NINE LIVES

Thirty years have passed since the legislation referred to as Title IX became law and mandated equal opportunities for female athletes in institutions that receive federal funding. Sitting in the United Spirit Arena, watching the Lady Raiders practice or play, as Texas Tech’s senior associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator, I find myself grateful to be in a state-of-the-art facility and to have the opportunities afforded to young female athletes by that law of fair play. Yet, the battle for equal rights and opportunities for female athletes is far from being won, even in the year 2002.

Across time, women’s sporting experiences have shaped, and have been shaped by, social, economic and political experiences. For example, triathlons, marathons, soccer, aerobics, weightlifting, rugby, skiing, hockey, professional basketball leagues are among the many sports available to women in present times – none of which existed a century ago and few of which existed a generation earlier. The generations of women who are now maturing have grown up with opportunities that their mothers and grandmothers never dreamed of. Since the passage of Title IX, a few of the significant events in women’s sports history include a record number of women competing in the 1996 Olympic Games. Those games came to be called the Women’s Games as softball and soccer made their debuts and because of the success of such teams, including the Olympic women’s basketball team with Texas Tech’s own Sheryl Swoopes. In 1996-97, high school girls had their highest ever sports participation rate of 2.5 million players. And in the Sydney Olympics last summer, women competed for the first time in the same number of team sports as men.

In collegiate athletics at Texas Tech since Title IX was passed, I’ve seen the opportunities grow and the facilities expand to include state-of-the-art basketball arenas, softball fields and tennis centers. Texas Tech women’s teams have gone in the last decades from literally team players getting in their cars, taking a sack lunch, staying at parents’ homes wherever the team was going to play, with fans in the dozens, and driving back after a competition, to what the women athletes now have in sophisticated facilities with incredible locker rooms, lounges, travel, accommodations, per diem meals, uniforms and academic support. Women’s teams at Texas Tech have opportunities to travel all across the country, instead of places close enough to drive to, as well as chances to go to foreign countries for summer travel and competition. Women athletes in all universities have more opportunities to play sports year-round, from volleyball, track, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis and golf.

Compliance with Title IX is especially failing in America’s public schools, which is where the interest in sports begins. In order to provide the opportunities in sports, one has to develop an interest, and if opportunities are not provided early, no interest exists. Many public schools have made improvements in the area of equal opportunities for girls, but in most cases, progress has been made because parents have been assertive in demanding equality for their daughters. If girls don’t develop an interest in high school to play sports, then they will less likely be involved in sports when they enter college.