This 'equality' thing has simply gone too far. Let's face reality: men and women, boys and girls, are different than one another. Sure, we are all human beings. But one is male, and one is female. We were created differently by God, and sexual organs were not the only difference. Men are generally bigger, faster, stronger than women. Not always, of course, but in general and in the vast majority of instances. In school athletics there have always been boys sports and girls sports, and athlets should stay playing within their sexes. Could you imagine allowing, for instance, Koby Bryant to play on Lower Merion's girls basketball team when he was a student at the school? Simply stated, Lower Merion would be unbeatable. Also, Bryant would be taking a roster spot from some girl who would have made the team were it not for his becoming a ridiculous interloper.
A similar bastardization of 'Title IX' played out this past Saturday in Whitehall, Pennsylvania as Wyoming Seminary defeated Merion Mercy in the PIAA Class AA field hockey championship by a 3-2 score. A junior at WS, JaJa Kentwell, scored two goals to provide the margin of victory. Kentwell had missed WS' semi-final victory while away in Germany, playing for the U.S. indoor team, but made sure to come back for this state title match.
Kentwell was playing for the U.S. Men's indoor team, that is. Kentwell is a boy playing with the Wyoming Seminary girls team.
After WS won the game, Kentwell, the only boy on the field, was asked how he felt. "It's hard to describe", he said. Let me describe it for you then, JaJa. You just beat a girls team. Congratulations, pal. Hope that you're proud, big guy.
This is not meant to be a knock against women athletes in any way, especially Merion Mercy's team in particular. The fact is, Merion Mercy was the best girl's field hockey team on the field. Unfortunately, the other team was co-ed and used not only a boy, but a world-class boy who plays for his country. WS should be ashamed, but they probably aren't. There is, of course, a rule that allows for such things. That rule is a joke.
Merion Mercy should be congratulated for putting up such a good fight and making the final result close. Their girls outscored the WS girls by 2-1. But WS ultimately won the championship, thanks to their world-class boy player. Congratulations, Wyoming Seminary. Don't forget to thank the boy who just won your 'girls' (sic) championship.
12 comments:
this is a ridiculous article.
Well said. It is just not fair. It should be just for the girls and Kentwell and play for the US team. He got his exposure and now he can play for the men's team and let the girl play
Hi Gang. Glad to see that someone out there has apprently found this article and found it of interest. I frankly had no rooting interest in this local girls field hockey team. But as a lifelong sports fan and player, the fact is that this 'Ja Ja' is the only thing 'ridiculous' about the whole situation. At least in his playing for a girls team. Unfair, stupid reading of the rules, and utterly foolish. The WS girls should have spoken up and out, and the kid should have been benched.
Thanks for the support, I'm on Merion's team and you completely captured our feelings on the situation.
Whether Jah-Jah doesn't try or not isn't the point. He shouldn't be playing on a girls team, period. The only people who would feel otherwise are his personal friends.
You're right. It's just too bad some 6'9" monster doesn't feel like playing high school hoops for his girls team, the stupidity of the idea would be on clear display then, as it should be here.
I've been following Philly-area high school sports for a long time, and this one was ridiculous. The 'Blue Knights' girls field hockey team should be red-faced with embarrassment to display that tainted championship trophy in their trophy case.
ok first off this article is very biased and if a guy wants to play field hockey let the kid play.. even if he is better than everyone else on the field. if the school had a guys field hockey program then it would be a different story, but they dont so give the kid some slack. if the kid didnt have talent then this wouldnt even be looked as a big deal and everyone would just live their lives as they normally did. congratulations Wyoming Semenary
i play on a girls field hockey team. and i am also friends with jaja. he is the nicest smartest most sensitive guy i have ever met. he is my best friend. i do not go to sem, and i have gotten beaten by sem. he truely feels for the people who write bad about him. i said i feel so bad for you jaj, and he said don't feel bad for me feel bad for the people who write about me.he is my hero. and these horrid things you write don't hurt him, they hurt the people who love him. the people who care about him. his mother,father,brother and friends is who it reall hurts. please, talk about something else. pick on someone your own size.
'Anonymous' calls the article biased, yet fails to explain such a comment? Where is the bias, against boys/men playing in games where all the other participants are girls/women? Yup, then call me biased.
Better than everyone else on the field? Puh-lease! Again, if Kobe Bryant played in the WNBA, he would be 'better than everyone on the field'. In fact, so would ANY NBA player. Does that mean it would be something they should take pride in? Leave the girls to play with the girls.
Ms. Overman's friendship is admirable, we all need and deserve good friends who support us. However, that should not include BLIND friendship. Real friends aren't afraid to let us know when we are wrong, sensitive or not.
Tell your friend that he is wrong to be an elite-level athlete in a sport and to be participating in that sport against the girls. That would be honest, and that would be helpful to him, rather than saying "Yay, Ja-Ja, you're so wonderful. You beat the girls. Yay!"
