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By Susan Reimer
The Baltimore Sun 4/8/2000
My teenage son is a wrestler, and my daughter plays basketball, and the same law that created the chance for her to play may eliminate the opportunity for him.
I don't have any illusions about college coaches wooing my children for their athletic gifts, but there are plenty of schools where Jessica might play basketball, while college wrestling programs are disappearing.
And the reason is Title IX, the 1972 law that mandated equal opportunity for men and women, boys and girls in education.
Title IX was proposed as a remedy for imbalances in admissions and in faculty positions. But it was quickly seen to be applicable to extracurricular activities.
At that moment, parents were deciding that their daughters also deserved to reap the benefits of physical activity and athletic competition, and Title IX was enthusiastically applied to sports.
"I was quite taken with how quickly the sports community seized upon the relevance of the act," says U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink of Hawaii, the bill's author. Title IX was born of her experience with medical schools, which refused to consider her application because she was a woman.
But somehow, Title IX, which began as a means to achieve equal opportunity, came to mean equal numbers, and any school that thought otherwise found itself on the losing side in court.
Then the bills came due. Faced with increased costs and declining revenues, colleges and universities, which had so eagerly added women's sports programs, began to cut men's programs to keep their scholarship numbers in line. It was easier than, say, trimming the number of assistant football coaches.
The so-called nonrevenue sports were most vulnerable to cuts, and wrestling is now going the way of swimming and diving, men's gymnastics and golf. Forty-three college wrestling programs have been cut since 1993. Meanwhile, women's crew teams are showing up in land-locked schools such as Kansas State.
Eleanor Smeal, head of Feminist Majority, which is holding its convention here this weekend, says Title IX was never intended to cause pain.
"They want it to hurt so that everyone will blame Title IX," she says. "We foresaw this fight and it is scary how it has played out exactly."
"It was never intended to mean equal numbers or equal money," says Mink. "And it was never a matter of creating a whole program because you had one woman applicant. Even today, the meaning is totally misconstrued."
The drafters of this landmark legislation never intended that my son should have no opportunities to play sports so that my daughter might have them instead.
It doesn't make any sense to decide how many young men can play sports based on how many young women play. Nor does it make sense to replace wrestling, which is growing on every level and routinely sells out its national championships, with women's crew, which has virtually no constituency.
Former Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable, a high school, college and Olympic champion, has four daughters, and he recently wrote to USA Today praising Title IX for the chance to see his 17-year-old swim and run in state high school championship meets.
If Iowa had been Brigham Young or Boston College or Miami of Ohio, that fatherly joy might have cost Gable his job. And Title IX was never intended to do that.
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womens wrestling/university nationals(From someone who was there)
4/10/2000
101'S HESINER BY FALL AGAINST CRYSTAL BROWN FROM OTC, CROSS OVER JUDO PLAYER
112'S A CANADIAN GIRL AND I DON'T KNOW THE NAME, SHE BEAT JENNY WONG OF MINN. GREAT MATCH
123'S TINA GEORGE BY TECH FALL THIS WAS TINAS BEST MATCH IN A WHILE
136'S SARAH MCMANN CRUSHED EVERYONE AND BEAT TINA ARNDTS OF MO-VALLEY
149'S KRISTI MORANO, PRETTY MUCH DOMINATED AND BEAT TOCCARA FROM OHIO( SHE IS FOR REAL)
165'S IRIS SMITH OVER ILISA MENA A 16YR OLD FROM MINN ALL SHE HAD WAS A HEAD AND ARM AND THATS WHY SHE LOST
FORUM POST (4/10/2000)
THIS PAST WEEKEND WAS THE 2000 UNIVERSITY NATIONALS IN EVANSTON
IL AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY. TO USE THE WORD DISSAPOINTMENT IS
SPEAKING LIGHTLY OF MY FEELINGS REGARDING THE TURNOUT OF FEMALE
CONTESTANTS. THIS EVENT WAS OPENED UP TO A WIDER RANGE OF
ATHLETES TO INCREASE THE NUMBERS BUT TO NO AVAIL. IT'S HARD FOR
ME TO UNDERSTAND HOW A STATE ASSOATION LIKE MICHIGAN WHICH HAS
THE HIGHEST NUMBERS OF FEMALE WRESTLERS IN THE NATION HAD BUT
ONE OR TWO ATHLETES REPRESENTING THE STATE AT THIS EVENT.
