Plan to Boost Girls’ Sports Sent to Council

Councilman Mike Feuer forwarded a plan to boost girls’ participation in city sports programs to the full council Wednesday, saying that further wrangling over the details would keep girls waiting too long.

The draft plan by the Department of Recreation and Parks proposes many changes, such as recruiting mothers to serve as coaches, providing sports clinics for girls and asking female athletes to volunteer as mentors. It also includes evaluating the success of recreation officials in implementing the program known as the “Raise The Bar” initiative.

“The distance the department has traveled in the last few months is extraordinary,” Feuer said at a meeting of the council’s Arts, Health, and Humanities Committee, which he chairs.

Last month, the City Council adopted a raft of new measures pushed by Feuer’s committee to bolster female participation in sports. The action came amid an ongoing federal lawsuit against the city by the West Valley Girls Softball League--later expanded to include all girls citywide--that alleges inequality between sports programs for boys and girls.