Female Kicker Dismissed From Christian Team… Because She’s a Girl
September 10, 2008 by mhueter
Filed under From the blogosphere, Sports Headlines, football
I recently came across an article from the Title IX blog which discusses how female kicker Kacy Stuart, a prospective high school place-kicker in Georgia, was dismissed from the New Creation Center Crusaders, a private Christian academy in McDonough, Ga.
Why? Because she’s a girl.
And here’s the kicker (hehe)…. she can kick 50 yard field goals!
Apparently she had been practicing with the Crusaders for two months. According to Kacy’s mother, that all ended when executive board chairman Hank St. Denis discovered a girl was playing on the team.
“St. Denis then requested Kacy not be allowed to play, effectively overturning New Creation’s decision to grant her a spot on the team,” says ESPN.
Now, that doesn’t sound very “Christian” to me.
This is all very different from Kacy’s middle school experience. At Union Grove Middle School, a public institution, Kacy and her team went to the state finals.
According to an article in Current, Kacy’s talent was discovered by her high school gym teacher.
“I was playing kickball in 8th grade and my P.E. teacher saw me kick. He thought I had potential, so I played on his football team,” Kacy said.
Kacy’s mother said,
“We’ll file for an injunction if we have to. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep her on the team.”
Love her!
Here’s Kacy’s view of the whole thing…
Kacy says sometimes people ask her why she doesn’t play a “girl” sport, or why she’s not a cheerleader. “People were built for different things,” she said. “I’m built to be a kicker. I just don’t understand why people don’t accept the fact that I like football and I want to play football.”
Go Kacy! I hope you win! You deserve to be out there.
Kacy’s mom posted over in my forums a few days ago. I’m glad to see she is fighting this and getting a lot of support in the process!
This kind of thing makes me soooo angry. I hope Kacy gets her opportunity to play. It’s ridiculous that girls who play football still have to deal with discrimination in this day and age.
Soooo wait, you’re upset that she’s being treated like any boy that wanted to play a girls sport? This is what gets you upset? An isolated incident of equality?
I hate to break it to you, but in about 47 states boys – no matter how large or small or how talented are not – are not allowed to take a girl’s position in any girl’s sport. On the other hand, in every state, girls can take as many of the boys positions as they are capable with a very few exeptions – this one instance and the 3 states that have separate wrestling for girls. That’s even before you get into all the boys sports cut for quota or not even allowed to be because of quota.
Is it really moral to be outraged that one girl is being treated just like thousands of boys?
Welcome to the club, Kacy.
Aaron,
Your argument is tired and old. Boys have the thier own sports teams in all the sports girls play. Girls do not have a football team, and if they do it is powderpuff and is played once a year. She is not afforded the equality for her talent. If there was a female team I am sure there would be no issue to even write about. But alas it is the on sport women are left out of.
Emily,
You’re information isn’t tired and old, it’s simply simply wrong.
You see, I happened to get into this mess because my godson started playing field hockey to keep in shape. So there’s one sport. Then added to that, in Missouri, my step son plays lacrosse. Well due to the wonderfully sexist Title IX directives, last year girls’ lacrosse with fewer teams and less history was sanctioned but the boys were ignored. I’m not saying that the girls shouldn’t have been – I’m saying they should have to meet the same standards as the boys. Not only that, I happened to be on a volleyball team in the 90′s – a boys’ volleyball team that came in third in state. Don’t look for us on the MSHSAA website though. Even with more teams and a longer history that what got girls’ lax sanctioned, we were club teams. We had to pay for everything ourselves – league fees, refs, uniforms, balls, even rent on the gym and the net. The girls were completely funded. We were told we needed to have x number of teams and a tournament for x number of years. We didn’t realize until later that the standards for the girls were simply to be able to have a team.
What about the boys that row crew? Softball? Heck, some schools have girls’ soccer teams but not not boys because of Title IX. Not only that, the girls are allowed to play on boys teams even if they have teams of their own in the state or their own school. So even if there are matching sports, say boys and girls soccer, the girls are free to take boys’ spots, but not vice versa.
We weren’t affored the equality for our talent, thousands of boys aren’t.
You have ONE instance of her being denied because of her gender. I can supply you with literally thousands of instances where it happened to boys. From individual boys being denied the same rights that 99.999% of girls have, to whole teams being denied existance up to the demise of whole sports at the hands of Title IX discrimination. Look at the number of teams cut in wrestling, swimming, gymnastics, track, and cross country.
But alas, those are a few of the many sports men are left out of.
Please Support Kacy and write or call Hank St. Dennise. I’m still hoping he has a soft spot.
Hank St. Dennis
905 Ferncroft Court
Roswell, Ga. 30075
770-714-5775
Thanks,
Angie Stuart
Angie,
Thanks for posting that! I will put up another blog post calling all of my readers to support Kacy.
Thanks so much, and best of luck. Keep me updated!
Megan
God forbid we limit a girl to equal rights.
Just remember, you are fighting for special privileges based on gender. You are teaching a whole new generation that discrimination is acceptable. Congratulations
Sexist pigs
Actually, Aaron, you’re completely wrong.
The law, created on June 23, 1972, is applicable to only federally funded institutions, and is concerned primarily with financial distribution (not which particular sports are offered)
It says,
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
It is administered by the Department of Education, and this is what they have to say about it:
(1) Whether the selection of sports and levels of competition effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of members of both sexes; (2) The provision of equipment and supplies; (3) Scheduling of games and practice time; (4) Travel and per diem allowance; (5) Opportunity to receive coaching and academic tutoring; (6) Assignment and compensation of coaches and tutors; (7) Provision of locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities; (8) Provision of medical and training facilities and services; (9) Provision of housing and dining facilities and services; (10) Publicity. Unequal aggregate expenditures for members of each sex or unequal expenditures for male and female teams if a recipient operates or sponsors separate teams will not constitute noncompliance with this section, but the Assistant Secretary [of Education for Civil Rights] may consider the failure to provide necessary funds for teams for one sex in assessing equality of opportunity for members of each sex.
