Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Coaches brawl over girl playing football

CNN
EATON, Colo. -- A youth football scrimmage in Eaton Monday was scuttled when coaches brawled because the Eaton team said moral beliefs didn't allow their boys to "hit" a girl playing for the Boys and Girls Club.
During the dust up, Eaton coach Shawn Mills suffered a small bump and scratches over his left eye. But Mills told officers he didn't want charges filed against Nate Hernandez, the assistant-coach who punched him, according to a police report.
Police said they will take no action.

Hernandez who, along with other parents, confronted the Eaton coaches at mid-field before the scrimmage, demanding they tell the 11-year-old girl why she couldn't play. Hernandez apologized Tuesday in a call to Mills. However, Hernandez defended standing up for the girl's right to play. "I feel strongly about what I did," Hernandez said.

The girl, Mikayla Crespin, who plays guard and proudly described how she can block two players, said she's good enough to play with anybody. "I think that's kinda, like, harsh. That really hurt my feelings," she said of the other team's refusal to play against a girl. "Because girls can do the same as boys. There's nothing different."

Mills called Hernandez before the Monday scrimmage to explain some Eaton parents' opposition to boys playing football against girls. "Their coach expressed to our team that they had several parents who wouldn't allow their sons to participate in the scrimmage if the girl was going to play, because of their belief structure," Kimbrough said. "They've taken it and made it sort of a team edict that they won't hit girls, therefore, they won't play teams that have girl players. ... I may disagree with their strictness on this, but I have to respect that we live in a society that allows them to have that freedom of choice." Eaton coaches were left with the impression that the girl wouldn't play, because Mills had explained that his team would be forced to cancel because Eaton couldn't field enough players if the boys whose parents disapproved were pulled from the game.

Instead of notifying the Boys and Girls Club, Hernandez called the girl's mother, Nichole Esquibel, and outraged parents decided to call the Greeley Tribune. So, when Eaton arrived for the 5:30 p.m. scrimmage near Eaton Middle School, they were blindsided by a newspaper reporter and irate parents at mid-field.

The parents walked Mikayla out on the field and requested that the coaches of the Eaton team explain to her why she could not play," said Kimbrough, who was not at the scrimmage. "And that is when the arguments ensued and ultimately led to the fight."

The young players watched as the coaches of the two teams fought.

27 comments:

  1. I think the parents who didn´t want there sons to play against girls should think about the sporting aspect. It´s not really like the boys would hit the girl. They just play a sport.
    But the reaction of the coaches who fought wasn´t good, either. They should be a role model for the kids and should not fight!

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  2. I think that the girl should have been able to play and that the guys on the team should have just been cool about it. If the girl didn't want to get hurt at all she wouldn't have joined the sport at all. The girl was obviously wanting to play the boys or she wouldn't have explained how she can block two players at once. I think the mother of the girl did get a little too into the situation by bringing the news reporters to the situation, but the mom really wanted her daughter to play. I think it was immature for the two coaches to fight over something this dumb and that they weren't setting a good influence for the kids on the teams watching.

    -Aaron Knudson

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  3. the decision parents made to prevent boys from the game to the girls, maybe because of some religious excuses but i don't think their dicision showed ehough repect to girls.And it's obvious that their decision didn't works well so far.
    If they allow their boys to against girls in the football team,it can't be a problem,But now,it is.Maybe they should consider why

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  4. I think that this is a sport and this is the sport of the children, not of their parents. The kids should decide by themselves if they want to play or not. To don't let them play because of religious fews is just stupid. They shouldn't make differences between girls and boys in a sport. The fight of the coaches as a result of that is not just dumb, it gives the children a bad rolemodle.

    Anna R2

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  5. I think it's stupid that the coaches fought because they're setting a bad example for their players. Also if there is a girl playing football she is probably expecting herself to get hit.

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  6. I believe that this doesn't have to do with giving the girl equal treatment to the boy players. This has to do with proper edict. They didn't want to play with the girl because they wanted to respect her. Let's think of it this way. Say our class is playing six pins in the gym against another town. All of the players on the other team are boys except for one girl. Now, would you want to go after that one girl by hitting her with a ball, let alone tackling her in a game of football? I would be reluctant to do so. The football players didn't want to play the game because they cared about the girl. They wanted to show edict. This was a personal dilemma between the players themselves. However, I believe that the coaches went about it all wrong.

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  7. I think girls should be able to play for one if they could i would be out there playin. for the parent who said no because of reliogus belief, i think it is just dumb. if the parents of the girl who was playing din't have a problem with it then why should you.try and tell a little girl she cant play would crush her. and for the coach to punch the other coach was funny but wrong. maybe if they start a new girls football team would be a solution.

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  9. Yeah, I think it's pretty dumb that the coaches were fighting over that situation. If the girl wants to play let her play,she knows what she's getting into, she knows shes gonna get hit, and even tho the parents and other parents don't want their son to "hit" her..I mean seriously..it's just a sport. Its not like they're gonna totally punch her just for no reason. It's just playing the game. I think the coaches could of settled their differences like grown ups..not immature kids..and seriously if she can block two guys..then she's pretty much like one of the guys..so that makes a huge difference she's not gonna get totally hurt if she's that jacked up. :D

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  10. I think is a children sport and I don't believe that the guys would hit the girl. The goal of a sport is teach every players how to act in the sport aspect, so with the girl playing it would help the boys act more in this way. And it's just a game, without competitive spirit, so I don't believe it's a problem (Luiza E5)

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  11. I disagree with what Justin said because if I was playing on a guys team i would want to be treated the same way as them. I wouldn't want anybody to go easy on me just because I'm a girl!

