Single boys team at an otherwise girls tournament

[Anonymous]

We were at a one-day tournament where there was a single boys team and 11 girls teams. The boys team was a year younger than the girls teams, but still went undefeated all day. They could jump higher and hit harder. Not sure what options there are for boys teams, but this did not seem like a fair matchup. I heard some disgruntled parents. I was wondering what are people's thoughts on this topic? I don't even know why the boys team would want to be there - sure, they got the gold medal, but it was against all the girls?

[Anonymous]

I think boys can be on girls teams up to age 13. And likely they can also register for girls competitions up to that age. It's sad that they took the medals though, they should have handed them down to the girls. They had their fun, their parents were happy that they could beat the girls, but taking the medals home was questionable. Just imagine bragging to their friends about winning a girls tournament. Unfortunately, there are not many options for boys-only tournaments.

[Anonymous]

Our all-girl team has beaten 3 all-boys teams this season, so I'm not sure I see it as "questionable" that they would get medals. It's not a given that they would win against stronger girls' teams!

[Anonymous]

How old were these teams? And was this in the DMV area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our all-girl team has beaten 3 all-boys teams this season, so I'm not sure I see it as "questionable" that they would get medals. It's not a given that they would win against stronger girls' teams!

And because your team is so special, it's ok for an all-boys team to wipe the floor with girls teams and take home the medals. Got it. I wonder what you would say if you were in the OP's shoes (with your special team beaten up along with all the other girls teams in the tournament).

[Anonymous]

The girls teams were 13. The boys were 12. Yes, it was in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I think boys can be on girls teams up to age 13. And likely they can also register for girls competitions up to that age. It's sad that they took the medals though, they should have handed them down to the girls. They had their fun, their parents were happy that they could beat the girls, but taking the medals home was questionable. Just imagine bragging to their friends about winning a girls tournament. Unfortunately, there are not many options for boys-only tournaments.

13 is way too old for boys to compete against girls. Many boys have entered puberty and are so much stronger than girls by age 12-13.

My 2 boys played in a little league baseball division thay was for boys ages 11-13. My kids were tiny at age 11 and there were literally 12 and 13 year old boys over 6 feet and one boy weighed 200 pounds (his father was a 6’6” former rugby player). It was a crazy age division.

One of my boys played boys volleyball in 7th grade and almost all the boys hit harder than the 8th grade girls even though the girls were much better technically. If they scrimmaged the coach said absolutely no spiking the ball for the boys. And he didn’t let two boys serve who hit the hardest.

[Anonymous]

OP here: In every local tournament there's likely to be at least one team that's way better than everyone else. That's fine - but it was hard to swallow when that team is all boys. There's a reason that most sports are divided by gender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were at a one-day tournament where there was a single boys team and 11 girls teams. The boys team was a year younger than the girls teams, but still went undefeated all day. They could jump higher and hit harder. Not sure what options there are for boys teams, but this did not seem like a fair matchup. I heard some disgruntled parents. I was wondering what are people's thoughts on this topic? I don't even know why the boys team would want to be there - sure, they got the gold medal, but it was against all the girls?

I was at this same tournament, I believe. Yes, boys can play with girls up through U13 (there are a couple of otherwise all-girls' teams with a single boy on them) because they are playing on the same net height (at U14 the boys move to the men's full height). This particular 12U boys' team is not overly physical or anything - most of their kids are smaller than just about every girl they play against. There are regions (California, Illinois, Hawaii, Ohio, New York) where you can find a lot more boys' teams for regular competition, but despite producing some elite elite talent (USA National Team player Aaron Russell is from Howard County), there is still not a deep well of boys' volleyball in this area. So the younger teams frequently have to enter girls' tournaments to find opponents. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. Not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were at a one-day tournament where there was a single boys team and 11 girls teams. The boys team was a year younger than the girls teams, but still went undefeated all day. They could jump higher and hit harder. Not sure what options there are for boys teams, but this did not seem like a fair matchup. I heard some disgruntled parents. I was wondering what are people's thoughts on this topic? I don't even know why the boys team would want to be there - sure, they got the gold medal, but it was against all the girls?

I was at this same tournament, I believe. Yes, boys can play with girls up through U13 (there are a couple of otherwise all-girls' teams with a single boy on them) because they are playing on the same net height (at U14 the boys move to the men's full height). This particular 12U boys' team is not overly physical or anything - most of their kids are smaller than just about every girl they play against. There are regions (California, Illinois, Hawaii, Ohio, New York) where you can find a lot more boys' teams for regular competition, but despite producing some elite elite talent (USA National Team player Aaron Russell is from Howard County), there is still not a deep well of boys' volleyball in this area. So the younger teams frequently have to enter girls' tournaments to find opponents. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. Not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were at a one-day tournament where there was a single boys team and 11 girls teams. The boys team was a year younger than the girls teams, but still went undefeated all day. They could jump higher and hit harder. Not sure what options there are for boys teams, but this did not seem like a fair matchup. I heard some disgruntled parents. I was wondering what are people's thoughts on this topic? I don't even know why the boys team would want to be there - sure, they got the gold medal, but it was against all the girls?

I was at this same tournament, I believe. Yes, boys can play with girls up through U13 (there are a couple of otherwise all-girls' teams with a single boy on them) because they are playing on the same net height (at U14 the boys move to the men's full height). This particular 12U boys' team is not overly physical or anything - most of their kids are smaller than just about every girl they play against. There are regions (California, Illinois, Hawaii, Ohio, New York) where you can find a lot more boys' teams for regular competition, but despite producing some elite elite talent (USA National Team player Aaron Russell is from Howard County), there is still not a deep well of boys' volleyball in this area. So the younger teams frequently have to enter girls' tournaments to find opponents. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. Not a big deal.

Not a big deal at all. They were hardly unbeatable.