Essay On Transgender Issues In Softball

Transgender issues in softball have become increasingly more aware in society, which brings up issues on the rules and regulations pertaining to the game. A transgender person should only be allowed to hit the ball size of their sex designated at birth unless they adhere to the rules and regulations pertaining to the league of choice. According to the United States Specialty Softball Association (USSSA) Official Rulebook, “men are not permitted to compete on women’s teams in USSSA sanctioned events” to ensure the safety of women players. This may seem a bit unfair, but when competing in women’s or coed softball tournaments there is a big difference. Understanding that transgender women want the same equality as women, there is no equality on …show more content…
Softballs are based on two metrics- Coefficient of Restitution (COR) and compression. COR represents how “bouncy” the ball is. The higher the COR, the more bouncy the ball is and the farther it will fly. The compression is measured of how hard a softball is; the higher the compression, the harder the ball and the farther it will fly. Testing shows a “softball compression had a significant effect on batted ball speed. An increase of 150 PQI in compression resulted in an increase in the batted ball speed of over 6mph and correlated to an increase in distance of about 20 feet. The COR was found to have a slight negative effect on batted ball speed. Increasing the COR from 0.40 to 0.47 actually resulted in a decrease in batted ball speed of over 3 mph and correlated to a decrease in distance of about 11 feet.” (Ciocco, 2010) The maximum distance between home plate and the outfield fence is 300 feet; homerun’s range anywhere from about 301 feet to 315 feet. Imagine men hitting the men’s ball at a distance of 305 during a homerun hitting contest, then transgender women hitting the women’s ball at a distance of 315 feet. The difference is …show more content…
With the requirements being fulfilled, the other women on the teams will not be at a disadvantage. The transgender women will hit the ball about the same as women and there will not be any controversy on the field. Everyone is on the field for the same reason; to have fun and win. No one wants anyone to feel uncomfortable or out of place. Understanding that transgenders already have to deal with transforming into the person they want to be, never the less being accepted. They just want to be able to play a sport that they love and go by the rules of the gender they are transforming to. If chaos breaks out, they will feel discriminated against and uncomfortable and end up