| abstract
| - A prime lesson of sports is learning how to play well with others, and having boys and girls together in sport is fantastic. Boys and girls get to be together in athletic settings in swimming, golf, cross country and track. Tennis plays at different seasons, but tennis has mixed doubles elsewhere. Varsity swimming teams do appeal to both boys and girls. The training and competition events are held in the same places and at the same times. Life is co-ed. Much of swimming is too. The top girl swimmers in the city can beat the boys. Fine. I am an advocate for blended team experiences. Varsity golf can be co-ed too. Likewise, in tennis, boys and girls can practice together. Track and Cross Country are also able to be blended among boys and girls for practices. Of course, boys and girls both play basketball and volleyball. But those squads are always their own clique with different practices and games, if not seasons. Water polo is a sport that is often played in a co-ed fashion, with boys and girls on the same team. When different boys and girls teams are established, they generally practice at the same times and often travel to the same tournaments as a unit. A philosophical mistake might plague PPS if it chooses to support sports teams with segregated genders. Olympic sports and aquatic sports have a blended gender framework. That distinction of supporting sports opportunities and intramurals that appeal equally to ban accomidate both boys and girls is something that administrators and courts should care to notice.
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