The Demons of Coed Intramural Sports

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing, Feb 2016

The purpose of this assignment was to select a topic within the realms of gender issues, complete research in the library, and conduct personal research in the form of a survey or an interview. I knew I wanted to select a topic that was relative to me and my community. After talking to several of my peers, I realized there was a large controversy over the topic of gender specific rules in coed intramural sports. Thus, I decided to delve into the issue by undertaking it as my essay topic. Researching in the library and finding many scholarly sources as well as other sources from students at varying universities allowed me to form my opinion and mark my standpoint in the debate. My survey gave me deeper insight to the sentiment that the student body held towards the gender specific rules in their intramural sports. This permitted me to tailor my argument to specifically address the University of Dayton, or my immediate community. I created many drafts of my survey and received feedback from my peer-editing group to make sure I was asking the correct questions to receive answers that addressed the topic at hand. This may have been the hardest part of the research process, because sometimes it was difficult to ask a question without leading the respondent to give a specific answer. However, with the guidance of my peer editing group I developed a strong survey that produced lucrative results. It seemed that the student body was truly interested in the controversy of gender specific rules in coed intramural sports. After gathering my research, I began the drafting process. With the aid of my peer-editing group, feedback from my professor, Dr. Vorachek, and advice from the Write Place, I developed a piece that truly reflects my standpoint on this gender issue and calls for a change.

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The Demons of Coed Intramural Sports

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing The D emons of Coed Intramural Sports Amanda M. Schleper Part of the Creative Writing Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, and the Article 9 Follow this and additional works at: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/lxl Part of the Creative Writing Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, and the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Writing Process The pur pose of this assignment was to select a topic within the realms of gender issues, complete research in the library, and conduct personal research in the form of a survey or an interview. I knew I wanted to select a topic that was relative to me and my community. After talking to several of my peers, I realized there was a large controversy over the topic of gender specific rules in coed intramural sports. Th us, I decided to delve into the issue by undertaking it as my essay topic. Researching in the library and finding many scholarly sources as well as other sources from students at varying universities allowed me to form my opinion and mark my standpoint in the debate. My survey gave me deeper insight to the sentiment that the student body held towards the gender specific rules in their intramural sports. Thi s permitted me to tailor my argument to specifically address the University of Dayton, or my immediate community. I created many drafts of my survey and received feedback from my peer-editing group to make sure I was asking the correct questions to receive answers that addressed the topic at hand. Thi s may have been the hardest part of the research process, because sometimes it was difficult to ask a question without leading the respondent to give a specific answer. However, with the guidance of my peer editing group I developed a strong survey that produced lucrative results. It seemed that the student body was truly interested in the controversy of gender specific rules in coed intramural sports. After gathering my research, I began the drafting process. With the aid of my peer-editing group, feedback from my professor, Dr. Vorachek, and advice from the Write Place, I developed a piece that truly reflects my standpoint on this gender issue and calls for a change. Course ENG200H Semester Fall Instructor Dr. Laura Vorachek Year 2015 Thi s article is available in Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/lxl/vol2/iss2/9 Amanda Schleper Dr. Laura Vorachek ENG 200H 11 December 2015 The Demons of Coed Intramural Sports From an early age, many children enjoy participating in sports. It is a fun way to release energy and compete with their peers. Children do not pay attention to gender when competing; they just go out and have a good time. So when did gender start to dictate the way males and females compete? Sports leagues for the youngest ages are coed and do not have any gender specific rules present. However, as age increases the more segregated sports programs become. Collegiate level coed intramural sports include many gender specific rules. These rules prevent athletes from fully enjoying the game, and they slow down the flow of play. Gender specific rules also engrain stereotypes of male and female capabilities into society, leaving no room for doubt, and thus corrupting the view of how men and women should be able to compete in coed intramural sports. The University of Dayton is a prime subject to use when studying gender specific rules present in intramural sports. Dayton has a wide variety of intramural sports including volleyball, soccer, flag football, softball, battleship, Quidditch, ultimate Frisbee, and many more. There are several options for what sort of league a student can participate in. For instance, a student can choose between a recreational or competitive level of play, and they can chose to partake in either a coed or single gender league. However, coed leagues have many rules and modifications that specifically limit a certain gender. These gender specific rules typically limit males and make the game easier for females. For example, when playing on a coed team for outdoor soccer, a female must touch the ball in the offensive half of the field before the ball can be scored, all free kicks must be taken by a female, and you can only play four males and four females at a time (UD RecPlex). Coed sand and indoor volleyball also have a number limit for males to females in play at a time (UD RecPlex). Their rule is that you can have up to three males and three females playing at a time; however, at no time can there be a higher number of males playing than females (UD RecPlex). Coed sand volleyball also has a specific section for “male restrictions” (UD RecPlex). This section describes that in recreational coed leagues no males can spike, and males can only tip if they give the ball an arc (UD RecPlex). These are only two examples of sports that have gender specific rules for the coed league. All of t (...truncated)


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Amanda M Schleper. The Demons of Coed Intramural Sports, Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing, 2016, Volume 2, Issue 2,