Prep Voices : An Even Field? : Are Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Programs Treated Equally at the High School Level?

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

--Title IX, signed by President Richard Nixon, June 23, 1972

Bottom line: Title IX, a federal law, banned discrimination in high school athletics.

Results: Girls’ participation in high school sports rose nearly 1,000%--from 294,015 in the 1971-72 school year to a high of 2.98 million in 1977-78, according to surveys conducted by the National Federation of State High School Assns.

Last year, the survey said the figure fell to 2.12 million, partly attributed to a decline in enrollment.

Meanwhile, the number of boys participating in high school sports went from 3.67 million in 1971 to a high of 4.37 million in 1977-78 (those Baby Boomer years), back to 3.48 million last year.

So that means no discrimination, right? That means girls are getting the same opportunity as boys to play high school sports, right?

Well . . .

Another survey by the National Federation found that a typical high school offers eight girls’ sports with 15 teams and 10 boys’ sports with 18 teams. A majority of schools responding indicated an increase in girls’ programs and virtually no increase in boys’ programs.

You may have come a long way, baby, but just try to find an athletic director anywhere who will go on the record saying high school girls’ sports are getting treated the same as the boys.

Lillian Brabander, who retired in 1992 after 29 years as the Estancia High girls’ athletic director--including 25 as badminton coach--is a lifetime advocate of girls’ sports.

Before there was Title IX, there was the Girls Athletic Assn., which stressed participation over competition, and having fun over winning. And the girls loved it, Brabander said.

Estancia had 350 girls in the program on average. Today, only about 200 girls play on Eagle teams.

Revenue from annual dues--50 cents per girl--and proceeds from an annual car wash provided the program’s entire budget. Girls supplied their uniforms, the school custodian drove them to away games on the bus, and parental pressure didn’t exist. Neither did specialization.

“Girls didn’t practice two hours a day like they do now,” said Brabander, who lives in Huntington Beach. “They didn’t play (one sport) year-round. The best athletes were all-around athletes. I think it made for more fun.”

When Title IX was signed into law, it signaled a serious turn for girls’ sports.

It has had, perhaps, the most impact on college programs.

In an attempt to bring their athletic departments closer to compliance with the federal statute, many universities have dropped traditional men’s programs and added non-traditional women’s programs so comparable numbers of men and women would have a chance to compete.

Cal State Fullerton dropped men’s gymnastics and women’s volleyball but was forced to reinstate the volleyball program after the school was found to be in violation of Title IX.

UCLA, once a national power in men’s swimming, no longer fields a team. San Diego State has a women’s track and field program, but not a men’s program. And USC added women’s water polo as a varsity sport this year. Getting in line with Title IX, at the collegiate level, is a numbers game.

Surveys have shown that a majority of operating budgets are still spent on men’s teams, and an even larger majority of recruiting funds are spent for male athletes. Accordingly, many women choose not to pursue athletics in college. Fewer opportunities discourage aspiring high school athletes, who have fewer role models.

Most high school girls can’t even look to their own coaches as role models. Research last January showed that only 31% of the varsity head coaching positions for girls’ sports in Orange County were held by women. In large-team sports such as soccer and track, the percentage is less than a fourth.

In an interview with The Times in 1992, Mark Trakh, then coach of the Brea-Olinda girls’ basketball team, observed the plight of women’s coaches in the county:

“If you look around the county and every time there’s a job opening for a girls’ coach, chances are it will be a walk-on position. If it’s a boys’ coach, chances are it will be an on-campus teaching position.

“When I coach all-star teams, I’ll ask the players, ‘Are girls’ basketball teams just as important as the boys’ teams on campus?’ And the kids say, ‘No way, are you kidding? (Boys) get the gym. And they care more about the boys than they do us.’ I get that answer 80% to 90% of the time. You won’t get that answer at Brea.”

Brea-Olinda, by the way, has won five State championships in girls’ basketball and often outdraws its boys’ team, raising an interesting question:

Do high schools put less money into girls’ sports because people don’t like to watch them, thus generating less revenue for the school? Or are these sports less interesting because less money and attention is given to them?

In this installment of Prep Voices, The Times Orange County asks:

“Are boys’ and girls’ athletic programs treated equally at the high school level?”

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No, they are not treated equally. It is improving, but it is taking a painfully long time.

Sports have been so thoroughly male-dominated for so long that it will be many years in the making before there is true gender equality in high school sports. The so-called high-profile sports (ie. football, boys’ basketball, etc.) will continue to dominate because they are revenue-producing and because most current coaches and administrators grew up with it just like that.

We will most likely have to wait until the post “Title IX Generation” begins to take its place in the ranks of administrative and coaching positions before we can see any appreciable change.

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that males have a far greater opportunity to go on to a professional level than do females.

Marc Viens, Long Beach

Public high schools are doing their best to comply with Title IX. There are plenty of concerned parents and responsible athletic directors watching over things at the school level. Girls’ athletic programs are thriving and college scholarships are widely available for the boy and girl athlete.

Yes, girls’ and boys’ athletic programs are treated equally at the high school level, but no, they are not treated equally by the media and society.

Our society has been geared to men’s sports since the first Olympics. It cannot change quickly without help. To attain sports gender equity and popularity, two things must happen: First, legislation must provide women’s sports with more than equal affirmative-action type funding until parity is reached. And second, a Title IX-type law is needed to prevent sex bias and sex discrimination in the media.

Jack Houston, Mission Viejo

Girls’ teams at my high school do not receive nearly as much publicity as all the male teams do. All-female teams and especially the performing teams, such as color guard and dance team, seem to be thought of as inferior to the boys’ teams.

Unlike our well-known football team, we are not supported by the school and seem virtually unknown. Many male athletes are known and revered by the school and community, but how many female athletes do you know of?

