After reading the chapter, “Being a Woman and Other Disabilities”, from Professor LaVaque-Manty’s book, I found a plethora of relations to youth sports in the United States. Stemming from my own experiences with the sports I played growing up, and the knowledge I have of other sports, I find that opportunity and equality do not seem to coincide for youth athletics. The biggest, and rightly most important, factor for youth athletics is the necessity of safety. That’s great and all, but this commitment to safety actually hinders young players from reaching the aspirations they may have for themselves internally. The rules of youth sports don’t present children with equal opportunities to grow as athletes.
One example that came to mind regards youth football, specifically the marking of heavier weight kids. The American Youth Football (AYF) and Cheer’s mission statement describes the importance of “safety.” In Pee Wee football leagues (in my state the youth football leagues were called “Pee Wee”, I have no idea why, beats me), they marked an “X” with tape on certain players who weighed more than a certain amount. These players had to stay on the offensive/defensive line; they weren’t allowed to play positions like running back, wide receiver, or quarterback. From perusing around the AYF website, I’m not entirely certain how the rule is specifically conducted or how it’s handled currently, but I do remember this rule holding place when I grew up. I didn’t actually play football myself, but I don’t think it is fair to designate specific players, and not allow them to play certain positions solely because of their weight. It may be difficult for them (as little kids) to actually put into words how they feel, but kids certainly enjoy competition, no matter how young. Children understand what a touchdown is and what it’s like to get past a defender. They might not understand the consequences of certain outcomes within the game, but they can absolutely still gain a sense of euphoria from running for a first down. Unfortunately, they also are capable of recognizing when they aren’t allowed to play quarterback because they weigh too much, even though their favorite player and role model might be Russell Wilson. In a way, these children, who weigh more, are “disabled” since they are forbidden from certain aspects of the game. Mika stated that “a liberal democratic state ensures that you have a right to pursue a job (external good) but no entitlement to one (internal good)” (135). Apparently the AYF doesn’t agree: if heavier weight kids are disallowed from playing QB, a “job”, then their rights are taken away.
Knowshon Moreno thinking of the children.
A different aspect of youth sports that I personally felt growing up was the impact caused by having access to resources. In the chapter, Mika discussed how for competition to be truly meaningful, everyone had to have an equal opportunity to win. He also noted that this was rarely the case due to an unequal access to resources for some people, thus not allowing them the same amount of time to spend practicing and developing their skills, therefore not giving them an equal chance to win. I grew up in a state that, just like here in Michigan, was covered by a blanket of snow when the winter came around. I always played soccer growing up, but it became essentially impossible to play on a field from early November into late April.
We often would travel to Las Vegas in February to play in tournaments. However, we always found ourselves bothered by the fact that the teams we played from states like Nevada, California, and Arizona could play year-round, thus giving them greater opportunities to play. These teams usually beat us, which kind of sucked, but there were a few times where we did pretty well. So the question I have, now that I’ve reflected back on those experiences, is whether or not those tournaments were meaningful competition. Using Professor LaVaque-Manty’s proposal, they would not be. Not all the participants had equal opportunities to win because there were varying skills and abilities. The best teams were always able to play soccer on a yearly basis, they were not disabled by the hindrance of weather, which we received from living further north. Therefore, according to the definition proposed by Professor Mika, these tournaments do not exhibit meaningful participation.
However, I still enjoyed these tournaments. They were meaningful to me in that I was able to play a sport I wanted to, even though my team often struggled to be victorious. I enjoyed the challenge of playing these foreign teams, and sometimes we even played international games (we once tied a team from the Dominican Republic). To me, that was absolutely meaningful.
What I’m reaching towards is that I guess I have a different definition of what makes competition meaningful than Mika talked about in the chapter. I don’t think meaningful competition comes from the equality of opportunity for all participants. “Meaningful” and “equality” are two different phenomena that can exist separately. An event can be both meaningful and display fair and equal opportunities. Simultaneously, any event could be one but not the other.
Regardless, we’ll always love sports.
They sure do bring out the best in us.
Touchdown Theory 