In many youth sports leagues, kids, and especially girls, have the chance to play on coed teams. One school of thought is that playing with the boys, who tend to be more aggressive and physical, and more skilled in many cases, will help the girls improve their performance more quickly than playing on an all-girls team. This is the reason that for many years, top women's college basketball programs would routinely practice against men.

A counter argument is that since the boys tend to be more aggressive and dominating, girls on coed teams get less opportunity than they would on an all-girls team.

In short, I feel coed teams are right for some girls, and some boys, but that the kids should be making these decisions and not the parents. After all, our kids get many benefits for participating in team sports, and we should do all we can to encourage and support them.