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  12. I agree with Hannah on this because when I'm playing a sport, like hockey for example, there is boys and girls mixed on the ice and the girls like to be treated like the guys and be involved. They hate it when we go easy on them. The coaches shouldn't have gotten into a fist fight over this because they are someone that their players should be looking up to. I think that they should have just talked about it and controlled themselves and made a decision about the girl playing or not.

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  13. Let's not forget that the girl was a COMPLETE stranger. It is like going up to a girl you have never seen before and tackling her into the ground. I think that the other football team would feel very guilty if they hurt the girl. No matter how much the girl told them it wasn't their fault, they would still have that feeling of guilt. And yes Hannah, the football team wants to treat the girl the same as the other players. But their personal beliefs prevent them from doing that. They made the decision they did BECAUSE they care, not because they don't.

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  14. I think that the boys on the other team had a choice to make. They could have said i dont want to play because there is a girl on he other team and they didnt want to hurt her or they could have just acted normal about it and gone on like it was any other game because that was how the girl was looking at it. She is on a tackle football team so she should have expected to get hurt at some time. She made her choice by joining the team and now the other team has to make a choice on what they are going to do. I also think that when the other team said that they wouldnt play against her and her coach took her out of the game she should have just taken it. Her coach had the authority and she was under the authority to do as he told her to do. I dont think the coach made the right decision but she should have followed it anyway. When she came out on the field he couldnt just tell her to go sit back down, so that put him in a position that took him to the other coach where the fight happened, because of her and her parents. If she had just accepted and moved on this would have never happened.

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  15. What i think is that she should be able to play if she wants to she knows that its a contact sport. but i was raised to be kind to girls so i can see where the morlity of it comes in,but she should be treated like one of the guys. And what the coaches did was very immature they could have sat down and talked about it.

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  16. I think that any sport (reguardless of religion) that a girl should be able to play.
    As long as she knows what shes doing in the sport then there is no reason why she cant play.And if its ok with her parents

    -Kyle Hinkle-

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  17. If she is good enough then they should allow her to play. If she is better than most then they would at least allow her to play to win a game or two.

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  18. I think this is insane that these two coaches could get so worked up about something like this and need to brawl over it. Girls should be able to play with guys in any sport they want and follow the same rules. It was totally Mikayla's choice to play a contact sport with guys, so I'm sure she realizes that there is a good chance that she could be injured during play. These parents are setting a very sexist example for their kids by not letting them hit a girl in a sport, even if it is part of their religion. Also, the coaches definitely did not need to fight about this in front of their teams. They should have settled it privately without any flying fists.

    -Austin S5

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  19. The coaches fighting over this was pretty dumb. The girl should of been able to play even if she was a girl. If she is really good let her play, and the players that didnt want to play with her just because she was a girl are probally scared that they will get jacked up.

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  20. i think that the girl should have been able to play cause she was expecting to get hit. i mean for the other players to say that they would never hit a girl is understandable, its just i dont get why the coaches would brawl over it? And i understand if the parents would disagree to the idea to it, but it still should have let her play. but i think that some of the football players on the other team probably would have played against the girls team. They didn't even know how good she is and they should have given her a chance to show her full putential.

    -Johnathan B5

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  21. I don't think the guys didn't want to hit her because of proper edict, because think about it, in the halls in our school guys go out of their way to check girls or just randomly hit them all the time. If it was the guys on the other team saying they don't want to hit her because they want to be gentlemen about it thats great, but my guess it was probably the parents saying that to try and teach their kids the right thing. But another thing could be that players try whatever they can to get ahead in the game right? Well if they say that the girl can't play that's 1 more person that the other team loses so that could give them an advantage. That's how I look at it but either way, the coaches didn't have to fight even though that would have been sweet to watch!

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  23. Austin, is it sexist to teach your children to place girls above yourself? Don't get me wrong, I don't want you to pamper her or give her your full attention all the time. You should give or not give her the respect that she may or may not deserve. Sometimes, the way you should do something is by not doing anything at all. I realize that she was the one who joined the contact sport, but that doesn't subtract from the football players reluctance to play against her. And Drew, the guys do those things to the girls in our school because they know them very well.
    Let's say that a new student is passing by you in the hallway. Would you...
    A)respect her by ignoring her
    B)check her out
    C)hit or push her
    In the end, it is your own choice, but I, and those football players, would naturally go with (A).

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  24. For one thing this got way out of hand. There is no reason that this should have been a fist fight. I do think that the girl new the risk she was taking when she joined the football team with health wise. I agree with Hayden and Hannah because there is no reason they should have gone easy on them because girls are just as good as guys ins some sports. Also what are the kids going to think about these to role models fighting with there fists instead of being able to talk about it.

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  25. There shouldn't have even been an issue with a girl playing on the team. She is obviously good enough to play for wanting to be apart of football. And if she can block two players, there's no reason for her not to be on the team. It's pretty good if a girl can block two football players. They probably didn't want the girl playing because maybe she wouldn't be a good asset to the team or because she would embarrass the team. The two coaches could have settled this like adults rather than have an immature fist fight.

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  26. Well this just got ridiculously blown out of proportion in my opinion. At their age you should just let the girl play and I'm sure her and her parents are aware of the health risks. As far as the coaches fighting, that's crazy, you should be able 2 talk things out peacefully. If the boys don't want to "hit" the girl because of their religion i guess that's fine but if u asked the girl I'm sure she would let them tackle her. After all she did join a contact sport.

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  27. I agree with Hannah and Hayden.. if the girl signed up for the sport then she must know what she is getting herself into other wise she probably wouldnt have signed up and from past times i know that when us girls play hockey with the boys we dont like them to take it easy on us or make us feel weak.. we like to keep up and be ruff and have fun! Them fighting over it is a little much. They got a little too carried away on the issue.
    Megan Knott

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