Report: Two Youth Baseball Coaches Planned to Bean a Girl to Make Her Quit
By Ken Reed
From the “People Can’t Really Be This Cruel and/or Stupid Can They?” department, two youth baseball coaches in New Hampshire reportedly said they would instruct their players to bean a girl in the Oyster River Youth Association (ORYA) in the hope that action would intimidate the girl into leaving the baseball league.
According to a Foster’s Daily Democrat story, Dan Klein, the father of the girl referenced, “alleges that two coaches said they would instruct a player to ‘bean’ Klein’s daughter — strike her in the head with a baseball during practice — in order to intimidate her into leaving the baseball program. The conversation allegedly took place during a draft meeting to assign players to team rosters.”
Klein’s daughter has been part of the ORYA baseball program since 2012, previously without incident.
“We are now beginning a formal investigation into the incident as per our policies and procedures and will provide a summary followup to all our stakeholders,” wrote ORYA Chair Ben Genes in an email.
To date, despite the publicity surrounding this incident, Klein’s daughter hasn’t been intimidated into quitting baseball. In fact, she’s reportedly looking forward to the season.
Kudos go out to this brave little girl. As to the “adults” who allegedly cooked up this evil sexist plan, all I can say is grow up and make your way out of the dark ages.
Baseball isn’t inherently a sport for males. Major League Baseball (MLB) and USA Baseball recognized that fact in recent years — albeit slowly — and have created additional opportunities for girls to play baseball. For example, the two baseball organizations have started a Trailblazer Series, which is a girls-only baseball tournament. They have also added a girls baseball player development camp to their Breakthrough Series in 2018, to be held in Vero Beach, Florida.
Good for them. Here’s hoping that Genes, after appropriately dealing with this ugly situation, shares this information with all the coaches and parents in his youth baseball league and encourages them to get with the times.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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