Increasing Participation Opportunities for Girls: Thinking Outside the Box

June 23, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Arguably, Title IX is one of the most impactful laws that has paved the way for girls and women to play sports in school, and great gains have been made in this area over the past 50 years.

And over the past 50 years it has been realized that interscholastic athletics participation can lead to better outcomes in education, positive health benefits and even improved opportunities in later employment. For some high school athletes, access to participation opportunities opens a door to playing sports in college and beyond. For all high school students, participating in athletics can be a source of fun and empowerment, lasting friendships, confidence in one’s physical skills, development of leadership potential, growth in the resilience necessary to commit to a vision, learn from mistakes and persist in meeting goals. These benefits are well worth encouraging participation for boys and for girls.

However, there are still 1.3 million fewer participation opportunities for girls than boys in our nation’s elementary and secondary schools. One of the most important responsibilities of high school athletic administrators is to ensure that the school’s athletic program meets Title IX compliance in both the areas of 1) Effective Accommodation of Athletic Interests and Abilities and 2) Equivalence in Other Athletic Benefits and Opportunities.

This article focuses on ways to increase athletic participation opportunities for female students. Athletic administrators and school personnel can develop strategies to recruit and retain girls in the athletic program by making the experiences meaningful and positive.

For a school’s athletic administrator to begin the process of assessing and increasing the participation opportunities for females at their school, the administrator must first gain a general understanding of what motivates young females to play sports, what barriers prevent them from participating and why some girls decide not to participate in sports. Understanding the historical evolution of girls participation in sports and the barriers they have faced may lead athletic administrators to develop more effective athletic participation opportunities for females at their school.

It is essential for schools is to understand the idea of gender equity in athletics. Recognize the historical barriers to female participation and honestly assess the current participation opportunities as well as the atmosphere and culture that exists within the school’s athletic program.

Female participants in sports will benefit from and respond positively to all athletic personnel making clear and explicit efforts to create physically, emotionally, socially and mentally healthy programs.

• Are all sports regarded as equally deserving of respect, publicity, announcements, etc.? If the achievements of teams are recognized, for example, in morning announcements, is this true for all sports? Has the school performed a Title IX self-audit, created a gender equity committee, and determined whether all athletic participants are receiving the same support? Is it expected that all coaches will express open support for all the school’s teams and create the expectation that their student-athletes will do the same?

• Are coaches and other school personnel receiving training on how to create a culture that empowers young females of all body types? Has the school implemented a zero-tolerance standard for homophobic comments and behavior directed toward females who participate in sports? Are adults sensitive to and actively monitoring areas like weight rooms for sexual harassment?

• Is the athletic director leading the way, with buy-in from all coaches, in making connections between sports and prevention of disease, lifelong fitness and eating for health, energy and strength?

• Recruit, hire and train coaches that have a background and interest in working with female student-athletes. Athletic administrators must be committed to provide training and workshop experiences for the existing coaching staff that focuses on different strategies girls and boys.

• Emphasize positive self-talk. Coaches should not pressure female student-athletes to conform to a certain body image or physique. Female student-athletes are at greater risk than male student-athletes for eating disorders. Coaches should avoid any reference to body weight or appearance and any comments that might suggest a student-athlete is overweight. Coaches should discuss the connection between sport and women’s health and fitness and foster discussion about the correlation between athletic participation, women’s health risks and prevention of disease.

• Because boys have had a longer history of sports participation, school athletic personnel need to be aware and sensitive to the dynamics and characteristics of young female student-athletes who may not have had the same experiences. For example, coaches may need to provide precise feedback and encouragement to female student-athletes to help them develop self-confidence as opposed to screaming at, denigrating or punishing them when they make a mistake.

• Coaches need to understand the fear and anxiety that many young females may experience when participating in sports and support and build confidence in female student- athletes by helping them prepare mentally and physically for their sport. Coaches should teach student-athletes to manage mistakes and anxiety in a positive manner. Utilizing tools such as self-talk or affirmations, relaxation techniques and positive mental imagery can increase self-confidence.

