SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums SCHSSCA When did your HS start their soccer program?

Nation Ford
Boys started in 2008
Girls started in 2008

I find it odd 36 years after Title IX passed, that so many girls teams lagged behind the boys teams. This with everyone knowing that 99.9% of SC schools have nothing to balance out football.

True...although Title IX doesn't necessarily require direct balance between girls' and boys' sports programs, only lack of discrimination based solely on gender.

The three-prong test established by the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare says a school must be able to establish ONE of the following to be in compliance with Title IX:

Prong one - Providing athletic opportunities that are substantially proportionate to the student enrollment, OR
Prong two - Demonstrate a continual expansion of athletic opportunities for the underrepresented sex, OR
Prong three - Full and effective accommodation of the interest and ability of underrepresented sex.

Prong three is the major loophole; as long as a school can effectively argue that there isn't sufficient "interest and ability" to warrant establishing a girls' sports team, then they aren't in violation of Title IX. If sufficient numbers of female athletes come forward to request the opportunity, that's different. I suspect that's behind most of the discrepancy; it's taken a lot longer to create a demand for girls' soccer in most schools, and the schools weren't required to create a program just to "balance" things if the proof of demand wasn't there.

Very well said, and I agree with you, that is the loophole that is being used to defend the difference. (when there is a complaint) It is very difficult for any individual to prove there is enough interest. I tried to get a school district to start a soccer program. They said they did not believe there was enough interest. It is hard to have interest in something that is not there. So, we created a chance for these kids who were not interested to play. We fielded two girls teams. (Grin)

In reality when given equal chance girls will participate at the same rate. The issue is they are not given equal chances nor support. So, subsequently they do not participate the same. It is a chicken or the egg thing. If there is an egg, sooner or later there will be a chicken,(girls playing)

The school system has to want it. (It has only been a law for 36 years) When there are not equal weight lifting training, nor facilities, nor locker rooms, nor teams to play on, nor number of coaches, nor equal funding - I too would believe (if I were a girl) somebody does not want me to be involved. So they do not participate, it is the girls fault after all. (wink, wink, ... nudge, nudge)

You did a wonderful job explaining the code. Looks like you have reviewed this before. At some level the educational system knows this is an issue, but it takes time and money to fix. Neither of which are they willing to spend on this subject. "This is the south and we have to think about football." I was actually told that. (frown)

Between coaching girls' sports and taking some courses in education law, yeah, I've glanced over this once or twice! :-)

You're absolutely right about the chicken and egg thing. It's hard to generate interest in something that doesn't yet exist, and it's hard to justify creating something when you can't prove sufficient interest. That makes it easy for the folks in charge to maintain the status quo. It takes an organized effort in significant numbers to establish "sufficient demand," and that takes a bit of doing, especially when people would rather not see the demand.

Nobody believed we would have enough "interest and ability" to field separate girls' and boys' JV soccer teams at our school; I finally got permission to try, with no district supplement for JV. As it happened, we've been having JV for both genders for two years now, and in both seasons, the girls have come out in significantly greater numbers than the boys. Just goes to show that you're right...if you build something that they feel they want to be a part of, the girls will come out.

Great job, compliments on the effort. Question, both seasons? what do you mean spring and fall?

'07 and '08, the two years the JV teams have been in existence.

right!

Lots of credit for the numbers has to go to Coach Tim, our JV girls' coach, who coaches a lot of the younger girls in rec and has helped me for several years with varsity; a lot of the girls made a natural transition with him from rec to JV when the team was established. He's been a great connection between the younger players in rec ball and the varsity HS team they want to be a part of when they're old enough...playing JV soccer became a natural part of that progression as soon as the opportunity was available.

Gaffney High

Boys- 1998
Girls- 1998