Tok school will not be offering Mixed Six volleyball this year. Mixed six is a volleyball team that allows both male and female individuals to play the sport. No sexism, no discrimination, no problems. Allowing either a male volleyball team or a coed team is important due to the sexist aspect it has. There is a bit of an understanding as to why we wouldn’t have males involved in the sport if none showed an interest in it; but that isn’t the case. Though there are few, some have stated that they would like to participate in volleyball. Some come forward about the matter, others keep their opinions on the matter to themselves. So why haven’t we made a male team yet?
We have created an unhealthy environment here at our school revolving around this matter. We have allowed the sport to be seen as a more female oriented sport, a sport many guys don’t feel comfortable speaking out about. By interviewing a few guys at our school, their answers can be summed up to the fact that many feel emasculated or seen more as a homosexual than a man. Micaiah Denny says “I would look gay. The boys would make fun of me”. To which many guys agreed. Another quote said “Well if the boys were more comfortable with playing than I sure would”; but the issue with this is, very few boys feel comfortable coming out and stating that they would like to play, therefore, resulting in there being no male team. Many boys that were interviewed came out with the simple, yet very unhelpful answer of “I don’t know”, with nothing more to say after that.
Male volleyball should be more normalized and Tok school needs to make a change. Perhaps getting kids started on the sport at a younger age, elementary school students for example, more boys would grow up to be more comfortable with playing in junior and high school. By including volleyball in one’s P.E. schedule as a young individual, a change can be made. This is a matter Tok school administrators need to take into consideration as it’s a matter of one’s sport’s selection.