Hurt Girls (NTTimes on another downside to Title IX)
Former Member
Anyone catch the NY Times Sunday Magazine Article "Hurt Girls" two weeks ago which posited the politically incorrect fact that female athletes propelled by Title IX are ending up as physical wrecks by the time they are young adults? Dealing mostly with girls in soccer, lacrosse, and basketball, there were some hard figures showing, for example, that female athletes in soccer get ACT tears at five times the rate of males. (As expected, swimming did not come up as a source of injury). Most of the letters published this week in response were the reflexive defense of Title IX by the Title IX athletic establishment.
Yup... and the parents who are convinced their kid won't make the HS team if they don't start specializing and training the heck out of them before they hit middle school...
And honestly, in my observation they probably won't, because the kids who survive the specialization ARE quite good. Perhaps by the end of HS they are burned out and injured, but the normal kid cannot go out for a HS sport for the fun of it anymore and expect to play or even make the team.
The most fun I had was coaching my DD's slow pitch Junior High team. This league was the group of girls that did not want to play the uber competive fast pitch. They really could care less if they won or loss, but they did want to play for fun and learn, and they were a hoot. There is nothing like this for HS girls, so DD is no longer playing. She is not interested in the real competitive team, so she has now dropped the sport because unless she plays the adult league in town, there is no where to play.
Yup... and the parents who are convinced their kid won't make the HS team if they don't start specializing and training the heck out of them before they hit middle school...
And honestly, in my observation they probably won't, because the kids who survive the specialization ARE quite good. Perhaps by the end of HS they are burned out and injured, but the normal kid cannot go out for a HS sport for the fun of it anymore and expect to play or even make the team.
The most fun I had was coaching my DD's slow pitch Junior High team. This league was the group of girls that did not want to play the uber competive fast pitch. They really could care less if they won or loss, but they did want to play for fun and learn, and they were a hoot. There is nothing like this for HS girls, so DD is no longer playing. She is not interested in the real competitive team, so she has now dropped the sport because unless she plays the adult league in town, there is no where to play.
