Girls vs. Boys in Sports

Many scholars participate in sports at East and it seems there are some differences between boys and girls sports.  East High Athletic Director Eric Robinson explains that there are 45 sports teams at East, which is an extremely high number.  Some people suspect that certain sports are given extra funding and others are not funded much at all, but Mr. Robinson explained that this is not the case.  “All sports here at East are funded. Some sports even fundraise for extra money for the teams. For example, football and basketball fundraise for their money. We as the staff do not benefit at all from these fundraising,” stated Robinson.  This means all the extra funds go straight to supporting the teams.
Some sports are not offered at East, which limits scholars’ opportunities to play that sport.  Robinson states that the reason was “because there was not a big enough interest.  If there's not enough interest we cannot start a team.”  An example of this is girls’ soccer. For years there wasn’t enough interest, but now if there is more interest, the team will start back up.  But what about the girls who want to play even if there’s not enough interest to form a team?  Robinson stated that “If there is not enough girls for a team, we partner up with SOTA for some sports, and they will go there.”
If a girls’ team doesn’t exist yet, and a girl doesn’t want to combine with another school, she might have the option to play on a boys’ team, depending on the sport.  Mr. Robinson clarified by saying, “If there is a girls’ team already they have to play on the girls’ team. That’s also for the boys as well, but boys and girls can play on the same team if they want to.”  For example, both boys and girls can be on the same cheerleading team.  Also, there are rarely girls’ football teams, so what if a girl wants to play football?  “There is not a girls’ team for that so if a girl wishes to play football she may,” stated Robinson.  “By law they have to. Title nine is a law that states girls can play if they surely wish to, they can’t be turned down, they also can’t disqualify the team if they play as well.”
These rules are made for fairness between boys and girls, but there is still inequity in equipment and resources.  It took years for the girls to get a new softball field, and Mr. Robinson agreed that this is a problem, but it is changing.  “We are trying to change that because it’s not fair that the boys get more than girls at times. It took a while to get funding for the girls but it happened, and they got a new softball field,” he assured.

​Saranne Kaufman