By Miranda Alperstein
It’s no surprise that women are less physically able than men. Whether it’s because testosterone promotes the production of hemoglobin, increasing athletic aptitude, or freak chance, it’s undeniable.
Boys’ and girls’ sports are separated to avoid disadvantaging women in the areas of record-holding and competition. Yet at Princeton High School, we seem to have taken this idea too far. Sports played by girls, such as field Hockey, girls’ tennis, girls’ soccer, etc., are treated as inferior to men’s sports.
Every team covets the new gym. All training areas are assigned on a rotating system on one day the field hockey team has the turf field; the next day, the football team is on the field and the field hockey team is somewhere else. Yet sometimes, that system can be broken to accommodate men’s sports training schedules.
Maddie Cahill, a junior and a women’s tennis and basketball player, described a situation where “The new gym was said to be ours, then [the boys’ and girls’ coaches] had a discrepancy about the gym space but everyone really knew we actually had the gym.”
If there is a system, it should be followed unconditionally, not broken at the whim of whoever is in charge. Resources such as buses, gyms and the fitness center should be available to all to an equal extent.
Although less concretely, the student body’s views also reflect the divide in equality between sports played by different genders.
Rachel Wanat, a senior, is a self-described soccer fan. She said she attended only a few of the PHS girls’ soccer team’s games, yet she had only missed “a handful” of the boys’ soccer games. She said, “…the reason I have supported the boys more than the girls this year is simply by virtue of the fact that other people were doing it. When you went to a boys’ game, it was also a kind of social experience.”
John Miranda, director of athletics at PHS, explained how the support for a certain team fluctuates with how well they do. He said, “It all depends on the programs at that time and their performances.”
In fact, Wanat attended the boys’ soccer games because, “The girls were a really good team, but the boys had that history of winning States and making it so close. It think everyone wanted to see the boys make it to States again.”
Yet Wanat also made the point that “I think boys’ sporting events have connotations of being more intense, and that” what people are looking to support.”
Lauren Ullman, a junior soccer player, said the difference in the sizes in fan bases between the two teams is “understandable.”
”As a huge soccer fan at all levels, I can honestly say that they boys’ team plays a much higher level of soccer that is more entertaining for spectators,” she said.
Serena Deardorff, a junior and a devoted swimmer, agreed. She said the boys’ team is only given more attention because, “They have much more depth on the boys team, and numerous club swimmers.”
Junior Kelly Dredger, a field hockey and lacrosse player, said girls’ lacrosse receives less attention from the student body because, “It’s significantly less interesting than guys’ lacrosse because there’s a no-contact rule.”
Yet girls’ sports are quickly becoming more popular and deserving of more attention.
Miranda said, “I would say that girls are becoming more involved with athletics every year.”
He cited lacrosse and field hockey as sports that had received a much higher level of participation than previous years. If girls are more interested in sports, then they should have a supporting fan base to encourage their success, rather than a group of people who come to their games because they are successful.
Miranda Alperstein is a student at Princeton High School.