• Explain and demonstrate appropriate strength training, flexibility techniques and programs to improve cardiovascular performance. Schools should create and support healthy and safe programs for female student-athletes by providing appropriate opportunities for them to train and properly prepare for the specific cardiovascular, strength and flexibility demands of each sport. School personnel should not assume that females are not interested in utilizing the school’s weight rooms, fitness rooms and conditioning facilities. If properly educated and given time in a safe space, female student-athletes will reap the benefits of using these facilities. Additionally, coaches need to properly teach female student-athletes the tactics and skills of their sport that will increase their chances for success and minimize the likelihood of injury due to overuse and poor technique.

• Examine the community athletic programs that currently exist. Cultivate relationships with community-based athletic leagues or clubs, private gyms and any other community athletic groups that exist. Reach out to younger athletes in the community and invite them to participate in the school’s athletic programs in the future. Simply reaching out to younger athletes can have enormous positive impact and can be a difference-maker when a young female is uncertain as to whether she wants to commit to participating in a school’s athletic program. In addition, athletic administrators should take the opportunity to promote the school’s athletic program – both boys and girls – when interfacing with the various community groups.

• Conduct a survey of middle school and high school students to assess their interests, abilities and attitudes of interscholastic athletics. Include in the survey interest levels of club and intramural sports. It will also be important to take this a step further and use focus groups to assess girls’ intentions and goals for participating in interscholastic athletics. It may be beneficial to incorporate focus groups to uncover the barriers and challenges that girls encounter when deciding whether to participate in the school’s athletic program. Additionally, incorporate the school’s guidance counseling staff into the process by asking them to speak with students about athletic participation, etc.

• Provide a wide range of opportunities for girls that can attract greater numbers of students. Consider offering sports that may not necessarily be currently sanctioned by the state’s athletic/activity association. Creating coed sport opportunities may be an attraction for some students and gives boys the opportunity to see girls in a competitive environment as student-athletes. Athletic administrators should not assume that girls are only interested in certain sports or that girls may not be interested in sports at all.

• Implement a policy or procedure for requesting the addition of sports and effectively communicate that policy or procedure to students and parents.

• Athletic administrators need to understand the diverse cultural backgrounds and any cultural expectations within the community. Students are influenced by culture when it comes to the sports in which they may be interested in participating.

• Avoid making cuts on teams whenever it is safely and logically possible.

• Goals related to improvement and personal bests need to be celebrated as well as goals related to winning.

• Know what athletic girls want and understand that young females often want to explore a variety of sports participation experiences. For many adolescents, both boys and girls, participating in athletics is about having fun at sport, cultivating friendships, developing physical skills, meeting personal challenges, and focusing their competitive growth. While some girls, just as some boys, dream of aspirations of competing at the high school level, the college level, the Olympic level and in some instances, play professionally.

A school’s athletic program is an integral part of the school’s overall educational program. Schools must commit to creating a program focused on students growing in mental and physical health, athletic prowess and interpersonal skills. The excitement of winning can motivate some. The joy of feeling successful, stronger and connected to friends will motivate many.

When school district athletic administrators and school administrators understand the idea of gender equity in athletics and commit to providing girls and boys with similar opportunities, treatment and respect, then both genders stand to win and school athletic programs stand to grow. Athletic administrators, coaches and school administrators need more than vision to implement programs and deal with equity issues including creating more participation opportunities for girls. School personnel need to create and implement a strategic plan to take actions that will create a more gender equitable athletic program. In doing so, schools must have sensitivity and awareness of the issues that are unique to young females who participate or may potentially participate in an education-based athletics program. Boys and girls essentially gain the same positive benefits from participating in their school’s athletics program. However, the journey to obtain those benefits for each is different.

Resources:
Good Sports, Inc.: www.titleixspecialists.com
National Federation of State High School Associations: www.nfhs.org
Association of Title IX Administrators: www.atixa.org
U.S. Center for Safe Sports: https://maapp.uscenterforsafesport.org
Institutional Compliance Solutions: www.icslawyer.com Legal Aid at Work: www.legalaidatwork.org