Orange County Prep Review / Steve Lowery : Weak Arguments on ‘Weaker’ Sex Playing Football

There are two students at La Quinta High School who want to try out for an athletic team.

The problem is that they’re girls and the sport they want to try out for is offered only for boys.

No problem, you say? Ah, you’ve studied your California Interscholastic Federation rule book.

Rule 200a says that if a sport is not offered for girls, they may participate on the boys team. Girls have participated in boys water polo, golf, soccer, etc.

But there is a problem. The girls, Chris Kessler and Annette Marietti, don’t want to try out for just any sport. They want to try out for football.

In February, Kessler, a sophomore, and Marietti, a junior, told La Quinta football Coach Roger Takahashi that they wanted to try out for his team. Takahashi referred them to Andrew McTaggart, La Quinta principal, who referred them to Frank Starnes, assistant district superintendent.

Starnes told the girls that they would not be allowed to try out because the district attorney’s office feared that an injury to one of them might prompt a lawsuit.

However, Kessler and Marietti kept attending pre-spring workout meetings with other prospective players. Like their male counterparts, they ordered their uniforms and signed a waiver form in case they were injured.

By May 27--the first day of spring practice--Kessler and Marietti were working out with the junior varsity and apparently loving it.

“This is a lot of fun,” Marietti said after the first day. “It was hard, but I like the work. I really think I’m going to enjoy this.”

Think again.

The very next day, Marietti and Kessler said they were removed from the practice field by Kent Baird, La Quinta vice principal, and told that if they persisted in trying out for the team they would be suspended from school.

“I said, ‘You’re going to suspend us for trying out for football?’ ” Marietti said. “He said, ‘No. For insubordination.’ ”

Said McTaggart: “I’m not even going to comment on that. We don’t suspend kids at La Quinta for trying out for an athletic team. I’m going to do what my superiors tell me. Right now, they don’t want them (the girls) playing football. So that’s where it stands.”

McTaggart’s boss is Starnes. Starnes said the school board has decided that the risk of injury to the girls is too great and will not allow them to play until further data on safety can be accumulated.

“I realize the girls are disappointed,” Starnes said. “I can appreciate how much they want to play. But I don’t think they know what they’re getting into. We have to look out for their welfare.”

Kessler and Marietti said that statement could be made about any number of boys trying out for the team. They argue that the school district is using the concern of safety as a screen for chauvinism.

“I want to play football, and like anyone else I’m just asking for the chance, nothing more,” Kessler said. “But because I’m a girl they’re not going to give me that chance. If they’re worried about being sued, they don’t have to. We signed a waiver that protects them.”

Said Starnes: “Waivers don’t mean much in the long run. We’re worried about a girl getting injured, and perhaps finding out that she can’t have children in the years to come. She might come back with a lawyer who will say the coach was negligent. That waiver form would be attacked right from the start.”

The Southern Section has already said it considers this a district decision. Kessler and Marietti are considering appealing to the state CIF board if they are not allowed to play.

“I’m 99% sure there are no CIF rules that would prevent them from playing football,” said Thomas Byrnes, state CIF commissioner.

What’s happening at La Quinta has happened at other high schools across the nation.

A quick survey of county coaches gathered responses that ranged from “If they can handle it, they should be allowed to play like anyone else” to “I would have let them come out and get their bells rung a couple times. Then we’ll see how much they want to play football.”

It all points to the very unique spot that football holds in the American athletic psyche--a unique position because of the very nature of the game.

“Football is in that realm where it might have to have special rules governing it,” said Dick Schindler, assistant director of the National Federation of High Schools. “The violent collisions that are inherent in the sport separate it from every other sport. I’d like to see girls allowed to play any sport they want. But the padding, protection and rules right now in the game are geared totally towards boys.”

Prep Notes La Quinta running back Bart Recktenwald, who scored 21 touchdowns, of which half came on plays of 50 yards or more, has committed to Orange Coast College. . . . Tustin’s soccer team was declared academic team champion among the Southern Section’s member schools with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.34. Ulysses Hwang (4.0) of Brea-Olinda, Charles Moniak (4.0) and Ha Nguyen (3.78) of Garden Grove, Paul Peppard (3.57) and Laura Curnutt (3.92) of La Habra, Christian Brannstrom (3.62) of Loara, Bernardo Contreras (3.96) and Dawn Kozak (3.86) of Santa Ana Valley, Hai Thann Phan (4.0) and Ji Young Kim (3.84) of Santiago, Steven Koffroth (3.65) and Sharon Newkirk (4.0) of Savanna, Al Ordonez (3.88) of Servite and Brian Feldman (3.96) of Tustin were named to the section’s student-athlete academic team. . . . Loara’s Christian Brannstrom received the Donald F. Davis Award as the school’s top scholar-athlete, and Chris Wright received the Saxon of the Year Award as the school’s top athlete last week. Brannstrom, a three-year letterman in track and cross-country, has a 4.04 GPA because of advanced placement courses. Brannstrom will attend Cal State Long Beach next year on a track/academic scholarship. Wright, a three-sport star in football, wrestling and track, is headed for Cal State Fullerton on a football scholarship.