Catholic=boys & girls can't play sports together?

[casmgn]

Granted I went to a heathen public school, but in all my years in CCD and as a Catholic, I never heard anything like this.

Baseball final forfeited because of girl at second base.

The Arizona Charter Athletic Association state championship baseball game wasn't played Thursday night because Mesa Prep's second baseman is a girl.

Paige Sultzbach, a freshman, is playing baseball because her high school doesn't offer girls softball. But the school Mesa Prep was to face in the final, Our Lady of Sorrows Academy, said its boys would not compete against a team with a girl and forfeited the game - and the state title - to Mesa Prep.

"As a Catholic school, we promote the ideal of forming and educating boys and girls separately during the adolescent years, especially in physical education,” Our Lady of Sorrows said in a statement, according to CNN affiliate KTVK.

“It takes tremendous moral courage to stand by what it is you believe, and they are doing what they think is right,” Mesa Prep Headmaster Robert Wagner told KTVK.

But Sultzbach's mother, Pamela Sultzbach, said her daughter and the Mesa Prep team were being done a disservice.

"This is not a contact sport. It shouldn't be an issue. It wasn't that they were afraid they were going to hurt or injure her, it's that (they believe) that a girl's place is not on a field," Pamela Sultzbach told the Arizona Republic.

"I respect their views, but it's a bit out of the 18th century," Amy Arnold, Mesa Prep's athletic director, told the Republic.

Mesa Prep and Our Lady of Sorrows played twice during the regular season, but Sultzbach sat out, as they were away games for her team.

“It was on their field, and I felt the need to respect their rules,” she told KTVK.

The final would have been on a neutral field, and Sultzbach wanted to play.

Now, despite being hailed as state champions, Mesa Prep will feel like they've missed something, Pamela Sultzbach said.

"This team has worked so hard," she said. "They're undefeated. They had one game left. At our school, we're taught that when you start something, you complete it, and they weren't done."

news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/11/baseball-final-forfeited-because-of-girl-at-second-base/?hpt=hp_t2

[Deleted]

May 11, 2012 13:42:34 GMT -5 casmgn said:

"As a Catholic school, we promote the ideal of forming and educating boys and girls separately during the adolescent years, especially in physical education,” Our Lady of Sorrows said in a statement, according to CNN affiliate KTVK.

Oh, bull. Some Catholic schools educate boys and girls separately, but most don't. It's not some sacred Catholic tenet and baseball is not a contact sport.

[EllieArroway]

Our local catholic church/school has boys & girls together on tball teams. Blaming it on the fact that they're Catholic is ridic. I've never heard that before.

[dev22]

This is so weird.

[moreace01]

Never head that either. Went to Catholic school for twelve years and while I don't recall if there were any girls on the guy's sports teams, we certainly had gym class together.

ETA: And I cannot believe the kids' parents were ok forfeiting the championship that way considering scholarship needs and whatnot. That is beyond me.

[UMaineTeach]

My cousin teaches at a Catholic High School that is co-ed. Their argument doesn't hold water.

[msmerymac]

Well, my Catholic high school was all-girls, but the attached elementary school was co-ed. And they had boys and girls play together in gym, AFAIK. You know, the kind of thing where the third graders all have gym at the same time because there are only 2 third grade classrooms? Yeah. AND there's a montessori school, which is a type of education that supports a lot of free play, including outdoor activities. Co-ed.

Hey, at least the team with the girl "won."