How does that seem sexist or discriminatory?
If you have an issue, I suggest you take it up with the Department of Education.
As for your son’s lacrosse team, that’s truly unfortunate. You need to take it up with the head of that athletic administration. They are not administering their funds in ways that benefits various male sports (maybe they’re investing too much in basketball and football???)
First, before you talk to anyone, I suggest you do some research on what the law is so you don’t look so dumb.
Ms. Hueter,
It’s nice that you explain the intent of the law. Unfortunately, I wonder if you actually understand how it is implemented. (Really, are you that dumb, or are you maliciously hiding the truth?) The big problem with Title IX is that it’s current implementation is in fact in direct opposition to the original intent. Too many feminists decided they wanted equality of outcomes, not opportunities so with the help of Norma Cantu turned it into the quota law that it is today.
So I’ll ask you… what are the three ways the OCR monitors compliance?
Next, which one is the most difficult to prove – so much so that it is nearly impossible to be used?
So which two are left? and what happens if you take them both to full fruition?
Yes, sexism
We’ve taken it up with the administration. It’s not a matter of money. It’s a matter that because of Title IX the boys participation is limited to the girls’ interest level. YOU COMPLETELY HID THAT FACT. Then, let’s assume you are right, then why is it football or basketball? I think they spent too much money on the new theater and dance studio. We should cut down on those. (yes that was sarcasm to point out your sexism)
Next time you try to call someone dumb, you might want to tell the complete story. If not you look ignorant or amoral.
Stop picking on the young boys. Stop hiding the truth! Stop making excuses for sexism. I know this because I’ve seen what it does to boys like my son and even more so to the inner city African American boys I work with.
If you think it’s such a great idea… let’s expand it. Let’s apply it to college admissions. From now on, we start telling girls no matter how much the work, no matter how much desire they have, they can’t go because the boys aren’t coming.
Oh, and the DoE is as big of problem with this as they were with ignoring it before. The law needs to be modified to prevent discrimination, not ignore, encourage, or require it.
Here are the three tiers:
1) Equal opportunity to participate for men and women
2) Equal funding for both men’s and women’s sports
3) meeting the needs of the underrepresented sex
The third is NOT difficult to prove at all.
Check out this ESPN article, which clearly explains the fact that women are under-represented:
http://espn.go.com/gen/womenandsports/020619title9.html
# While women comprise approximately 54 percent of the enrollment in the 832 schools that responded to the NCAA’s 1999-2000 Gender Equity Study, they account for only 41 percent of the athletes. This violates Title IX’s premise that the ratio of female athletes and male athletes should be roughly equivalent to the overall proportion of female and male students.
# According to 2000-2001 figures, men’s college programs still maintain significant advantages over women’s in average scholarships (60.5 percent), operating expenses (64.5 percent), recruiting expenses (68.2 percent) and head coaching salaries (59.5 percent).
# Only 44 percent of the head coaches of women’s teams are female, an all-time low that represents less than half the pre-Title IX figure.
Really
Do you have any idea what you are talking about?
This would be so much easier if you knew what you were talking about or had some sort of desire in equal treatment.
But, in the interest of setting the facts straight – and preventing the further dissemination of inaccurate sexist propaganda, here are the
answers:
“One of the best-known tests for an institution’s compliance with Title IX is the so-called “three-prong test” used by the OCR, which enforces Title IX for the Department of Education. The OCR looks at:
1) Relative participation rates of men and women in varsity athletics compared to the ratio of men to women in the undergraduate student body;
2) An institution’s history of program expansion for members of the underrepresented sex;
3) The extent to which the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex are being accommodated.”
Not only that, the third is very hard to prove. The OCR has accepted that clause in less than .5% of cases. Basically, the fundamental assumption is that even if you ask, beg, or bribe girls to play a sport, if they don’t then it MUST be because of sexism. Not only that, when the Bush administration directed the DoE to accept an email survey as a test for the third prong, the women’s groups put the schools on notice that in now way should a female college scholar athlete be expected to read and respond to an email.
Now, even accepting those are true, you seem to have a problem with reading comprehension. You completely missed that the interest prong is designed to make sure that the INTERESTS of the under represented. The question isn’t if they are under represented, that’s why they keep cutting men’s sports. That’s now they get to the quotas. So that means that every girl gets to play before the boys waiting do. Not only that, assuming you can actually just ask the girls if they want to play and get them to understand the question, answer it truthfully, and knowledgeably (the feminists say the girls can’t handle this) then you can allow more boys to play sports. The problem is, that’s for a year. So you ask all of the girls, you allow boys to play, then the next year new girls come in and 8 girls decide they want to do fencing. Doesn’t matter how much it is, doesn’t matter how long it will last, doesn’t matter if there are 200 boys waiting for lacrosse, wrestling etc – the girls get first priority.
Please, even if you believe in this retributive sexism as much as you portray, at least get your facts right.
Dude, I just layed out the three prongs in my previous comment. I can’t have this argument with you anymore. Sorry. You’re kindof crazy.
Megan, read them again, your prongs were wrong. Thus my point and as I said my main goal was to correct your misinformation and malformed logic
Finances are an add-on. Get it right – especially before calling someone dumb. I mean really, one good google search from a reputable website will give you the answer many times over. A seventh grader can handle that better than you did.
Either way, somehow I’m sure you mistake being right for being crazy all the time.