Aaron Keyer – What Title IX has done to American Sports.
Title IX is a great thing for American and has proven to
help balance the playing field for men and women in the United States. Not only
has it given American women a chance to succeed as individual in athletics, it
has opened the door for American women to compete as teams in sport.
Not since Billy Jean King has their been a more influential
person or team in women’s sport than in 1999 when the American women went all
out for the World Cup which was being held in the United States. This team is
probably the single most responsible “team” in women’s sports history. The
American women did everything they could to raise awareness about their games
and did everything in their own power to generate as much buzz about themselves
as possible. As a result, they sold out NFL stadiums across the country and really
opened the door for women’s team sports forever.
Although there has been a lot of controversy concerning
Title IX throughout the years, I think most of it is either misinterpreted or
misunderstood. I believe it is great that women play intercollegiate athletics
and have the same opportunities in sports as men. However, due to the dominance
men once had and the implications of equality Title IX brings with it, in order
to help better compensate and budget for women’s teams to be added, some men
teams had to be cut at many universities. This is one of the biggest arguments
from men about Title IX and although many people refuse to say it’s because of
Title IX that teams get cut, I believe it is.
Every college sport is on a budget, and very rarely does a
college team make money for their school. In order for all these guidelines to
be met of Title IX, many schools had to cut their wrestling programs, men’s
track and field teams and men’s swimming.
I believe Title IX is great for American female opportunity
and I think it has made American women more competitive and motivated in the
American society. There is no better example of this than how the U.S. women
dominated in London this summer in the Olympics.
I definitely agree that Title IX has had a great impact on female athletics in the United States. It is clearly shown in the recent success of female Americans in the Olympics. However, other countries may be a decade or two behind when it comes to females being accepted and encouraged as athletes. While I do believe Title IX is misunderstood, the consequences that has come along with it is unfortunate.
ReplyDelete-Marc Rodriguez
Hey Aaron,
ReplyDeleteI agree Title IX has truely had an great affect on women and their sports, I have always and will always support it because I want females to have the same opportunity in sports as us males do today. Since Title IX we have had the opportunity to see some great female athletes like Danica Patrick, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Sharapova, Candis parker, and a lot more. It was great to just see the U.S. women dominate the Olypics this summer to know how far they have came from since Title IX.
- Khiry Kelly
There are two points that I would like to address:
ReplyDelete1. That sports HAD to be cut. I still believe that is a shortcut that does not really "fix" the problems of budget deficits. As you could see from the in-class activity, there were other solutions that could have been considered but they might require us to take more creative thinking.
2. If you think about the "effects" of Title IX, the only one of the above athletes named by Khiry who really benefited directly from Title IX was Candace Parker. I'm not sure that Title IX opened doors for the others. There were already women in automobile racing, and tennis has probably flourished more because of Billie Jean King; none of the tennis players named above were trained in high school or college programs, and of course, Sharapova is not even from the U.S.
Dr. Spencer
I defiantly agree that Title IX has done nothing but great things for sports but especially for female athletes. As we continue our discussion in class, I find myself wondering constantly what the sports world would be like without Title IX. Obviously, none of us has grown up in a time without Title IX firsthand so we are very fortunate but I still wonder how sports were played or viewed by others that did play sports of both genders. Would we have so many female anchors in sports or on the sidelines like we do today? Aaron, you mention how men’s sport programs got cut but as we have been learning in class it is a “easy route” taken by athletic programs to thinking they comply with Title IX but that is not the answer. Athletic departments could have different alternatives to keep these programs around such as pay to play. There is other ways to stay within the compliance of Title IX besides of cutting/adding sport programs. Sports is constantly evolving, I am excited to see the continuous impact of Title IX as years go by and seeing first hand as I leave BGSU into the sport industry the role of Title IX.
ReplyDelete-Chelsea VanAssche
I agree with you that Title IX has had a major impact on sports throughout the years. I always wonder what sports would be like if it weren't for Title IX. I think I myself, would have a different view on sports if this didn't come into play. I wonder how different sports would be today, if mens and womens still had combined teams, and women didn't have their own teams to play on. In my opinion, Title IX, has been one of the best things to happen in the world of sports, giving women and men the equal opportunity that they deserve to do what they love, and to show off their talent to the rest of the world.
ReplyDelete-Paxin Stern