In 1976, my wife, Jama, enrolled as a freshman at Indiana University of Pennsylvania to study criminology and accounting and she was also a member of the women’s track team. Unlike the men’s program, the women’s program did not offer scholarships, provide for preferential on-campus jobs, did not have their academic schedules modified so as to not interfere with practices, and had no paid coaches. The men’s coach volunteered his time and the women themselves funded the program.
Women have been excluded from a lot of opportunities over the years, and scholastic and professional sports are no exception. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that women first competed in the Olympics and the 1920s that the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) recognized women’s basketball as a sport. It wasn’t until 1972 that Title IX was passed to ban gender discrimination in federally funded educational activities, which opened up a world of sports to female athletes.
As Title IX was just becoming a reality, colleges and universities were trying to figure out how to implement the spirit of the law or to find loopholes around it. Defiantly, Jama, and many thousands of other women like her, helped lay the foundational building blocks for the future growth and success of women’s collegiate and high school athletics.
As father of two women who played collegiate soccer, I know firsthand the impact of being a scholastic athlete has had on them as they competed at the collegiate level while earning their degrees and advanced degrees.
Unfortunately, today we are also witnessing an assault on women’s athletics at the high school and collegiate level supported by a complex socio-political agenda as well as an ideology that wants to redefine what a competitive female athlete is. The evidence is beyond dispute that teachers and coaches play a very important role in promoting the best attributes of organized scholastic sports for young women of all ages. This is why I am so excited about the program that Coaches Lauren Dansby and Hannah Evans are putting together entitled “Empowering Girls Through Sports.” The event is on January 21, at 6:30 p.m. in the Field House Hospitality Room and will feature successful current and former women athletes from OU, USAO, OBU, SWNU, Ada, West Point and UNC Charlotte.
These women will discuss friendships, building healthy lifestyles, and the joy and benefits of playing sports for your middle school and high school teams. The soccer coaching staff extends an invitation to every girl enrolled in grades 7-12 to come and be a part of a program!
How can you help? We need your help in promoting this event in your classrooms, in the hallways, on your athletic teams, in your scholastic organizations, clubs, band, and choir, and to anyone who you think would benefit by attending.
If there is new girl in our district, reach out to her. If you know of a girl who is unsure if she wants to play sports, reach out to her. If there is a girl who played sports and, for whatever reason, is no longer playing, reach out to her. If there is a girl who is not athletic, reach out to her. If you know of a girl who needs a positive peer group to identify with, reach out to her!
The truth is that for many children in our classrooms the best time of their day is when they are with us playing a sport or being involved in a school activity because they are safe, warm and loved. We need every member of the Newcastle teaching and coaching team to help promote this event so that together, we can help build women of purpose and women built for others! As a teacher, we know that tomorrow’s greatness is only possible based on what we do today!
If you want to help, attend, or want to know more about “Empowering Girls Through Sports,” please contact Coach Dansby at [email protected], or Coach Evans a [email protected].
“You never know if you can actually do something against all odds until you actually do it.” — Abby Wambach, US Women’s National Soccer Team Respectfully, Tom Pecore
Head Boys Soccer Coach ( EDITOR’S NOTE: The 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX was June 23, 2022. Pecore told us we should all be way ahead of where we are.)
