May 1, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Time to go re-read Harrison Bergeron.