Where Do The Girls Play?

By: Ryan Barbieri

How would you feel if the only way to play your favorite sport would be to transfer to another school?

Jenkintown High School in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania is one of the smaller co-education schools in the Montgomery County area. Known for its academics, JHS has also had success in sports. With teams in football, baseball, field hockey, cross country, tennis, basketball, and lacrosse, it seems like just any other high school. But why isn’t there a softball team?

Willie Kohlhepp, President of J.Y.A. (Jenkintown Youth Activities), explained that it has to do with overall interest and the motivation by the schools.

“Every year, the school board has talked and tried to gives girls the opportunity to have a softball team for their school. But, it has just never come to fruition.”

For a while, J.Y.A offered a township travel softball team for girls up until their freshmen year of high school. But even that has changed. Kohlhepp explained that in order to continue playing, girls must transfer to a school that has softball.

“If you really enjoy a sport such as softball, you’re going to have to go to a high school that has a team for it. Whether it’s a private, catholic, or a school well known for its’ sports, there are other options.”

Girls’ lacrosse and field hockey have been very successful at JHS, and it might be because those are the sports that most girls are interested in. Kohlhepp agreed with that assumption, but also believed that making a girls’ softball team might take away the success that both the lacrosse and hockey teams have had.

“The problem is that because lacrosse and field hockey have had such successful teams, the school feels that a softball team might conflict with that success and take away girls that help with that success,” said Kohlhepp.

Another problem for all the sports in the area is the difficulty finding fields to play on. Kohlhepp pointed out that it has a lot to do with how small the town of Jenkintown and its’ surrounding townships are.

“It’s very difficult. For the size of a town it is, Jenkintown doesn’t give us a lot of options. Sometimes, we may even look outside of the township, even though they already have teams,” he said.

The point of college recruiting came up in the discussion. Kohlhepp explained how playing for township softball teams may effect their chances of getting recruited by colleges.

“It all has to do with how you’re driven. If a girl knows that she has a shot to play softball in college, she’ll make the sacrifice to switch schools,” said Kohlhepp.

Even if they have the drive to play, he explained that girls are sometimes left behind the boys when it comes to sports scholarships. He told a story about a sneaker store that he used to run during the 1990s, and how at the time, sports companies such as NIKE, Adidas, and Reebok didn’t even look at girls as athletes.

“NIKE didn’t even make girls’ basketball shoes until Sheryl Swoopes gained popularity playing in the WNBA. Girls playing before that would come into the store to buy smaller sizes of men’s or even children’s size shoes,” he said.

“I had a meeting one time with representatives from NIKE, and asked why there weren’t any women’s sports shoes being made. They told me it wasn’t necessary to make ‘play shoes’,”.

Kohlhepp agreed with the assumption of sexism playing a big role in this. Back then, and even today, sports aren’t promoted to girls like they are for boys.

He added how the number of players all together in baseball and softball has diminished.

“For the most part, J.Y.A. is geared towards kids ranging from kindergarten through 8th grade. However, the boys have the opportunity to play baseball through high school,” he said.

With the gradual increase of interest in women’s sports such as the WNBA, Olympic ice hockey, and soccer, there should be more possibilities to promote sports like softball. Let’s hope that girls see that.