The fact is that Jaja should have the equal opportunity to play the sport he wishes, and in the absence of a men's team at Seminary, it would be denying him a right to play high school sports. I'm sorry, but everyone who makes an argument here comes off overtly sexist or bitter.
Who says that 'Jaja should have the equal opportunity to play the sport he wishes'? He is going to SCHOOL, correct? He has a 'right' to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic.
As far as his choice of high schools, did someone put a gun to his or his parents heads? Are there schools in America that provide men's field hockey teams? He could have attended those. He also could attend SCHOOL, and left the game-playing for outside teams, clubs, organizations, etc.
Sexist? Far from it. I'm the happy father of three daughters, grandfather to a wonderful granddaughter. Love them all. Don't want them denied their opportunity at a sports championship because some man/boy wanted to dominate them to prove his manhood.
Bitter? To what end? I have zero rooting interest in any of these schools, or in field hockey in particular for that matter. I'm sorry, but everyone here who makes an argument on behalf of Jaja is either a friend, classmate, schoolmate, teammate, etc.
But hey, go for it, Jaja. Beat up on the girls again. It should really prove something. Shame to for the rest of their lives, your teammates will KNOW for a FACT that without a boy on their team, they NEVER would have been victorious in the games that crowned them as 'champions' (sic)...
Hi Gang. This is going to be my final commentary on this now year-old topic, rather than continually replying to every response that pops up every few months.
First, let me say thanks. This has been by FAR the most on-site response that my blog has ever received. That is mostly a credit to young Mr. Kantwell's friends and fans. He is lucky to have you.
My position is clear, I think it's ridiculous to have men playing on women's athletic teams. Every school should not be expected to financially support every type of athletic endeavor. If your favored school doesn't have a sport, then go to a different school that has it, or play the sport outside of school.
A womens/girls team that utilizes a world-class male player in a key role on their team to narrowly win a championship has, in my opinion, taken advantage of a politically and culturally liberal rule and is actually a loser. Make the shape of an 'L' on your foreheads.
This is no attack on the young man beyond his immaturity in being able to see the totality of the effect of his selfish actions here. Being a typical teenage male, I cannot hold that against him, or expect much more. Been there myself. Can't hold it against the school, because their hand is forced.
I hold it against his parents, who should either have directed him to a different school that provided a mens/boys field hockey program, or who should have counseled him to avoid the girls team and simply told him to go to school for academics, leaving the field hockey playing to an outside club team.
I feel bad in the end for three people and groups. First, to his opponents, at least a couple of whom would have beaten his team and won a championship under fairer circumstances. Next, to his own teammates, who will never be able to measure their true worth as a girls team.
Finally, I feel the most for the girl who got cut and missed out on the opportunity to participate, who would have made the team had this boy not decided he needed to play girls field hockey. Even riding the bench, she would have had a fun and unforgettable experience.
I hope that JaJa Kentwell has a great life, and as an American hope he represents our country well and brings home gold of the USA. I also hope that as he grows older and matures as an adult, the he realizes the mistake he has made in playing with the girls, and speaks out against it happening again, hopefully before his own daughter is one day victimized by the same situation.
Wow, someone else stumbled upon this article, now almost a year and a half old. Okay, I'll give it one more moment of my valuable time.
BUT NOTE: Simply because the debate has stretched out to it's obvious and inevitable conclusion, no more comments will be approved for posting under this topic.
So here I stand accused of being the reason that field hockey is not an accepted sport in America now? That laughable comment on it's own almost makes this post not worth responding to, but I'll still continue.
If it were a fact that the young man here had no other outlet available to him than to play on his high school girl's hockey team, I might, might feel sorry for him.
However, the fact is that he played for at least one club team and played for the U.S. national team. He had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the game that he loves without imposing his dominance on these girls.
Only an idiot would consider that because one boy, or even dozens of boys across the country, have a "passion for his sport" that they should then be permitted to play on the girls team at their high school. Again, there are plenty of private or club opportunities to express your "passion" against your own level of competition.
The fact that this young man may have coached your daughter and done a wonderful job with it has nothing at all to do with my point here, of course. I never said the kid was Satan, or that he was a bad person. He simply made the wrong decision, and in doing so has permanently affected any number of girls in a bad way.
The girls at Wyoming Seminary know full well that every time they look at that "championship" trophy (sic), they won it by cheating. And the poor girls at Merion Mercy, the best all-girls team on the field, were absolutely robbed of a possible once in a lifetime moment.
The real shame in all of this is when people, some of them adults, can't admit that they or the people that they love have made a mistake, and immediately go on the defensive. You would be far better off guiding the young man in making better decisions, not in defending his bad ones.
Amen.
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