Playing like a girl is goal for boys

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Josh and Jarrod Davis aren't trying to cause any trouble. They are not out to strike a blow for men's rights, make a statement or satisfy any curiosity about how they would look in a skirt. As the first boys in Anne Arundel County to play high school field hockey -- traditionally an all-girl sport in this country -- they just want to have fun.

"We really enjoy the game," Josh said.

Josh, a senior, and Jarrod, a freshman, attend Meade High School. Neither has competed in organized field hockey until now, but they are enthusiastic, spirited players -- hardly the stars of the team but willing to learn. Others, however, fail to share their zest for the game, or seem to understand it. Howard and Arundel high schools have canceled games against Meade, saying that boys competing poses a physical threat to the girls or gives the team an unfair advantage.

"Our objection was we think the athletes would be put at physical risk," Arundel athletic director Bernie Walter said, adding that when parents signed permission slips for their children, "it was with the presumption that those girls were going to play against girls."

There have been other consequences. Josh and Jarrod, both of whom start for the Mustangs, are not expected to be allowed to participate in the playoffs and no victories will count when teams are seeded for postseason play. And, the brothers have occasionally been taunted and called some not-so-nice names by spectators.

"I think it's just a lot of people overreacting," Josh said.

"People are so narrow-minded about the situation. I feel like my head is on the cutting block," said Meade coach Carrie Vosburg.

Vosburg hears people in the sport grumble that she's not doing her best to build the program, that she has to turn to guys for help. That's an insult, she said. In her fourth season as coach, Vosburg, who works full time as an advocate for mentally ill children, has turned around a program that had failed to win a game in seven years. Last season, without boys, Meade went 6-7.

Meade has no junior varsity team, and there is no feeder system of youth leagues in the area. When Vosburg took over, the players quickly learned that she was far more demanding than the previous coach, and several quit. In short, she needed bodies. That was Marlene Kelly's reasoning. As Anne Arundel County supervisor of athletics, she sent a letter to athletic directors that essentially gave the boys permission to play amid the objections.