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Firstly, as a Wafcjr scheduler, making two separate leagues will be more work and complicate a fair number of matters. You guys will want to talk to Matt Barr and see if he is willing to take on the additional responsibility or find a second scheduler to handle it if that's the route you choose.
As a former TJ captain, I know how hard it was for us to recruit girls. Ultimate communities across the board are having recruiting clinics aimed specifically at women, so the problem that we're encountering is not specific to our area, or to high schools. We did the best we could to find other girls that wanted to play, but alot of them were already otherwise committed or just plain disinterested. It's not fair to fault the schools that are still trying to get enough players, let alone make them discriminate based on gender.
Furthermore, it's not fair to the other players of the team. They have no way of knowing how frequently the additional girls practice or their level of dedication. Furthermore, the issue of playing time comes in. Why should dedicated members of the team have to sit on the sidelines and watch their playing time get used by someone else?
I was told when I first started playing ultimate that in co-ed teams, girls win or lose the game for you. You can always find guys that are decent, but finding a very talented girl is much more challenging. It's not fair to the teams to depend on the outcome of a game because of players that aren't theirs.
And finally, as a girl. I personally love competing against guys. I get so much satisfaction from skying a guy with a smirk on his face. But I know that I'm not all girls. Dave has a point in that it is a discouragement to not have the speed to keep up with your person. When you are consistently jumping, running, etc. against another person that has a foot in height and several steps in speed, what else are you supposed to surmise except that you aren't good enough? We have too few women partaking in ultimate already and need to retain the ones that we do have. Nevertheless, there are female players like Laura that are very talented. Making her play against an inexperienced girl would be no less of a mismatch than a guy on a girl. Consequently, teams need to take into consideration the specific circumstances of the two teams that are playing and plan accordingly.
As for what to do about it. I think Ben is onto a couple of good ideas, and none of them include furthering HB players at the sake of developing the programs at other schools. I think that considering the newness of the league and especially of many its teams, flexibility on this issue will be key.
Let's remember what ultimate is based on - Spirit of the Game.
Always,
Katie Mercer
On 2/22/06, Berend Van Heuvelen <
bvanheuvelen@...> wrote:
In past seasons, I think the purpose of this league has been to organize competitions among already-existing school teams. If this remains the purpose of the league, then we can't require that anyone compete with a player who can't regularly practice with the team. I say this because playing for an organized team is different from playing on a pickup team or a summer-league team because you achieve a level of teamwork through practice that you cannot achieve otherwise. Moreover, I think it's good for youth ultimate (in general and specifically in DC) to have teams divided into schools, since so much of what's great about this sport comes from the process of team-building. If we want to promote the sport and raise the level of play, then we should encourage team-building.
I also think a broader purpose of the league is to provide an organizing body that enables high schoolers (boys and girls) to play and enjoy the sport. Given the constraints and the conflicting interests, I see three possible solutions:
1. Define the league specifically as "open," with no gender ratios, but
a) encourage captains/coaches to be fair about playing their girls, not intentionally creating or exploiting mismatches, etc. (This is what we've done in the past.)
b) encourage captains/coaches to recruit girls from their own schools
c) teams are allowed but not required to compete with female pick-ups
2. Divide the league into an Open division and a Mixed division with a mandatory ratio (with girls spread across fewer teams, this ratio might even be 5:2 in some games), and allow teams to choose which division they will compete in.
3. Divide the league into an "open" division with teams from separate schools (who practice together during the week) and a "coed" division whose teams are chosen by a summer league-style draft.
My two cents,
Ben.
On 2/21/06, davelovesbikes@... <davelovesbikes@... > wrote:Here was my idea: At games we have a 6:1 minimum, teams can opt to go more than that.In order to assist the school without female students I take the top 10 girls from my program and assign 2 or 3 of them to each school that doesn't have any girls. Those 2 - 3 girls play with that same team all season.Here were my motivations for proposing this:1) To make the games more fun and fair. Most of the time when 2 teams meet and one has women and the other doesn't its a mismatch, maybe not the score, but for whomever is covering the girl.1a) The girls have a lot less fun because they rarely get in and when they do they get blown by or are stuck playing wing or something. They rarely get open, they rarely touch the disc. Now I admit there are the Katie Mercers and Morgans of the world who can rise above but they are few and far between. I think for most girls its a turn off. Its like making an 8 yr old do calculus or something.1b) For the teams playing their women anyway its a downer because it hurts their performance. If everybody had girls it'd make for a more fair playing field. I don't think anybody blames their girls but it just results in inequities and more frustration.2) Speaking of frustration one of my biggest motivations was to help out those poor bastards at single sex schools interact more girls their age. Being on the same field with the same girl a couple of times a spring just seems like a great opportunity to meet and impress chicks.3) It would be a way for the skills and knowledge of our school to be disseminated around the league. I was planning to farm out my top 10 girls who could help explain zone, etc to their team mates. They can all throw flicks and hammers and could probably be helpful demonstrating those as well.4) It would give my girls another 2 hours of playing time and allow them to meet boys they haven't known since middle school.I want this to be a fun league. I didn't want to take a vote at the meeting cause I don't force this on teams. Having stated my case I'd like to hear back from the schools without women, especially if they are still opposed. I'd like to know what concerns they have and if there's any way I can allay them.Dave
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