Although Little League
baseball’s rules do not set limitations on gender, it has been widely
accepted that at around age 7, boys begin to play baseball while girls
opt for softball.
But, not everyone buys into
that tradition. And, every year there are girls who insist they want to
play baseball, even if it means being the only girl on the team.
Sport psychology consultant,
Dr. Virginia Savage, feels that integrating Little League baseball is a
great way to build the concept that everybody’s equal while offering
girls who are motivated a more challenging venue to develop their
skills.
“Research shows that girls on
all-girl teams are not as prone to push themselves as much,” says Dr.
Savage.
When they are on the field,
the players take on their coach’s attitude.
Joe LeBlanc, the District 22
administrator who oversees all the Little League teams in North Brevard
and whose daughter Katherine played on all-boy teams for four years,
agrees that the best intentioned coaches still apply a double standard
on the field.
“Coaches tend to be tougher
with the boys while they lag back with what they expect from the girls,”
Joe LeBlanc said. “They’re gentler with the girls.”
Katherine LeBlanc, who has
grown up playing with Indian River City Little League with her two older
brothers, said she feels that playing with the boys improved her game
and gave her an extra boost of confidence.
“I actually liked it when
they pushed me because it actually made me want to try harder,”
Katherine, who made the All-Star team in the Majors in 2006, said. It
was the same year she hit the ball over the fence in a county tournament
game.
According to Dr. Savage, the
best response a parent can have when their daughter asks to play on a
boys’ team is to listen and keep those lines of communication open.
From there, parents should
talk to coaches and attend a game or two, observing how they interact
with the players. While some coaches only focus on outward appearance,
others see underlying talent and build on that potential.
Even though girls don’t
develop the body mass that boys do as they get older, “girls might make
up for power with speed or they might be more accurate,” Dr. Savage, who
advocates a positive attitude as the main ingredient for success, said.
“You just find that talent and hone it.”
Joe LeBlanc said he recalls
how coaches treated his daughter differently — until they realized she
could hold her own with the boys.
“Initially, all the coaches
treated her like a girl,” says LeBlanc. “But, eventually they saw that
what she could do and pushed her just as hard.”
How hard to push depends on
the girl and how motivated she is, but always encourage your children
and evoke a can-do attitude.
Too often, instead of saying
‘you can do it,’ we say ‘don’t fail,’” Dr. Savage said. “But, children
don’t hear ‘DON’T’ ... just ‘FAIL.’”
