This
week the NYT sports section ran a story about a girls’ 10- and 11-year old
basketball team in a boys’ league in downstate Springfield that was beating up
on the male competition good enough for an 8-1 record. The coach runs closed practices, and he thinks
that girls process differently than boys, as in methodical vs. instinctive.
Maybe
basketball is different, but barring me from practice would be a red flag. I had to drive Clare to practices 20 minutes
to a half-hour away in the years before she had a license. Once we got there, I sat and watched. Her first coach also made it clear that all
spectators were to shut up, even when he ran a girl into an asthma attack. So, I don’t like the idea of closed doors.
As
to thought processes, again, maybe basketball is different, but I never
detected a gender-specific approached that separated softball from baseball
players. Both groups want to win, and both groups listen to what their coaches
have to say, or they find a seat on the bench, which is where I did see
difference. In a softball dugout, it’s
all chatter and cheers. In baseball, the
testosterone muffles things more and keeps players from consoling a teammate who
failed. Whatever this girl thought of
that girl, they always seemed to be there for one another come failure.
A
gender difference? If so, the NYT needs
to consider it fit enough to print.
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