If boys can play on female sports teams, then girls should play on male sports teams. If the constitution states that everyone is equal then shouldn’t sports follow that rule?

In the article “Could high school sports be coed” by Dana Benbow it mentioned that in 1979 Ben Davis High School in Indiana won the state championship girls volleyball game, but they won with three boys on the team. Parents, coaches, and athletes from the opposing team argued that it was unfair that the team won the game with boys on the team while the opposing team was all girls.

Yet if some have no problem with boys playing on female team, why should girls not be allowed to play? They should, they have every right to play.

Varsity football coach Ross Bandiera feels that as the years progress women will be taking on a bigger role in sports. He feels that they can be as equal as the football players. He said, “[Girls] could be just as productive as anyone else if they work hard and are committed to what they want to do.”

From The New York Times, in the article “Should Sports Be Coed?” by Michael Gonchar it shared that Mo’ne Davis in 2014 was the first women to play on a male baseball team and to then throw a shutout in the Little League World Series.

As of March 20, 2019 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first National Football League team to have two female coaches on their staff. These examples shows how high school sports do not have to be the only level of sports that is becoming coed.

Next football season the Mayfield freshman football team will include two girls on the roster: Nikki Kolure and Katie Cohen. Lots of eyes have and will been on the two.

And even at Mayfield Middle School four seventh graders will be playing for the eighth grade team next year: Madison Bresler, Kaylie Roy, Claire Schend, and Rebecca Goodman

Coach Bandiera is excited for the two next year. He said, “They have done a good job so far; they have been at most of the workouts and are working hard, so I am interested to see how it works out”.

Bandiera plans on not changing the practices when the girls move up to junior varsity and varsity. If girls are on the team then they should be able to participate and work as hard as the boys.

If girls can play football as good as any other guy, then they should be able to play any position they desire and work for that is best suited for them. Schools like Kenston, who won the state championship this year and had Senior Anna Sanders as their kicker who was the first female kicker to score in a state championship game; and Walsh Jesuit have girl kickers since it is a less contact position. The trainers and I noticed this on Friday night when Mayfield played both schools.

While Riverside allows girls to play any position on the team, they have a girl wide receiver who plays on junior varsity. As a junior varsity football cheerleader, I noticed that the starting wide receiver was a girl. And I thought that Mayfield should take part in letting girls play football, even more letting them play any position they are devoted too.

Junior Eviana Ramos has actually played football and said,“I played football at MiddleField and only boys played sports, so it was very boy-dominated and the football coach told me I had a foot since I played soccer but I was the only girl on the coed soccer team. So I wanted to be the first girl to play football.”

Eviana played three different positions; kicker, free safety, and wide receiver. But it was very hard for her to be able to play. She said, “It took me until my eighth grade year to play. Seventh grade I tried to play and they said no, so I had to go all the way to the board of education to get it approved and I had to get a bunch of signatures so I could play.”

In addition, football should not be the only sport that can be coed. Sports like hockey, basketball, and soccer should allow everyone to play together no matter one’s gender. Notre Dame Cathedral Latin has two girls on their hockey team; one was a goalie and the other played defense. Even cross country and track should be coed; girls and boys should be allowed to race against each other.

Ramos said, “Even though guys are way stronger, at the end of the day everyone has the same mindset to win and are all equally determined.” Boys should have the same opportunity as girls; they should also be allowed to play on female sports team like gymnastics, volleyball and cheerleading.

Everyone has equal strength if they just work for it, for some it may be harder than others, it just comes down to the amount of passion someone has for the sport.