14U pregnant player

sluggers said:

The issue of whether an athlete should participate in a sport is up to the athlete and his/her doctor. If a child has a doctor's note saying she is fit to play, then no coach or organization should overrule their decision. Anything else, and you have male coaches subjugating females for being female.

E.g., what does "showing" mean? Does that mean an overweight athlete can pitch into her 3rd trimester while the underweight athlete has to quit after one month? It is totally, completely arbitrary.

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Whether she can "participate in a sport" may be up to her, her parents and her doctor. However, whether she (AT AGE 14) can participate in a game on my team is my call. Had this happen on 8th grade school team - 3 years ago, she quit - it worked itself out. However, we are forgetting one aspect of this conversation - it is ILLEGAL for a 14yoa to engage in the acts that got her that way. If you catch a 14yoa using meth, shoplifting, stealing a car on your team, cheating in school - how do you handle that? If she is the victim of a crime - I may handle it differently - hope I never have to make that call.

There are consequences for your actions and if a kid on my team shows up pregnant - I'm afraid we ask her to sit out a season.

sluggers said:

The issue of whether an athlete should participate in a sport is up to the athlete and his/her doctor. If a child has a doctor's note saying she is fit to play, then no coach or organization should overrule their decision. Anything else, and you have male coaches subjugating females for being female.

E.g., what does "showing" mean? Does that mean an overweight athlete can pitch into her 3rd trimester while the underweight athlete has to quit after one month? It is totally, completely arbitrary.

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No, she's not being 'subjugated for being female', she's being excused from a contact sport for being pregnant.

It's analogous to the 'in plain sight' standard applied to police-gathered evidence. It's wrong to invade personal privacy on the basis of rumor and innuendo, so if a girl successfully hid her pregnancy, then yes, she would be allowed to continue playing and in so doing, she would assume any and all risks associated with her activity.

If we don't know she's pregnant, we cannot possibly be held liable for the safety of her unborn child. If we do know, however, then our organization has an obligation to act responsibly. Without an absolute guarantee of protection from liability based upon the clearance of her physician and guardians, she would not play with us, period.

I haven't see the OP come back to tell us how he knew she was 6 months pregnant, yet. I had a mom come up to me the other day and I felt myself start to say, "Oh, I didn't know you were pregnant." Thank goodness, I didn't say that, because she wasn't. I've had 3 children and I thought she was pregnant.

Anyway, here is a pic of my DD when she was nearly 6 months along, at age 21 - and no, she was not on a team. But anyway, looks can be deceiving.

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Amy, you raise a good point. How does the OP know that the girl was pregnant? Was she rubbing her belly, making it obvious? Maybe she just could have been a 14yo with a gut.

sluggers said:

The issue of whether an athlete should participate in a sport is up to the athlete and his/her doctor. If a child has a doctor's note saying she is fit to play, then no coach or organization should overrule their decision. Anything else, and you have male coaches subjugating females for being female.

E.g., what does "showing" mean? Does that mean an overweight athlete can pitch into her 3rd trimester while the underweight athlete has to quit after one month? It is totally, completely arbitrary.

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I have a bit of a problem with the bolded statement. I am a female coach, and there is NO WAY I would allow a pregnant player on the field. I also lean toward releasing her from the team. Yes kids have sex. Yes, you can't stop it. Yes, accidents happen. HOWEVER, people seem to have forgotten that there are logical, natural consequences to one's actions.

Call me old-fashioned or closed-minded, or whatever you like, but I do not want my kids or my players thinking that it's okay to be having sex at that age.

First, please remember that I am assuming that a doctor has said that the child and fetus won't be harmed by playing softball. If there is a documented safety problem, then, the child shouldn't play.

There is nothing more essential "female" than being pregnant. Excluding girls from playing sports simply because they are pregnant is blatant gender discrimination.

As long as female athletes look like male athletes (e.g., they don't "show"), then they can play. But once it becomes obvious that they are not male athletes, then they are excluded from participation.

Of course, boys will boys, and the father will no doubt be attending football, basketball, baseball, judo, and karate tournaments.

logical, natural consequences to one's actions

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What is the logical, natural consequence of getting pregnant? It is having a baby, not being banned from playing softball.

