In high school there are numerous school teams that you can join. Most larger schools have more teams varying from dance to lacrosse, but most smaller schools have only a few teams like football and a cheer squad. When you think about high school sports you think of football being a men’s sport and volleyball being a women’s sport. In middle school as a guy you would never considering joining the cheer squad. And girls would never consider joining the baseball team. And it typically tends to be the same way in high school.
A lot of times if a girl joins a male sport she gets bullied, called a freak or a loser, maybe even gay. But if you ask me no one, and I mean no one, has the right to pick on a girl, or a guy, that joins a sport that is usually populated by the other gender, because at least they had the guts to try out something different. High school consists so much of cliques and standards that everyone has to live up to. If you don’t follow the rules and regulations put up by the so-called popular crowd you aren’t normal. You aren’t the kind of person people want to hang out with.
Any one person should be able to join any sport they like. I used to do gymnastics, but I just recently joined the wrestling team. Sure, when I walk down the hallways I constantly hear my name being whispered and I catch secretive glances from all the people who want to see the only girl on the wrestling team, but it’s all worth it. Once I arrive at practice everything from that day just melts away and I feel welcomed and empowered. Wrestling makes me feel strong. The other great thing about it is that all of the guys there have welcomed me in with open arms, nobody talks about me behind my back. At gymnastics there was so much cattiness sometimes the sport became unbearable.
At my school two boys just recently joined the winter cheer team. I give both of them so much credit, not only because it is a girls’ sport, but also because they beat out other girls who were trying to make the team. At the same time I feel bad for them, they must be going through exactly what I am, except ten times worse. What I’m going through is just a couple kids whispering about me when I walk down the hallway. That’s nothing. I can only imagine how badly they are being bullied right now.
Either way, we are the only three kids in my school to have joined a team that is mainly populated by the opposite gender. And people don’t take it as well as they could. And it is really all because in high school kids are far too judgmental to realize that it doesn’t matter what gender you are, as long as you help out the team and try hard you belong on that team as much as any other kid there.