Throws like a girl?

 

I remember where I was the first time I heard the phrase.  “She doesn’t throw like a girl.”

It was at the baseball field in downtown Loudon and the person they were referring to you was a middle-aged woman that could throw like a rocket. She was actually playing on a men’s softball team (back then, they didn’t have softball teams for women where I grew up).

Throws like a girl. Runs like a girl. Not exactly compliments. Well, not compliments at all. Used derisively. 

And what I heard back in the day (she doesn’t throw like a girl) is really a slap in the face too. The person may have meant it as a complement but it really wasn’t. It implies that girls aren’t supposed to throw well.

So, what does it mean to “throw like a girl?”

Let me tell you about a couple of softball players I know. I remember one of them who played softball at Maryville Little League. Twelve years old, playing center field, and she retrieves a ball that made it all the way to the fence and in one move, she picks up the ball and throws a line drive that was about a foot off the ground, and just to the catcher’s left, picking off the runner who thought they had an easy score.

Did she throw like a girl?

Maybe you watched with me the Olympic sprinters this year. Did you see Sha’Carri Richardson?  Did you see Tara Davis-Woodhall in the long jump?

Did they run like a girl?

So, what do these people mean by that? I suppose it is a phrase that is meant to describe a weak throw with bad mechanics. Or a running gait that is equally inefficient and ineffective.

I’ve seen people of either gender throw ineffectively. With bad mechanics. And then couldn’t hit the broad side of a bar door.   I’ve seen others that look like they’ve never tried to run fast in their life.

But maybe there’s a thread of truth in what they say.  Can more boys than girls throw a ball effectively? Efficiently? With great body mechanics?

Yeah, probably so. But why? Once, long ago, I talked about the fact that when I was at Maryville Little League, we struggled to fill four girls’ softball teams while having full squads for twelve little boys’ baseball teams.

It just seems like folks believe it is more important for their little boys to play sports than it is their little girls. That means that fewer girls get to work on developing good throwing mechanics. Or develop the muscles that it takes to throw effectively. And run fast.

Remember the girl that pitched in the little league baseball world series? Girl could pitch! I don’t think anybody told her that she pitched like a girl. She might hit them with a nasty curve if they had.

When I was growing up, we threw something all the time. Footballs, baseballs. We would have contests to see who could chuck a rock at a sign and hit it the most. Walnut season meant a whole new arsenal of projectiles. And yes, my buddies were all male back then.

We need to provide our young girls with opportunities to lead active lives.

You want healthy female adults that cannot be pigeonholed as “only girls” when they grow up? Let them run and jump and throw. Let them swim and bike and play anything that they want to.  Climb rocks.  Chuck walnuts at signs. Provide your little boys with the same opportunities.

Then maybe one day we won’t need to categorize anyone as throwing “like a girl.”