Well, I wrote in on this last time, so I might as well do it again...

When the legislation is affecting ALL female sports, why do we continue to simply say that basketball will be the only one affected?

As a male who has worked on a female team (softball) as a bullpen catcher during practice, I can tell you right now that the value added does NOT take away from the ability for the players (namely the catchers) to become better players. They (the actual catchers) are able to work on their hitting during practice without being forced to squat in the bullpen to catch the pitchers. Their knees are saved, and come playoff time, they are feeling healthy. The can work on their defense, situational play, throwing, and whatever else they need to with the coaches. The pitchers do not have to throw a ball into a net rather than having a real life catcher there. A coach isn't taken away from helping the players and forced to catch the pitchers. There is virtually nothing taken away from the team practices, and plenty added in.

My point isn't that men should be allowed in every sport. What I am saying is that across the board legislation is NOT the right way to go with this.

Take tennis, for example. If you can have a female play against a male (who for argument's sake will have a higher skill level than the females on the team), and there are open courts which allow another female to play against a different male, why should that be stopped? All the players are able to practice, and playing better competition will make them better athletes, and essentially provide more of an opportunity to them.

There are not all that many sports that the NCAA cannot look at individually and make a judgment on each as to how male practice players can and cannot be used. In the basketball situation, I can see why this may take away from the athletes and make an unfair situation for them. This is a major issue, so why not take the time to look at it properly and judge accordingly. You are doing the female players a disservice not to.

Josh, I ask of you to please try and get female student-athletes from other sports (other than basketball) and see what they have to say about the subject.

I'll let Pat Summitt, college basketball's winningest coach, make the case for having male practice players work with women's teams.

???If you look at having male practice players ??? males are stronger, quicker, faster ??? to challenge us in practice and I???m sure a lot of other coaches in Division I would agree it has done nothing but help us improve our game.

"Will your last five people make you better? No. But, well, they???re going to get a lot of practice time. Does that mean they???re going to play in the games? No.???

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=7&p=2&c=600307

I think it???s all right for women to practice with men in any sport. The physical disparities will only enhance the women's technical proficiency and performance against their competition.

As a women's basketball coach, I often wondered how much advantage we were gaining from using male practice players. Do women's basketball teams play men's teams in their scheduled contests?...no. For the most part is the game played above the rim?...no. So what truly is the advantage? Why do an overwhelming amount of DI coaches think this is the only way to progress their game? I am a firm believer that the men's game and women's game are different and trying to conform to the other???s style is counterproductive. Why not allow the women's game to grow and flourish into a style that is true to its players? I also wonder why a women's team can???t do what a men's team does in preparation for upcoming opponents. They don't run a scout team for practice. They don't have extra bodies for injuries. In fact, women's basketball in DI is allotted more scholarships. Who's fault is it that they are only carrying 10 scholarship players?...the coaches. The best players in the nation will still be the best players in the nation whether they are practicing against men or women. But I do agree with Josh in the sense that the S-A should decide. About the comments on softball, I have just one question - does baseball use outside help to catch pitchers? I really don't think I have the answers to this issue???I just have questions.

Baseball generally does not, although some teams (mostly larger funded programs) may carry an extra walk-on to handle this. At a top DI school, finding a female to catch the pitchers as your STARTER is difficult enough, as these girls are bringing some serious heat. Finding someone who will be 3rd or 4th down on the depth chart who has the ability to catch the pitchers may be impossible to come by. At a school such as Ohio St or Penn St where there are 40,000+ students, it's very much possible, but at a smaller private institution, finding a female who has the athletic ability to catch the pitchers (and be knowledgeable enough to provide constructive feedback and make corrections) is not only tough to come by, but most likely will be attending somewhere else on a scholarship, and would not want to be relegated to bullpen duties.

So are you saying this extra walk-on in baseball has the knowledge and skill necessary to catch a starting pitcher? Your comments go right along with my questions for the other coaches who are so adamant for this policy, why do so many fight for equality in women's sports and opportunities but then in the same breath turn-around and say for us to use women for practice is not good enough? "They just don't have the same ability," seems counterproductive for their original argument. If you are a grad assistant for the softball team then hey catch away, but I feel as though some people have lost sight of the original message for equality in intercollegiate sports for both genders. The game should be allowed to develop for its participants.

Hard to argue with Pat Summitt! I disagree with across the board legislation disallowing men to participate in women athletes practice. I live in the Houston area and know for a fact that at the pro level, the Houston Comets and Rockets team members play many pick-up games at the Westside Tennis Club. Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes are well known competitors that love to drive the lane on the men and play fiercely in practice against them. I do not see how this would not be beneficial at the collegiate level. There are numerous instances where men and women athletes can work together. Why not cross training or even scrimmage between the male and female athletes? I like the above posted ideas about bringing in a male catcher just to keep wear and tear off of the female catcher and am sure there are similar things that can be done in other sports.