14U pregnant player

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Jul 5, 2010
8
0
My 13 yr DD was at a local 14U tournament yesterday and there was a 6-month pregnant girl playing. Yes I said 14U and yes I said pregnant! Does anyone else have a problem with this or am I just to old? I have a couple of problems with it!

1) For the safety of the girl and the baby

2) For the mental damage it would do to the other girls playing against her if they did something to hurt the girl or the baby
 
Jan 23, 2010
802
0
VA, USA
I can't imagine a coach letting a girl continue to play if she was pregnant. There's too much risk... if she got hit by a pitch in the stomach, or sliding, or just anything could happen. I wonder what the tournament director thought of it...
 
Mar 13, 2010
1,758
48
I had this experience last year. We slaughtered the team in the semi final. We won by 10 runs. With me (first string pitcher) sitting on the bench the whole game. The following week, in the prelim, the team we beat had their number on pitcher pitch. Who was six months pregnant. She was DPd, but it still shook the other team incredibly. (official complaints were made) They did the same the following week in the GF. We were pretty annoyed, but thankfully we had a week's warning. We did turned it into our advantage by bunting to pitcher for most of the game. She struggled to get most of the balls and we got even our slowest runners to first by bunting to her. Her speed dropped off significantly.

It's incredibly selfish and incredibly stupid. As a result, there are now by-laws at my association to prevent it happening again.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
I have mixed feelings about this and could probably be swayed by arguments, either way. I have seen older girls continue to play volleyball, without any ill effects. I remember a recent case where a mother sued a school because although her DD was still allowed on the team, the coach didn't put her in the matches. She had a doctor's release.

Once a player has a note from a doctor, I don't question it. But, I am used to sprained ankles, not pregnancy.

Do I want to cut a young lady from a TB team because she is pregnant? No. Do I want to risk her and the baby's health? No.

I am trying really hard in my old age to accept that teens have sex. And, of course, they always have. I think a full 10% of the girls in my graduating class in HS (1972) were pregnant and yes, one or two had gotten pregnant at age 14. Hopefully, that is still unusual, though.

So, here I am - a great big fence sitter on whether she should play or not.
 
Jan 23, 2010
802
0
VA, USA
Lozza--how old is the age group that you are playing in?

At fourteen years old, the girl is probably not even able to comprehend some of the danger she is putting herself and her child in. I don't see any reason why the girl can't remain on the team, but I don't feel that she should be playing while she is pregnant.

This also brings up another question... I've heard girls talk about travel teams that have rules concerning players dating and their sexual activities. I know a girl who played on a team that if the coach found out you were having sex, you would be kicked off. I don't think that ever actually happened, but he wanted his girls to be "model citizens".
 
Mar 13, 2010
1,758
48
Lozza--how old is the age group that you are playing in?

I'm 27 and the girl I was playing (in open) was older than me. We do play juniors, but it's not common.

I know a girl who played on a team that if the coach found out you were having sex, you would be kicked off.

That's so disgusting and patriarchal.
 
Sep 6, 2009
393
0
State of Confusion
That's so disgusting and patriarchal.

Not necessarily, but may depend on age. If you did that at 18 you wouldnt have many players left. A coach selects players based on how they fit into his/her team and his standards, morals, etc. The same is true for schools, etc. He can get rid of them for any reason he wants, anything that is disruptive to team morals, unity, etc. Many long time coaches have lost talented girls to that before, and dont even want boys hanging around them at all.
 
Jul 26, 2010
3,567
0
I'd cut a girl in 14u or even 16u for being pregnant. Any Gold coach would do the same. I also cut girls for getting F's and not improving (we check grades and help with tutoring) and for getting suspended, so it'd be pretty hypocritical for not cutting them for getting pregnant.

Come to think of it, I'd cut a girl for being in the batting cage without protection (a helmet), so why is it silly to cut a girl for not using protection in life? It isn't about having sex, it's about being intelligent about it.

The good news is that most studies show that girls who play sports (even rec sports) are HALF as likely to get pregnant then girls that do not play sports. HALF as likely, that's HUGE. The truth is that if you keep them busy, they won't have time to get bored. When they're bored is when they'll get into trouble.

