Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

“Why does he have to change balls?” I asked when I was playing on the softball team a couple of years ago.

“Because if we used the girl’s ball, the guys would always hit them out of the park,” he answered.

“Why don’t we just use the guy’s ball all the time?” I naively asked.

He didn’t have an answer.

I found out in the middle of a softball game that there is different sports equipment for women and men, but did you know HOW many sports are different? The Apple Lady over at The Daily Apple has the specifics:

• The Daily Apple: Apple #240: Women’s vs Men’s Sports

She wonders what I did back when I realized they had been pitching me a different ball the whole time:

I wonder how long it will take before the equipment across sports is equalized. It has to happen. I mean, they don’t make women run the 350 meter relay while men run the 400 meter relay, do they? They used to say that women shouldn’t really compete in track because all that running jostled their important baby-making organs. But they’ve changed their minds about that idiocy, thankfully. So it has to be a matter of time before people realize, hey, maybe women can actually handle a basketball that’s one inch larger.

When I hit my first double, does it really count? It was with the girl’s ball, so it was easier for me to hit that double than it would be for a guy. Is that really fair?

In the end, changing the sports equipment for women makes our accomplishments look less admirable. “Sure, she hit a double. She was pitched the girl’s ball. She wouldn’t even make it to base if she had to hit OUR ball,” is what the nay-sayers would say.

Quit assuming that we can’t handle your sports equipment and then assuming our accomplishments aren’t as worthy because you forced us to use the “easier” equipment. If we fail, so be it, but let us fail on the same ground as you do.