With Equal Skills Comes Acceptance
Boy oh boy (or is that girl oh girl?), women’s athletics have changed. Remember girl-style push-ups? Where the exercise was done on hands and knees, instead of hands and toes? What a joke. Any halfway healthy boy could do hundreds without breaking a sweat.
Remember when girls played slow-pitch softball and boys played fast-pitch hardball? When boys played football and girls led cheers? And, despite the occasional tomboy, there weren’t many girls willing to set up on the block and take the boy next door to the hoop. In fact, girls basketball rules were silly. Three dribbles and pass - or something like that - meant that many girls never learned the fundamentals of the game.
As a result, no self-respecting boy would be caught dead in a serious game of basketball with a bunch of girls. That was then.
This is now. Today, the streets of Spokane host the biggest three-on-three basketball tournament in the country. And, nearly 400 of the 4,600 teams registered are coed.
While it’s true that many men and women players will perform the give and go, this is not a hand-holding, Cupid-infested, Jack-and-Jill affair. When you’re downtown this weekend, take a moment to watch some of the open division play near center court on Spokane Falls Boulevard. Or watch the kids play along Post Street. They play hard and they play smart.
But that doesn’t explain the growth in the coed division. Title IX has opened many doors for girls and young women to play sports. And youth coed leagues have taught boys and girls to play together from an early age. Society in general has leveled the playing field for women in many areas. Still, why are men and women choosing to team up, sweat like pigs, grunt like buffalo and pick and roll their way through a weekend of street ball?
Maybe it is the beauty of cultural change. Or, the ripple effect of a good idea. Rick Steltenpohl, Hoopfest’s executive director, offered this observation: “Women’s sports are getting more and more popular. And as women’s athletics continue to improve, it adds another element to the selection of play.”
In other words, now that women have the opportunity to develop good skills, men and women are choosing to play together.
That’s a good lesson for all of us.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Scott Sines/For the editorial board