The Lawsuit demanding that Girls High school sports be allowed to run concurrent with boys, has had a little time to demonstrate that the opponents were mostly correct.
Judge Richard Enslen found that the old setup – volleyball in the winter and girls basketball in the fall – discriminated against girls. His order defied all reason because the evidence showed Michigan’s unusual seasons actually helped females.
Now the numbers are in, and guess what? The lawsuit designed to help volleyball actually hurt the sport.
Volleyball had 658 fewer participants, a 3.08-percent drop. Twenty-one schools were forced to drop their freshman teams. Sixty-one fewer schools made player cuts. “
Is anyone surprised?
Generally when allowed to work, free markets (yes, it applies here as well) will determine the best layout for maximum participation. Proponents still claim this is the right thing to do, even while acknowledging the damage done to high school sports participation.