Posted on 10/06/2009 4:21:27 AM PDT by real saxophonist
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Youth football coaches brawl over whether girl should play
Jakob Rodgers
EATON — A disagreement over whether a girl could play a youth football game turned physical Monday afternoon with coaches from two teams at midfield, punches thrown and a swarm of parents trying to separate two men.
The altercation took place about 5:30 p.m. in the football field east of Eaton Middle School, 225 Juniper Ave. in Eaton, as teams warmed up for a scheduled scrimmage between the middleweight-division teams of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County and the City of Eaton. It ended, however, with parents — most of whom were in attendance to support the Boys & Girls Club team — trying to separate the two coaches and leaving before a scrimmage could be held.
The teams were not scheduled to meet in the regular season, according to Greg Kimbrough, chief professional officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County. However, the coaches for the teams agreed to meet for a scrimmage.
The likelihood the scrimmage would take place took a hit earlier in the day, however. A coach from the City of Eaton football team expressed concern about playing a team with a girl, as a few of his players could not hit girls because of their religious beliefs, according to Nichole Esquibel, the mother of 11-year-old Boys & Girls Clubs player Makayla Crespin.
Nathan Hernandez, the coach of the Boys & Girls Clubs team, said before the meeting that he wanted the coach of the other team to tell Makayla that she could not play, also commenting that “according to my religion, every religion, you're not supposed to hit a woman. And if you sign up for football, you sign up to play football.”
As the two teams warmed up, coaches from each team met at midfield, along with Makayla.
The discussion quickly turned argumentative, leading to punches being thrown between Hernandez and an Eaton coach. The coach from the Eaton team had a mark above his left eye after the fight, but the extent of any other injuries to either man is unknown.
Kimbrough, who was not at the football field during the incident, said Monday night that he already had spoken with Hernandez about the incident. Although his investigation is ongoing, Kimbrough said Hernandez has apologized for his actions.
“There will be consequences for the incident,” Kimbrough said, adding that he needed to file more reports and speak with more people before making a determination on just what the consequences would be. “(Hernandez) understands there will be consequences — there always are when actions are taken, and kids need to understand that's not the appropriate way to handle yourself.”
The incident has been reported to the Eaton Police Department, according to Sgt. Josh Dreher, and an investigation is under way.
Representatives from the Eaton football team declined to comment to The Tribune as they walked away from the altercation.
Where is EATON?
I feel sorry for kids these days.
Northern Colorado.
When I was in high school, some girl showed up around the first or second day of practice announcing she wanted to play football. After deciding she might be serious, the coach called over a Division I defensive lineman prospect (who went on to play in the NFL) and a Division II tight end prospect to join in the discussion.
The girl never showed up again.
First the mother will sue the league to force them to let the girl play.
Then when the girl is injured she will sue the league for the injury.
Yes this has happened before.
If it is FLAG football, then I have no problem with it.
Yep...our daughter plays flag football for her middle school team. She’s the only girl on the team. She’s also the biggest kid in her grade and has been taught how to play rough by her brothers - LOL. She has no interest in playing tackle football (which is a completely different game).
A lot of hard contact takes place even in flag football.
I have no problem with pre-puberty mixed sex tackle football. We played it all the time as kids.
Post puberty, a girl has no business competing in any contact sport with boys.
Agree wholeheartedly. This is really sad. Why can’t girls have their own sports?
According to my religion, they shouldn’t have been hitting each other. Oh well.
What religion specifically teaches that you can’t block or tackle women?
I guess if one team is muslim, they’d have to use the girl as a running back, so she could always be following a few steps behind the men.
Agree, believe that female hormones make our joints, ligaments “more flexible”* and so more injury prone in a rough contact sport.
*You know to facilitate child birth. I realize libbers insist males and females are just alike but afraid it just ain’t so.
A football coach objects to his team playing against a team with a female player because certain of his players’ religious beliefs preclude them from hitting/tackling a girl.
I have never heard that argument offered, have you? What an interesting proposition. I wonder if this will go to court.
I can't say that it's really my area of expertise, but Title IX is a well-tested statute. It has been either affirmed or expanded in a number of different SCOTUS rulings.
So long as their isn't a female team in the same sport, girls have the constitutional right to play on the boys team, and the team has to make reasonable accommodation for showering/lockering areas - that's it, so says the Supreme Court.
The coach is positing a creative defense, but it's not going anywhere, IMHO.
so there...
By the same token boys should be allowed to play volleyball and field hockey, yet they aren’t’...
Ed
Again, not my area of expertise (and I haven't looked at it closely since my own kids left high-school several years ago), but there have been some challenges to these kinds of rules. None have been successful, but none have really been heard on the merits of the case. Most have been dismissed because they didn't fit some of the criteria of Title IX - mainly that the organizations in question didn't receive federal funds or weren't an arm or extension of the state.
It's my opinion that if a case - with the right plaintiff and the right circumstances - should ever reach the Supreme Court, some of these classic "all-girl" sports" may have to be redefined to include boys - just like football was redefined.
I have an 11 year old daughter that has been playing football for the last 2 seasons. Both years her team has made it to the playoffs. She plays 1st string defensive safety and outside linebacker. We have made it clear that once my daughter gears up and hits that field she is NOT a “girl” she is a player on that team. She has taken hits and made hard hits for her team. She has been hurt but nothing major. she has played soccer since she was 4 and has seen more injuries on an all girls soccer team than she has as the only girl on her football team. Next year she will play 7th grade ball and she will play as long as she likes. Her abilities to play have NOTHING to do with her anatomy, NOTHING. And for 2 years she has proven it..
Here’s a local news story on her that may help more...
http://www.kxxv.com/global/category.asp?c=163320&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=116555&topVideoCatNoB=169583&topVideoCatNoC=116838&topVideoCatNoD=117582&topVideoCatNoE=138849&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=4201878&flvUri=&thirdpartymrssurl=
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