Sexuality In Sports
Sexuality in Sports
I thought long and hard about what to write about for this assignment. I have had the usual odd jobs a person my age has had. I don't really remember any conflicts there with regard to any of the topics for this paper. It wasn't until I started thinking all the way back to high school that I found what I thought I could write about. My senior year, there was a sort of "situation" with the wrestling team; the situation meaning a member of the team who was homosexual. I wasn't on the team, but many of my friends were. It didn't get blown way out of proportion like a situation like this could have, but, it did ruffle some feathers within the team, coaches, parents, and the students who knew about it.
The problem was simple. Wrestling is a sport where one is in constant physical contact with the opponent. There is constant touching and grabbing between the opponents. My high school team had all guys. Some teams now have girls, but that's enough for a whole different paper. Anyway, once the word spread about a kid on the team who was gay, it was pretty easy to figure out what the general feeling was about him. Many did not want to wrestle him because they thought he might start to like them or that they might get aids (which is completely ridiculous). Once the coach found out he immediately realized the problems that may occur. The coach did not make a big deal at all about it. In fact, he never even said anything about it to the principle or other
teachers or even seemed to care really. To him it was all about winning and demonstrating a positive influence. I guess he felt that if he made a big deal out of it, it might turn into a circus and his team might lose focus.
Some students called the gay kid the usual names; and some even refused to wrestle with him in practice. There were other kids who chose to really wrestle him hard, torment him, and try...
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