Without an absolute guarantee of protection from liability based upon the clearance of her physician and guardians, she would not play with us, period.

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That is reasonable. So, then she could play for your organization.

However, we are forgetting one aspect of this conversation - it is ILLEGAL for a 14yoa to engage in the acts that got her that way

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lawdawg--you are wrong. It is not per se illegal for a 14YOA girl to have sex. It might be illegal for someone to have sex with her--e.g., a man over 18YOA could be charged with statutory rape. And, she might be accused of statutory rape because she had sex with an underage boy, e.g., if she had sex with a 13 YOA boy. But, the girl has committed no crime simply because she had sex.

sluggers said:

First, please remember that I am assuming that a doctor has said that the child and fetus won't be harmed by playing softball. If there is a documented safety problem, then, the child shouldn't play.
The key word being child.

There is nothing more essential "female" than being pregnant. Excluding girls from playing sports simply because they are pregnant is blatant gender discrimination.

As long as female athletes look like male athletes (e.g., they don't "show"), then they can play. But once it becomes obvious that they are not male athletes, then they are excluded from participation.

Of course, boys will boys, and the father will no doubt be attending football, basketball, baseball, judo, and karate tournaments.



What is the logical, natural consequence of getting pregnant? It is having a baby, not being banned from playing softball.



That is reasonable. So, then she could play for your organization.




lawdawg--you are wrong. It is not per se illegal for a 14YOA girl to have sex. It might be illegal for someone to have sex with her--e.g., a man over 18YOA could be charged with statutory rape. And, she might be accused of statutory rape because she had sex with an underage boy, e.g., if she had sex with a 13 YOA boy. But, the girl has committed no crime simply because she had sex.

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Not trying to be argumentative, but the girls around here don't look like boys, pregnant or not.

And all actions have more than one potential consequence. When my son wrecked his truck, he had several consequences, not just one. He had to fix his truck, his insurance went up, and he lost his driving priviledges for a time. If my daughter were to get pregnant at 14 (God forbid), not only would she be having a baby, she would be having a softball free summer and most likely, not much of a social life. She would also be enjoying the consequence of getting a part-time job to help support her child since it was her choice to have sex.

However, all that potentially political rhetoric aside, from a safety perspective, there is NO WAY she would play on my team. Regardless if she is perfectly healthy and doctor cleared..... you can't control the situations that may occur during game play. And you are putting the opposing team in a position where, if something were to happen to this girl (ie, she gets hit, kicked, falls, whatever) and she loses the baby, that other team is going to have to find a way to deal with and live with that forever. I just think it is irresponsible of her parents and coach to allow her to be out on the field. Reckless and irresponsible. She is still a child with a child's mind. Her parents are still responsible for her wellbeing.

Amy in AZ. said:

I haven't see the OP come back to tell us how he knew she was 6 months pregnant, yet. I had a mom come up to me the other day and I felt myself start to say, "Oh, I didn't know you were pregnant." Thank goodness, I didn't say that, because she wasn't. I've had 3 children and I thought she was pregnant.

Anyway, here is a pic of my DD when she was nearly 6 months along, at age 21 - and no, she was not on a team. But anyway, looks can be deceiving.

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The girl was clearly pregnant, she was wearing maternity pants. We were discussing it among our team parents when another parent from another team over heard us and confirmed our suspicions. Her daughter's team was from the same town as the pregnant girls team. She told us the girl was 6 months. Apperently it was the talk of the town.

... they make maternity softball pants?

It is clear why she got pregnant. She is obviously stupid as hell, and so are her parents.

Excercise is not a problem as long as a woman can do it, but risking violent collisions, etc that can occur in active sports participation is foolish. Ive seen plenty of non-pregnant girls and boys end up in the hospital from baseball and softball injuries, often from collisions.

scuse me for calling a spade a spade, but it does not sound like they were concerned about the baby, and more likely than not may have hoped something would happen to it.

riddle: What is worse than being a 14yo unwed mother raising a baby she didnt want ?

Answer: Being a 14yo mother raising a disabled or handicapped one she didnt want.