The gist of the story is this: a lawyer father of a boy on a coed hockey team drafted an agenda that included this item “Kayla Watkins – Player Ability Limitations and Suggested Options” and the result of it? Humiliate the poor girl into quitting the team.
First Mr. Atis, shame on you. It’s a coed team. If you had problems with a girl being on the team, then maybe you should have put YOUR son on an all boy’s team.
Second Mr. Atis, who died and made you coach of the team? Oh, that’s right…NO ONE. The coach chose her to be on the COED team and never wanted her to leave.
Third Mr. Atis, your parenting skills of singling out the only girl and picking on her and then saying “As a parent my heart goes out to her,” when she found out about your agenda not only leaves the question what kind of parent are you but what kind of man are you.
Mr. Atis, you knew it was a coed team when you signed your son up. You knew girls were going to be playing on it. I mean unless your version of coed is something doesn’t fall under this definition {coed – adj – open to or used by both men and women}. You said the agenda wasn’t about gender but skill level. Where does your son’s skill level fall? I hope you are going to draft an agenda for every player that has “player limitations” on your son’s team…I mean, come on, you’ve set the standard, live up to it big man.
It’s hard enough being a girl in a man’s sport, but I praise Kayla’s coach, her parents, and most of all her for having the courage to play a sport she loves and to push herself. As Kayla says in the closing of the article “If we lose a game, it’s okay because everyone picks each other up,” and that is the most important thing about team building and a team game.
It seems sad that the coed team couldn’t pick each other up and encourage each other just like an all girls or all boys team does.
I played street hockey for the first time this summer and I was the only girl out there with guys who play hockey and they were encouraging and taught and helped me play the game. My team lost and none of them complained that I was on their team or how bad I sucked, but I think that’s because their parents weren’t meddlesome morons who blamed a little girl on their son not getting enough ice time.
SO GIRLS, IF YOU’RE READING THIS…here are some links if you’re in love with hockey like I am and want to know more about the sport you love.
The Hockey News – this magazine covers all aspects of hockey and is a great online read and a great magazine. I recommend subscribing to their newsletter and magazine.
NHL.com – all things NHL…player stats, records, news, videos, and more.
Originally posted on www.1065.com