Harry, Jere, George, and Bob L. were students at Centerville University who enjoyed playing Ultimate Frisbee, a game requiring two teams of seven. Since it was hard to round up 14 players every time they wished to play, they decided to start a regular frisbee team. Their hopes were to get some potentially good frisbee players together and teach them how to play Ultimate. They realized they would need to publicize the team. One of them, Jere, spoke to a reporter from the school newspaper, and a short article appeared about the team. In the interview Jere stated, "The team is open to all students, especially girls." Any of the four could have spoken to the reporter, but Jere took the initiative. Jere also announced a practice through the newspaper. Eleven people came to that initial practice: Jere, Fred, Roger (Fred's roommate), Jim H., Jean, Bob L., George, Pete C., Pete R., Paul, and Harry. Jere took their names, addresses, and telephone numbers and announced that practices would be held at 4 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays (a time that was convenient for Jere). It wasn't clear why Jere should be the one to decide this, but since he was taking names, he was the one asked by the newcomers.
At the second practice some new people showed up: Chas, Alex, Bert, Gene (all of whom lived together), Bob M., Linda, Sharon, and Jack. However, some people from the first practice didn't come because they had conflicting classes. Jere took these new people's names and toyed with the idea of taking attendance, but nothing came of it because, as he said to his roommate, 'I didn't want to turn people off or make them feel they had to come." However, many players made a mental note of who was there and who wasn't. Different people came and went like this at each practice thereafter.
Jere and several others knew how to play Ultimate and spent the first few practices teaching the others. Jere dominated the direction of these early practices, but after a short time the rest of the players were as good and some even better. Everyone had a lot of fun learning and playing. Jack and Chas were two players who stood out at practice. Jack (a grad student) was calm and collected, never became angry, and always played fairly. Chas had been the captain of his high school football team and always organized the team he was on, deciding who should play and who sits out.
Jere dealt with much of the administrative work, such as announcing to the school radio and newspaper where and when practices would be held. No one asked Jere to do this, but attendance was sporadic and he hoped to get new people to fill the gaps at practice. However, response to the newspaper and radio announcements was minimal; consequently, Jere felt there should be an organizational meeting at night, which hopefully would generate interest and attract more players. At the next practice, Jere announced the meeting and explained that it was also to set up officers, dues, and so forth. Jack had 200 flyers printed up, and he and Chas posted them around campus.
Jere came to the meeting late and found that strong opposition had developed against dues and against organization in general. Jere tried to explain that in order to receive funding from the university or to use university vehicles, the team must be organized with officers and a constitution, saying that the sports director for the university had told him this. A vote on dues barely passed, whereupon several members left the meeting vowing they had quit. Jere followed them into the hall pleading with them to be sensible but could overhear two other members saying,
"So what; we don't need them anyway." A debate ensued for a few minutes, and Jere called an end to the meeting, putting off a vote on a captain because he feared it would create further division among the team, since either Jere, Jack, or Chas might have made a good captain. Many new people who had shown up to the meeting explained they couldn't make practices as currently scheduled. Jere shrugged and said he'd try to set up alternative practices; however, this was never done.
A new group of players arrived after about 10 practices: Stan, Reggie, Mark, Bill T., and Howie. They always came and left together and often played on the same team. They were good players and talked about the coming games and their anticipated role in them. Reggie asked Jere at his first practice, "Do you think I'll start the first game?" Jere just shrugged.
By this time over 20 people had come out for the team, including 3 girls. The players fell into five friendship groups, as shown in Exhibit 3. As practices continued, they became hard and competitive, and a lot of the fun that had been evident in the beginning seemed to disappear. One day Jere enraged Sharon by taking the frisbee away from her and throwing it himself. She started to walk off the field, but Jere called her back and the two had an argument right out in the middle of the field where everyone could see and hear it. She stayed at practice but was silent the rest of the day.
As the date for the first game drew near, all of the dues money was used to rent a 15-seat bus for the 50-mile trip to the other school. The day before the game about 12 people attended a meeting to discuss travel plans. Jack brought a letter written by Sharon. It was addressed to the team, but started:
Dear Jack,
The incident at this afternoon's practice was the last straw, but I would like to impress, far from the only one. I'm writing this to you because you are the only one on the team who ever gave me any encouragement or made me feel like a real live person and not a bumbling incompetent. I joined the frisbee team because I enjoy playing vigorous frisbee in the comradeship of others, and to develop my own skill and confidence; but none of these are achievable under the present conditions. How can I enjoy and concentrate on the game when not a minute goes by but I must force myself to ignore and rise above degrading and humiliating sexist treatment? It's often said that a female, be it a filly race horse or me on the frisbee team, must be three times as good as a male in order to be considered equal. Nothing truer has ever been said. Even Jere, who's practiced with me so much and encouraged my progress, turns overtly sexist in the presence of his teammates. Certainly the issues are not completely imagined in my mind-ask the other female players. I am not against competitiveness as long as the competition element stimulates constant improvement. But when point-making takes priority over the freedom to make mistakes or try new things, then I think something is wrong. Maybe, if anyone cares you could let them in on this
With this, Sharon announced her resignation from the team. The letter was received with much debate by the team, and some players refused to read the letter. Jack sided with the opinions stated in the letter and was joined in this opinion by many of the original members, including the two remaining women. Jere remained silent, unable to side with one view or the other.
Obviously some choice had to be made as to who would go on the bus. Group D insisted on "Sending down the best 15," in which case all of them would go. Group C said, "Take those who have come to the most practices." Jere felt that this was the fairest solution, but it was hard to use since no one was sure as to who had attended how many practices.
Jere, Jack, and Stan sat down and wrote up several lists of 15, but none was acceptable to all of the groups. Jere put off making any decision; several people got quite sore. Jere felt caught in the middle, and it was not something he could shrug off. He tried to act as the moderator of the dispute but kept saying, "Does anyone have any ideas?" Argument continued and people began to leave very upset, with no decision reached. Jere felt that he had been responsible for letting the scene get out of hand.
The day of the game came, and 19 people stood outside near the bus. Everyone wondered what to do. Some expressed the opinion that a captain should be elected to make the decision.