SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Title IX, How to, how it really went.

I went to the beach, and walked and walked and walked, and thought... I am kind of glad, the large AAAA schools are finally thinking the right way, however.

Every school in Greenville county has a more complete offering at the middle school level. Very balanced.

Union county has a superior, more complete offering than Spartanburg.

Our Tiny neighbor to the North, A/AA Polk County North Carolina has had middle school soccer for a decade, and softball, and cross country and tennis.

So, three of the counties that border Spartanburg, all smaller schools offering MORE.

I think now, we should still be upset they are taking this long. I will get back on the pressure side of this.

Studying my info, I found something interesting.

Current middle school offering in Peachtree middle school conference, that is most of Spartanburg. 11 middle schools

Two football teams, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, and wrestling.

Our northern neighbors, Rutherford, Cleveland, and Polk which have higher unemployment (just a little), and lower per capita income (just a little), afford their kids,

One football team, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, golf coed, track boys and girls, cross country boys and girls, soccer boys and girls, softball and baseball, tennis coed.

I know these are NC schools, I just have to wonder why they offer so much? or why we offer so little?

Okay, I have been talking in the dark it seems... What do you guys think about all of this?

I find it very interesting and appreciate you informing the rest of us about this measure. I've always wondered how some districts find it part of the educational experience to offer more in the form of extracurricular activities - arts, band, athletics, etc. - whereas some districts do very little. Middle school sports are invaluable IMO and we should do all that we can to get kids involved. This is traditionally the age at which kids become disinterested in school and often turn to 'uglier' things in life.

I used our northern neighbors as a compare because they are the state that is most like SC. Median Household income for example is SC $41,709, NC $43,753 - real close. Demographics are very close.

Some other comparison data not so much, first from America's Health Rankings - United Health Foundation SC ranks 45th overall as a state, 45th for rate of Diabetes, and 47th for obesity. NC Ranks 32 overall, 36th for rate of diabetes, and 30th for obesity.

Annie E. Casey Foundation rates kids well being over the US. SC ranks 43rd, NC 34th.

NC however ranks much worse on public funding on health care, than SC. They spend a third less, than SC per person.

I wonder how this comes to be?

Did you see how the IQ test now have the ladies beating the Gents? Reason given, was them getting out in the world and getting chances to do the same stuff we do.

I wonder if this is all connected?

If we get our daughters and our sons on the field, and out of their chairs, and their thumbs off controllers, I think we will like the results.

There is a correlation between participation, participation gap female to male, and state health and well being rankings.

Not a political message, at all. Just a sports fan's, kids fan's message. For your considerations only.

This is why I was so hard on my district, after I figured out they would do nothing, to increase opportunities. Things are still churning at the state level, trying to get those guys to buy in.

In '08, I did a research paper based on Title IX for a graduate course I was taking at the time. Yes, I picked a topic that was relevant to what I do!

I came across some interesting findings in my research, including the following:

An OppenheimerFunds survey of 401 "Highly Successful American Women" showed that 82% of the women polled played sports in junior high, high school, and/or college. They stated that team activities helped them learn to succeed in a competitive work environment.

Surveys have shown that only 17% of women across all earning levels describe themselves as "athletic," but 41% of women in the higher income brackets--$75,000 and more--describe themselves as "athletic."

A study by the University of Virginia found that 80% of female leaders in Fortune 500 companies participated in school sports.

Do these statistics prove that participating in school sports will make girls successful? No.

Do they provide enough evidence of a correlation to support the idea that athleticism and participation in team sports in school provide an advantage to women as they enter the career world? I'd say so.

Does providing that advantage for our young people mean that it's an area worth our schools' investment?

I'd say so.

Well said! It is easy to see the advantages and future success my daughter's teammates have and will have.

District 5 in Spartanburg (Byrnes), will be surveying kids this year, for additions next year. Hopefully, we can get Spartanburg County athletics in this Century.

Let's see Football we dominate the state, and do well nationally... middle school programs - check, good coaches - check, a system - check.

Hopefully, we can get this mojo in other sports as well.

Now the trick is to make sure the schools use a good survey.

Good meaning one that asks the open ended question, and one that has reliability and validity protocol. Hopefully the schools will set up resurvey procedures and plans. A system, and not a one time, slam bam thank you ladies, deal.

Update on things, Title IX and SC.

A complaint was lodged versus the SCDOE for not having a Title IX coordinator, or their organization doing its due diligance. The OCR Complaint is 11-12-4040.


Nearly a dozen(I was way off, many more than a dozen) counties and high schools have been turned into the OCR for a review,using their own data as the reason for the review, on Sept 6. The model for the complaints was the NWLC format that was successful across the U.S. I do not think it has been assigned a complaint number as of yet. You can search NWLC Title IX Cases and see how those have went, hopefully SC cases will go as well or better.