Tracy Rivett, Los Alamitos High sophomore

Yes, I do believe that boys’ and girls’ sports are treated the same in high school, at least at Tustin High. I think that Title IX is ruining sports at the college level.

High school is one thing, college is another. In high school, they’re treated fairly and equally. In college, they’re trying to make it fair and equal, but it’s killing the small, minor sports, especially water polo. A number of universities have dropped men’s swimming and water polo. Schools are having to drop other programs, such as UCI’s baseball team and UCLA dropped swimming, etc.

But at the high school level, I feel they’re treated equally.

Tim Salvino, Tustin High water polo coach

I definitely believe that boys’ sports are treated better than girls’ sports just for the simple fact that we had a guys’ basketball team that was probably 7-15 (actually, 11-14) and a girls’ basketball team that was 32-1, and still the guys got treated better than the girls.

Derek Henderson, Woodbridge, Class of ’94

Title IX was passed because the powers that be in high school and college sports were not treating women’s sports fairly. The object of Title IX should have been to ensure an opportunity for women in sports. Instead, it is a law that is very unrealistically designed around a quota basis.

One premise of Title IX is that unless the percentage of male-to-female athletics or sports teams is not near the (ratio of) male-to-female population of the school, then the school is in violation of Title IX. It is unrealistic to believe that under any circumstance the number of women interested in participating in a sports program in high school or college will ever approach the percentage of males that are doing so.

The quota requirement has resulted in schools dropping minor sports for males. This trend has only started and will be magnified in the near future unless Congress changes the approach of this law. Unless this law is amended, it will eventually cause the demise of all male-based non-revenue sports in both college and high school.

Women’s athletics have realized tremendous growth in recent years, partially because of Title IX, and that needs to be acknowledged. But there are many other factors that have also contributed to this growth. We need leadership at the high school level to find the appropriate level and programs for women’s sports, because without this foundation, sports for both males and females will continue to be adversely affected at the college level.

Hopefully, the coaches for both male and female non-revenue sports will band together to provide this leadership. Without it, the coaches of non-revenue male teams have no future, and the coaches for the female teams will be fighting the coaches from the male teams for their job.

Arlyn F. Obert, Huntington Beach

We have an incredible disparity in what the boys’ athletics receive at Foothill and what the girls do.

As it is right now, there is not one woman (who is a) full-time or even part-time P.E. teacher at the school--they’re all males. All the large boys’ sports have full-time coaches who have been offered teaching positions at the school. This is the first time in probably seven years that the girls’ basketball program actually has a coach--who’s a male--who’s been hired to be a teacher. For seven years, they’ve only offered walk-on (positions) and all the other sports for girls are walk-ons except for the ones that are combined with the boys’ sports. Those male instructors or coaches also have teaching positions at the school.

All the boys’ laundry is done, their uniforms are taken care of and everything. The girls have to do all theirs themselves. All the coaches for the girls’ sports have to be completely responsible for every aspect of their program, where the boys’ sports have a multitude of staff members to assist them.

The disparity is incredible at our high school, and it doesn’t seem to be changing very quickly. It’s been going on for a very long time.

Susan Helm, Tustin

One thing that I don’t think is fair is that girls’ cross-country gets made fun of a lot by football players, because the guys think they’re so great and get more attention.

Christie McNew, Pacifica High junior

In major ways such as salary and respect for coaches, yes, there is equality. But in many, many little ways, there is not.

For example, my high school girls’ varsity team just this past Thursday had to carry their own water jugs while the JV boys’ football team got the water driven to them in a motorized cart. They had five cheerleaders cheering their JV football game while we had no one supporting our varsity girls’ tennis match.

This is 1,000% better than the situation was when I was in high school, so I don’t complain. I enjoy my work.

Donna Judd, Troy High girls’ tennis coach

I believe boys’ and girls’ programs are treated equally. I believe we lose sight of the fact that schools are built for education. If boys’ sports or girls’ sports are played, then the money generated by that individual sport should be spent to pay for that individual sport--whether it be the stadium, the equipment that the people use, etc.

Because of the tremendous cost, athletics are on a downhill slide today. I think the institutions are failing to realize why they were built, which is an education purpose, not an athletic purpose.

Joe Grothus, Balboa Peninsula

As a high school soccer coach in 1992, I interviewed for a girls’ head coaching position with a high school in northern Orange County. The interview took place in a room with the principal, athletic director and eight to 10 people, mostly men.

I was asked why I was applying for the girls’ position when there were three positions open: girls’ head coach, boys’ head coach and boys’ junior varsity. I had not been aware of the boys’ openings and I told them that I wanted to coach girls because they always got the short end of the stick, such as the muddy field or weakest referee. From coaching girls and realizing the treatment they got, I had become a women’s rights advocate.

I was then asked, if given the job, did I know someone who would coach the girls’ JV for free, as this was not a paid position. I told them no, I did not know of anyone who would coach the girls’ JV for free, and guess what . . . I was not selected for the position.

I thought it was quite comical and sad that officials of a high school would demonstrate such low regard for girls’ equal rights.

Roman Kent, Mission Viejo

I am an eighth-grader at Doig Intermediate School in Garden Grove. At our school, girls’ and boys’ sports are equal because everything we play, they play too, except football. They play tennis, baseball, soccer, swimming and golf. Guys play these sports too. Sometimes I think girls get better stuff because they get better equipment for sports and we get the old equipment.

Michael Lopez, Santa Ana

At my high school, the football team has held tryouts and girls are equally encouraged to try out and perform their best at that level and in other sports as well. Our school is not sexually biased. The coaches do give an equal opportunity to males and females. Everybody is treated fairly.

Danny Rosario, University High junior