There is an interesting situation that I heard about in the news, yesterday. It seems that there is a high school football team that has found a freshman that is a phenomenal kicker. At the tender age of fourteen, this individual can kick a fifty-yard field goal. Now I’m not a big football statistician, but I would think that there’s one or two NFL teams that would like to sign a kicker that can kick a fifty-yard field goal, and probably more than a couple of NCAA colleges that would be willing to pay scholarships to such an individual. I realize that there are NFL kickers that can kick close to seventy yards, but fifty yards is still pretty respectable, and considering that this is a fourteen-year old we’re talking about, as an adult, this person will probably be kicking a good deal farther.
I should point out that this is not a public high school. This is a private school with a faith-based educational plan. I should also point out that this student is a girl.
This leads to an understandable quandary: Should a female be allowed to play a contact sport in a male-dominated league? On the other hand, it seems fairly evident that this young woman has a God-given gift (why would God give her a gift for kicking a football? I don’t know, but if she does it better than the guys in her league, then I have to believe that it’s of God).
I can appreciate the difficulties of having a mixed gender contact-sport league. Of course, we’re not talking about her sharing a locker room with the male members of her team, but there are other considerations. I certainly don’t like the idea of teen-aged boys tackling teen-aged girls. At the same time, if she is allowed to play, I don’t think the other team should be penalized with a restriction on tackling the kicker if given the opportunity. I have to consider, also, the difficulty of playing a defensive lineman on a team facing her team. What if I, as a lineman, break through the line early, as she is about to kick. Don’t I have a responsibility to my team to stop her from kicking the ball? If I were facing a kicker of my own gender, I wouldn’t think twice about tackling him. If I am to tackle her, then I have to consider where to put my hands in the process. What if I hesitate in my actions while I try to determine the most prudent course of action, and she is able to get the kick away before I stop her? I have, at this point, let down my teammates, although it isn’t entirely my fault. To be honest, if football turns into a mixed-gender sport, I think that a lot of the rules would need to be changed. I don’t really have too much trouble with the idea of a girl kicker on a boys’ team, but, if an exception is made for her, then some people would have a hard time with the idea of banning a girl from, say, the quarterback position, even though that person would be tackled several times per game by several different boys.
Her supporters point out that the rule book doesn’t specifically say that girls can’t play, so letting her play isn’t really an exception. They seem to think that the objection to her playing stems more from the fact that other teams feel at a disadvantage because she is an exceptional player. There may be some truth to that, but I would hope that the reason that she is barred from play is for her own protection, and, to some extent, the protection of the guys on opposing teams that shouldn’t have to make a decision as to what to do if they manage to break through the line early before she has a chance to kick the ball. In any case, I would think that she has gotten enough publicity from this that she will, in a few years, have a promising career in the WNFL, if that’s what she wants.
I should point out that this is not a public high school. This is a private school with a faith-based educational plan. I should also point out that this student is a girl.
This leads to an understandable quandary: Should a female be allowed to play a contact sport in a male-dominated league? On the other hand, it seems fairly evident that this young woman has a God-given gift (why would God give her a gift for kicking a football? I don’t know, but if she does it better than the guys in her league, then I have to believe that it’s of God).
I can appreciate the difficulties of having a mixed gender contact-sport league. Of course, we’re not talking about her sharing a locker room with the male members of her team, but there are other considerations. I certainly don’t like the idea of teen-aged boys tackling teen-aged girls. At the same time, if she is allowed to play, I don’t think the other team should be penalized with a restriction on tackling the kicker if given the opportunity. I have to consider, also, the difficulty of playing a defensive lineman on a team facing her team. What if I, as a lineman, break through the line early, as she is about to kick. Don’t I have a responsibility to my team to stop her from kicking the ball? If I were facing a kicker of my own gender, I wouldn’t think twice about tackling him. If I am to tackle her, then I have to consider where to put my hands in the process. What if I hesitate in my actions while I try to determine the most prudent course of action, and she is able to get the kick away before I stop her? I have, at this point, let down my teammates, although it isn’t entirely my fault. To be honest, if football turns into a mixed-gender sport, I think that a lot of the rules would need to be changed. I don’t really have too much trouble with the idea of a girl kicker on a boys’ team, but, if an exception is made for her, then some people would have a hard time with the idea of banning a girl from, say, the quarterback position, even though that person would be tackled several times per game by several different boys.
Her supporters point out that the rule book doesn’t specifically say that girls can’t play, so letting her play isn’t really an exception. They seem to think that the objection to her playing stems more from the fact that other teams feel at a disadvantage because she is an exceptional player. There may be some truth to that, but I would hope that the reason that she is barred from play is for her own protection, and, to some extent, the protection of the guys on opposing teams that shouldn’t have to make a decision as to what to do if they manage to break through the line early before she has a chance to kick the ball. In any case, I would think that she has gotten enough publicity from this that she will, in a few years, have a promising career in the WNFL, if that’s what she wants.
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