When I was a reporter, I used to make the rounds a few times a week to the sheriff’s office, police department, and highway patrol. In addition to the crime roundup, I would also pick up stories on any accidents. Being in a rural area, many of them were car versus deer, and occasionally car versus mountain goat. Usually, it was car versus car, car versus truck, etc. But sometimes there would be a report of a car versus a motorcycle. That of course did not work out well for the motorcycle. Why? You know why. When a large, heavy object meets a smaller, lighter object, the second object is going to get the worst of it.
Recently, a high school sports version of a car-versus-motorcycle accident occurred in North Carolina, leaving one student injured. The incident took place during a girls’ volleyball tournament. The Post Millennial noted that a male trans student playing for Highlands High hit the ball over the net, striking a player for Hiwassee Dam High in the forehead. According to the Education First Alliance, the girl sustained head and neck injuries and vision problems and has not been medically cleared to return to play.
The Cherokee Scout reported that after parents voiced concerns about the biological sex of the athlete who hit the ball, the Cherokee County Board of Education voted 5-1 to ask Highlands to cancel the remaining games against Cherokee County High Schools. One board member, Jeff Tatham, cited safety concerns and acknowledged that many board members felt that biological males have a competitive advantage.
The Education First Alliance cited two studies, one from Sage Journals showing that there were significant differences in terms of height and power when comparing men’s and women’s volleyball, and cited another study that showed that men were more effective at passing, reception, and attack, while women were better equipped for serving the ball. The second study mentioned by the Alliance from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research also indicated that men bring more power to the game.
We have the research and now we have a real-life example of the physical differences between men and women in sports. Unfortunately, that example came in the form of serious injuries to a teenager. While the school board is admitting that there is a discrepancy rather than saying that pitting men against women in sports is unfair and even dangerous, it was easier just to try to call off the remaining games.
So the unfair competitive performance advantage was not enough to convince people that boys should not compete in girls’ sports. Boys creeping out girls in locker rooms was not enough. Now we have injuries. Will that be enough? After all, we are talking physics and biology here, or what the Left likes to call science. Why does science apply when it comes to the trans mentality or climate change but cannot be applied in sports? Injuries are a part of sports, but future incidents like this one could be avoided with the application of common sense or science. Or bravery.
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