Opening Doors: A New Series of Articles

Katrina, a thirty- year old creative writer, was sitting in the bleachers penning her thoughts for a website while watching Vicki, her ten-year old daughter's baseball practice.

"If you can't play fair, get out of the ball park!" she heard her daughter yell angrily, at the top of her voice. Several boys were laughing at her. "You play head games and insult girls because you are insecure in your own baseball skills." Vicki stood her ground, while the boy who had initially taunted her cowered in disgrace.

Katrina, stunned by her daughter's harsh words, was about to intervene when her neighbor, who also had a daughter on the team, spoke quietly.

"Don't get in the middle of it," she suggested. "Sometimes our girls have to resolve these kinds of issues with the boys all by themselves."

"I guess you are right," replied Katrina, as she watched the boy who had just offended her daughter leave the ballpark. "I think Vicki got her point across. I sure hope so."

On the way home, Katrina asked Vicki what had happened.

"I don't know if you will understand this. It is like cyber-bullying, but in the baseball park," Vicki replied.

"Cyber-bullying?"

"Yes, without a computer or a smart phone."

"That is serious," Katrina replied.

"Al has never been a good ball player. He thinks he is the greatest baseball player ever, but he is nasty to girls in a sneaky way. He makes mean comments every time he is around any of the girls, especially when he catches them alone. It is horrible the way he treats his sister. He says baseball is only for guys."

Katrina was stunned. 

"That cannot be happening in this day and age," she thought to herself. "Competition can get rough and dirty, at times," she replied. "But, this is not fair to the girls."

"A lot of the girls go home in tears during or after the games, and they won't come back," Vicki continued. "But, he had better watch out, because we are all are fed up with him! We're going to get together and beat him up!"

Katrina could not remember ever seeing her daughter so angry.

"I am your mother and you can tell me anything." Katrina said quietly. "What did he say to you?"

"Mom, you really don't want to know. It was not very nice. You would probably call it sexist."

"Sometimes parents can help," suggested Katrina, now even more shocked, because she had no idea that Vicki would understand the word sexist, at her age.

"Sometimes, parents can make things even worse," replied Katrina. "One of the girl's mothers already spoke to his mother, but he just got nastier after that."

"How about going to the coach?"

"The coach says we all have to toughen up."

Katrina knew that opening doors for girls in sports like baseball was not easy, at the best of times. She decided to take positive, affirmative action. With permission from the coach and the help of Betty, other mothers and all the daughters, they began a new project. It took a few weeks to get everyone organized, but with comments and contributions from everyone, a logical solution soon became feasible.

"Fair Ball" was the title of her new series of articles. "Cyber-bullying in the ball park" pinpointed the problem related to boys and girls engaged in mixed sports. "Guidelines for Competitors" honed in on how to enhance baseball skills in order to win and still play fair.

The coach was amazed at Katrina's response to the problem that had persisted for some time. He decided that this series of articles would be compulsory reading for every baseball team member, male or female. Little did the boys know that it was the girls who drew up the guidelines. With these guidelines, anyone who was not able to play fairly or caught bullying in any way, would be suspended immediately.

Guess who was suspended until he and his parents apologized to the girls?