Intramural Sports: Is There Equality in Co-Rec?

Co-Rec sports are popular on college campuses because they allow men and women to compete on the same team.   However, are the rules of co-rec designed to promote equality between the genders? According to a recent article in Athletic Business magazine, (http://www.athleticbusiness.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=3956&zoneid=8), the rules are often modified in co-rec sports in order to promote equality and keep the women actively involved in the game.  The Intramural Sports program at Dakota State University has altered the traditional rules of basketball to provide women with an advantage when playing in a co-ed league. For example - if a woman makes a shot inside the three-point arc it is worth 3 points (instead of the normal 2 points) and the traditional three-point basket outside the arc is worth 4 points. Directors of Intramural Sports programs claim that the reasons for the rule changes are simple - to get the women more involved in the game.

Intramural programs that modify the scoring rules to favor women do not promote fairness.  Perhaps these programs have modified the rules of the game in order to increase female participation or to promote the strategic game plan for getting females involved in each play.

 

The co-rec basketball rules at Tarleton State University were similar to those used at Dakota State University; however, two years ago, the Intramural Sports department reinstated the regulation rules. Regardless of gender, if a player made a two-point shot then they received 2 points … if the player sunk a three-pointer then 3 points were recorded on the scoreboard. Although some would claim that female participation would decrease when using traditional basketball rules and scoring, this did not prove to be the case at Tarleton State University. Once the rule was changed, the female participation numbers did not decrease rather they remained the same.

 

MAKE THE CALL – If women want to be equal with men, then the scoring should be equal no matter who shoots the ball.   What are your thoughts?