By Preston Williams
Thursday, January 18, 2007

An NCAA committee thinks it's a bad idea for women's basketball teams to practice against men. Its proposal is receiving the same kind of response from high school girls' basketball coaches that it got from NCAA women's basketball coaches:

"Huh?"

High school girls' basketball teams in this area, including many of the best, on occasion practice against boys' teams, usually the school's freshman or junior varsity squad. The girls' coaches believe that such encounters better prepare their players to face other formidable girls' programs.

The college-level discussions started with the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics, which proposed limiting or banning the use of men in women's practices because it raises gender equity concerns and "is a threat to the growth in female participation at all levels." The proposal has no bearing on the high school game, but the debate does resonate in high school athletics, because it's very common for girls' teams to bring in boys for scrimmaging, particularly when the postseason draws near.

"I don't know what other options you have when you want to compete at the higher level," Oakton Coach Fred Priester said. "If the women can't be challenged, then how are they going to get better?"

The girls gain confidence from facing what usually is stronger, faster, more athletic male competition. "If we can do it against them, we can most definitely do it against other girls," Edison All-Met guard Doreena Campbell said. Meantime, the boys often come away with a greater appreciation for the girls' game.

River Hill senior forward-center Kelsey Erdman did not need validation from a boy last year to realize her team was formidable. They ended up 28-0 and winning the Maryland 3A championship. But when one boy said, "Wow, you guys are good!" after practicing against the Hawks, Erdman realized she and her teammates were gaining respect for themselves, and for their sport.

"They'd say things about Keisha Eaddy [now at Temple] and about how she was really good, and that our team was better than they thought," said Erdman, who also has practiced against boys in soccer and lacrosse. "It can help bring more [male] fans and people who appreciate the game more."

"When you have guys playing against girls," Notre Dame Academy girls' coach Mike Teasley said, "and they see that they're physical and going to get up and down and run and can shoot and are fundamentally sound, it does create . . . respect."

Lee junior varsity boys' coach Vernon Lee, whose team in recent years has scrimmaged against the varsity girls, has noticed that when his players come back from away games, they cheer on the varsity girls in their home game, and the varsity girls cheer on the JV boys before boarding the bus for a road game.

"It seems now as though the kids are both rooting for both programs," Lee said. "They're supporting each other. They want each other to be successful."

Girls occasionally practicing against boys is an extension of summertime co-ed pick-up games, but it's a more controlled environment. The score is generally not kept and the boys are usually discouraged from making special efforts to block shots and make steals.

"I tell the guys before we start that this isn't about their ego, this is about them doing us a favor to help us get a little bit better," Priester said.

A lot of the work is situational -- breaking a press, honing a press, executing a motion offense. Facing taller, quicker players with wider wingspans on a Thursday afternoon can really pay off on a Friday night, and the presence of the boys can spark a starting five that has grown weary of schooling its understudies.

"You find out that the boys don't want to lose to the girls," said Holy Cross girls' coach Russell Davis, whose Pallotti teams used to practice against the JV boys (Holy Cross is an all-girls school). "The intensity level is a lot higher than what you could produce. It's almost like a game-type level of intensity."

Stonewall Jackson girls' coach Nsonji White has a regular boys' scout team made up of players not on the Raiders' school teams. As far as he's concerned, his scout team is a necessity.

"The reason is that last year I had six serious players and the rest filling a roster," White wrote in an e-mail. "I owed it to my program and those girls to challenge them. It aided in changing my girls' thinking. We won most of the scrimmages. What that has done to the confidence and attitudes of my girls has been tremendous."

Few area male coaches of girls' basketball teams have the perspective on the topic that Notre Dame's Teasley has. His sister is Washington Mystics guard Nikki Teasley, who grew up playing frequently against boys.

"Even though the women's game has grown a lot over the years, you can't match that when you're practicing with girls," Mike Teasley said. "It's no discredit to the women's game, or the women involved in the game. It's just about helping the game grow."

Varsity Letter is a weekly column about high school sports in the Washington area. Check out the Varsity Letter blog weekdays athttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/varsityletter.