Thread: Help (not on a car)

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It's like having a beautiful rod or custom. If you lock it up in the garage, it will never get chipped or scratched or wrecked.....but that's not livin'!

I agree with youther. You can tell them the pros and cons of playing but it should ultimately be their decision.

I wouldn't allow it.
(The father of two daughters here.)

Girls almost always don't have any idea how hard they can get hit in football.
It's more than likely out of their realm of experience.

Get caught between a couple of well muscled, rock hard guys going in opposite directions and the girl caught in the middle will be limping for the rest of her life.

There are plenty of high school sports they can take part in that are not near as hazardous.

Build a bracket racer for them to drive.
A 13 second car is fast enough to fall into the realm of seriously fast and is not prohibitively expensive.

An Alston-Chassisworks 27 T with a very modestly built 350 SBC and T-350 will run high tens with no problem.
They can take turns driving and wrenching.

Even if one of them gets upside down in an NHRA built to spec car, more than likely she'll walk away with no probs.

Keep in mind that the girls will be targets for some of the male chauvinist yahoo's on the opposing teams and they'll be looking to cut them down first chance they get.

Listen to your wife.
Sometimes you gotta put your foot down and be the un-popular dad.

The un-popularity seldom lasts for more than a day or two....

I guess I'll add my 2 cents worth here..... My daughter was VERY good in the sports dept when in High school. But she only participated in GIRLS competition......In addition to what Don said about the chances for serious injury playing in boys football, I guess that I am just old school and believe in separation of the sexes in examples like this. Probably sounds sexist, but thats my opinion for what it's worth. If they had a girls football team I'd say go for it.....but lets let the guys enjoy being guys without having to worry about hurting the girls (or worse....the embarrasment of being hurt by a girl!!).

All good points b y everyone. A few more details may help, This is not a very big school, maybe the ecquivelent of a 2A. It is a private school and the guys playing are good but they aren't that big. I don't think any of them have went on to play pro, just avegage size guys. The thing is all the guys on the team want them to play, they jokingly say that maybe they would win for a change. One of my daughters plays witht hem during recess, its suppose to be touch but of coarse its tackle. At the last parent teacher day one of her teachers expressed concern with her playing that rough with the boys. My wife thought she was talking about HER getting hurt but the teacher said "NO" I am afraid that she is going to hurt one of them. Her cousin, a boy in the same class comes over to the house on weekends with his pads, she has no pads so she uses her motoX pads. A watch them out of a window and she runs right over him. When its her turn with the ball he can't ever tackle her. He just grabs on a she keeps running with him hanging on. I myself am 210 lbs and its hard for me to stop her, I can barely rastle them to the ground..........By being twins they can since things from each other......If I am having trouble wrestling one of them down somehow the otherone automatically knows and will come busting in the house or from a different room to help "take dad down" and when they do the ALWAYS make me beg for mercy....................
Again, I am only talking about 8th and 9th, by the time High school rolls around I will then discourage it............................

Jr High is bad enough without introducing girls into boys sports. Hormones are raging, and both the girls and boys are trying to make sense of all the changes - personally, socially and physically. Even if you have a very progressive coach you are headed for a train wreck, IMHO. If they put up with the summer drills and if the coach allows them to make the cut and then if they are successful it is just a matter of time before some opposing coach preps his team about "...losing to girls..." and tells them he doesn't want to see that happen "...to them" when it is really him that is embarrassed with the razzing he will get from his peers around the state. When that happens the boys are going to gang tackle, or find some way to "take them out" and the chances of being hurt are very high. You will be mad, your daughter(s) will be hurt, and your wife may find it very hard to ever forgive you for allowing them to play with the boys.

Sorry, but I agree with C9X, this time you need to be the unpopular Dad and say NO.

As usual, C9X said it best, but here is another humorous comment. Ages 12 and 13 would be around 7th grade. The discussion about 13 year old girls running over 13 year old boys is certainly possible but that situation may change in a year or two. My dim recollections from that time are that many of the girls in my class seemed like "big women" to me and quite a few of my male classmates. Many of the girls were well into glorious puberty, taller, bigger and seemingly adult in many ways compared to most of the boys in the class. However by the 10th grade the boys were taller and heavier and suddenly the girls looked short! I recall one of my classmates went home after the Spring of 9th grade very small and sounding like a choir boy and came back three months later in 10th grade sounding like a bear/frog with a beard! The bottom line is that hormones are powerful and by age 15/16 contact sports can mean different things to boys than girls. Don't get me wrong, H.S. football for boys is a great outlet teaching teamwork and offering organized sports instead of violent gangs, but I like what C9X said and I am from an ancient generation where women were protected more. My own daughters are more modern and they just say "Oh Dad" and do their own modern things; culturally things are changing but hormones remain the same! Maybe these twin girls can play Junior High football but by the 10th grade they would be well advised to perfect basketball skills and work toward a sports scholarship in basketball. I am trying to remember a set of twins at the University of Virginia about three years ago who were All-American in basketball, Heather and Heidi I think. They were tall and very good and played on the UVa varsity for at least three years.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I agree with you Don on your last post. I will let them play the next two years and then let them do their basketball. They are good at that too, coach puts them in teams of two on two and if he puts my two togther then they are undefeated at practices. 2 years of football may be a risk, maybe one year will be enough for them. One of them already has it planned out, to go to LSU (louisiana)on a full scholarship playing basketball.....she has 2yrs jr and 2 yrs sr colledge already paid for so she knows that if she does gets a scholarship she will be able to use her unused tuition $ for a range rover LOL....at least that is how she has it planned out............
Although I can't control my 401K maybe I could look at them as a retirment package ......................WNBA!!!!!!!!! yeah that would be the ticket......I already told them that I was going to be their manager for 50%.....LOL.........

Most girls that age are more mature physically than the boys. I would only worry if they are small relative to the boys. By the time they are 16-18 the boys are going to be much bigger and stronger and the injury risk would be great. If they want to try it now is the time IMO.

Kitz