Kids are going back to school this week, probably not too soon for a lot of parents, and so are high school sports. The fall sports include football, volleyball, girls’ tennis, soccer and cross country, and more.
In the latest data available from the National Federation of State High School Associations Ohio had 197,420 boys participating in sports and 135,929 girls in the 2011-2012 school year. If you work the numbers there are 18 percent more boys in sports than girls.
Of course, before the passage of the landmark legislation of Title IX by the United States Congress in June of 1972, there weren’t any girls in sports, or at least very few.
We started to get girls’ sports at the high school level in Ohio in the mid to late 1970’s and since then the interest has for the most part increased.
I have long been a supporter of Title IX and it will be very difficult for you to convince me that it should be any different. I think my best argument has been, “Wouldn’t you want the same opportunities for your daughter as your son has?” I can not read everyone’s mind, but I would think that answer should be, “Yes.”
Does that mean you daughter has to compete in sports just because your son does? Absolutely not, however, she should be afforded the chance to do so.
In this day and age, in Ohio at least, there seems to be rather consistent school funding issues which has led to pay-to-participate in some school districts. That forces some low income families to make a choice when it comes to providing money for all of their kids and that is too bad. I wouldn’t care to have to make that decision. Some schools give discounts if a family has more than one child that would be required to pay.
I think that is more of a school funding issue than it is an equality issue. I hope one day that Ohio can solve its funding problems, but I am not holding my breath. Those problems have existed for, let’s say, 40 years? I can’t hold my breath that long even if I was near the stench that is the University of Michigan.
There has been an argument, although it relates more directly to the college level than it does to high schools, that Title IX has forced the elimination of sports like wrestling in some cases. I would argue on the other hand that the enormous spending on football and basketball programs is more to blame.
You must spend an equal amount of money on men’s and women’s sports and offer the same number of sports to both genders. So, to make things equal colleges tend to eliminate non-revenue producing men’s sports.
Want a testimony to the success of Title IX? The United States women’ soccer team has won four Olympic gold medals and two world cups. The men have won how many? That would be none. Who has been more consistency successful in softball/baseball, volleyball, swimming, gymnastics? Women, in all cases.
Would the Shelby girls’ basketball team, the Madison volleyball team, the St. Peter’s girls’ basketball team, the Lexington girls’ tennis team or the Clear Fork softball program give back their success? I think not.
At the high school level here has been a movement over the last decade, especially in basketball, to schedule girls’ sports in more prime time spots, such as Friday night. Most area leagues around North Central Ohio do that.
I still get complaints that this isn’t right. That girls should “know their place.” What? Or that it hurts some schools at the gate. That may be the case in some places, but not all. Tell that to West Holmes High School, to our south, a member of the Ohio Cardinal Conference. John Cahill, a girls’ basketball coach at Clyde High School, near Lake Erie, told me they regularly attract more attendance than their counterparts from the other gender.
I am not the one to stand on some moral judgment inmost cases, but in my opinion Title IX, and the enforcement there of, is the only way to go.
In addition to his writing for Richland Source, Jeff provides complete high school sports coverage for over 70 Ohio schools at his web site, www.swankonsports.com.