I wouldn't forfeit a game because the pitcher was pregnant, however, I'm not sure how I'd handle one of my players fearful of going up to bat due to concern over hitting a line drive to the pitcher (and most of the time they're told to hit to center). How would you handle that?

-W
 
Jan 23, 2010
802
0
VA, USA
I'm 27 and the girl I was playing (in open) was older than me. We do play juniors, but it's not common.
I didn't realize you were that old. At that age, you would think the pitcher would have had enough sense to not play while pregnant.
Not necessarily, but may depend on age. If you did that at 18 you wouldnt have many players left. A coach selects players based on how they fit into his/her team and his standards, morals, etc. The same is true for schools, etc. He can get rid of them for any reason he wants, anything that is disruptive to team morals, unity, etc. Many long time coaches have lost talented girls to that before, and dont even want boys hanging around them at all.
Exactly where I'm coming from with that. In some instances, it's not a bad idea. With that little rule, you are going to make girls think twice. A lot of higher level, elite athletes aren't even allowed to date. Not that they have time.

I'd cut a girl in 14u or even 16u for being pregnant. Any Gold coach would do the same. I also cut girls for getting F's and not improving (we check grades and help with tutoring) and for getting suspended, so it'd be pretty hypocritical for not cutting them for getting pregnant.

Come to think of it, I'd cut a girl for being in the batting cage without protection (a helmet), so why is it silly to cut a girl for not using protection in life? It isn't about having sex, it's about being intelligent about it.

The good news is that most studies show that girls who play sports (even rec sports) are HALF as likely to get pregnant then girls that do not play sports. HALF as likely, that's HUGE. The truth is that if you keep them busy, they won't have time to get bored. When they're bored is when they'll get into trouble.

I wouldn't forfeit a game because the pitcher was pregnant, however, I'm not sure how I'd handle one of my players fearful of going up to bat due to concern over hitting a line drive to the pitcher (and most of the time they're told to hit to center). How would you handle that?

-W
What level do you coach at? I had a discussion recently and said that if I ever got involved at the travel ball level, I would require some sort of get together day for players to work on homework and get help. The only thing that I disagree with in your post is when you talk about not using protection in life--accidents happen. Contraceptives fail. A ton of people end up pregnant due to contraception failures.

If my team was facing a team with a pregnant player, I have no idea how we'd handle it honestly... I hope that never happens.
 
Jul 26, 2010
3,567
0
A ball in the summer, B this fall though (kinda one of those "we really need you to help with this. . ." situations). Anyway, the way we do it is that the girls have open indoor batting practice during the week. They're only required to attend 1 night a week, but most show up to two or three. The rule is that the girls do their homework before beginning their workout. We have a table and chairs set up for this. Because this is an open organization thing, we have players from 10 to 18 years old there at any given time (the 10u have a seperate night, we slow the machines down a bit, everyone else uses the same speeds), we utilize this and have all the girls help out their "sisters" with tutoring if they have trouble with any particular assignments. IF a girl is doing particularly poorly, we have a group of private tutors we can recommend or sometimes even have some of our older player (who have volunteered for such) work with them.

If a girl is not passing a class, in lieu of batting/pitching practice they study instead. This is still mandatory. We help them with communication with their teachers and as soon as we get a note back that the class is being passed they're allowed to resume training.

We have lost players due to this. There are always parents who don't want to pay for travel softball when their daughter is spending their time (and money) doing homework and studying, but we're also very clear about it up front. We want all of our girls to be able to look around them and see real life role models who are not only very good at softball, but understand how to balance it with school. We also set up SAT prep classes and have extra tutoring help for all of our girls who are taking the tests, not just the ones struggling in school.

I think that what you find with travel ball at higher levels is that there are two schools of thought. There's the one side that wants to win trophies (usually the dads less so the kids) and the other side that thinks it's a road to college. There are pro's and cons of both sides and I won't get into that here, but from what I've said I think you can tell which side of the fence I'm on. If we're trying to get them into a good school, then we should understand that it's going to take more then softball skills to do so. It would be great to just say "well it's their parents job to do X,Y,Z", but in the end, if you want something done you need to do it yourself, and since we care about our players, working to give them every chance to help them achieve their goals is the least we can do.

-W
 

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