Bullying and the Not-So-Blindside of Sport

I don't ever recall a time in middle school or high school where I was ever physically or verbally bullied, but I can recall a time where I have actually witnessed a certain form of bullying. It was my junior year of high school and I was watching my high school's varsity girls' basketball team play. Throughout my 4 years of high school, we weren't really the best when it came to certain sports, and basketball happened to be one of them. There were about 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter and my high school was losing pretty bad. When the game was over, I remember all the girls looking sad and disappointed, which who wouldn't be after losing a game. I began walking towards their locker room because I was going to talk to a few of my friends who were on the team. As I got closer, I remember hearing a few of the senior girls saying things like, "if she wouldn't have made so many mistakes we probably could have won." I wasn't really sure what to think in this moment. These girls continued talking and proceeded to say, "she should really be on JV because we aren't ever going to win a game if she stays on the team." I could not believe what these girls were saying, and it soon became clear that they were talking about one of my friends. In that moment all I wanted to do was go up to those girls and ask them why they would ever say things like that about someone, let alone someone on their own team. There were so many other things I wanted to say to them, but just didn't have the courage to stand up for my friend, or myself. I never ended up telling my friend what those girls said about her because I didn't want to upset her, or make it seem like I was making it all up. Looking back, I wish I would have said something because nobody should get to make comments like that about someone and just get away with it. I also wish I would have spoken up because my friend deserved to hear the things said about her, regardless if it was good or bad. This type of bullying definitely represents an imbalance of power. The senior girls, based on their status and athletic ability, had the most power. My friend, not knowing what these girls were saying, and maybe not as good of a basketball player as the senior girls, had little to no power. This power imbalance is a result of these girls feeling like they are better than everyone else simply because of who they are. My friend was the target in this situation, and because she knew nothing about what was being said, she had no power to fight back.