OUR WOMENS PROGRAMS I BELIEVE IS DIGRESSING, IF NOT FOR THE
MISSOURI VALLEY, CUMBERLAND AND MORRIS PROGRAMS THERE WOULD HAVE
BEEN NO ONE THERE. AT THE 123 WEIGHT THERE WAS 7 ATHLETES IN A
NATIONAL TOURNEY, THAT IS A SIN. ALL THE WORK TO GET WOMENS
WRESTLING UP AND GOING AND IT'S A NO SHOW. TO HAVE NUMBERS AT
THE HIGHSCHOOL NATIONALS AS THEY WERE THIS YEAR WAS GREAT BUT
FOR THE SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL SITTING ON THEIR BUTTS INSTEAD OF
ATTENDING THIS EVENT I FIND THIS TO BE NOTHING BUT THE BEGINNING
OF THE END OF WOMENS WRESTLING. I FELT THAT WHEN THE MERGER OF
THE COACHES ASSOATION AND USA WRESTLING THEY WOULD WORK TOGETHER
TO PROMOTE THE SPORT OF WRESTLING, BUT IT SEEMS THAT CERTAIN
PEOPLE JUST DON'T WANT OUR WOMEN WRESTLING FREESTYLE AND WOULD
BE HAPPIER IF THE WORLD JUST CHANGED TO FOLKSTYLE. HEY WAKE UP,
OUR DAUGHTERS NOW CAN GET A COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP IN WRESTLING
AND IT'S NOT FOLKSTYLE BUT FREESTYLE AND THEY NEED TO START
LEANING IN THAT DIRECTION OR THEY WILL BE LIKE ALOT OF THE MALE
COUNTERPARTS OUT THERE, AS SOON AS THEIR HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
CAREER ENDS SO DOSE WRESTLING.
HOW ARE WE TO EXPECT TO GET MORE PROGRAMS IN COLLEGE STARTED
IF THE NUMBERS REPRESENTED AT A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN
HAS SUCH LOW NUMBERS. I HAVE RELIZED THIS IS A PROBLEM THAT ONLY
BE CORRECTED IF OUR HIGH SCHOOL COACHES INTERVIEN ALONG WITH THE
CLUB LEVEL COACHES TO GET THE GIRLS OUT THERE AND SUPPORT THE
DIRECTION OF WOMENS WRESTLING AND WHERE IT'S GOING OR MORE
IMPORTANTLY WHERE IT MAY NOT GO. IF THAT SUPPORT DOSEN'T COME,
INSTEAD OF PROGRAMING EXPANDING IT WILL DECREASE AND THE ONES
THAT SUFFER WILL BE YOUR DAUGHTERS.
WE NEED TO KEEP THE NUMBER INCREASING TO GET THE ATTENTION OF
YET MORE COLLEGES OUT THERE TO GET PROGRAMS GOING AND SUPPORT
WOMENS WRESTLING. BUT IF OUR OWN GIRLS DON'T RESPOND IT WILL BE
MORE DIFFICULT TO CONVINCE COLLEGES IT IS A VIABLE ANSWER TO THE
TITLE IX ISSUES AT HAND. IF MORE WOMEN ARE GOING TO GET
SCHOLARSHIPS IT'S WILL TAKE PARENTS TO PUT THE PUSH TO HAVE
THEIR GIRLS REPRESTNTED WITH COLLEGE PROGRAMS TO GIVE THEM THE
SAME OPPORTUNITIES AS THEIR COUNTERPARTS AND NOT HAVE POLITICS
INTERFER.
IN CLOSING I AM APEALING TO THE HIGH SCHOOL CAOCHES AND ALSO
LOCAL CLUB LEVEL COACHES. IF YOU DON'T PROD AND PUSH TO GET
THESE GIRLS IN EVENTS LIKE THIS PAST WEEKEND BEFORE LONG THEY
WILL ALL JUST BE HANGING UP THEIR WRESTLING SHOES AS SOON AS
THEIR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS ARE OVER AND THAT WOULD BE A HUGE LOSS
FOR ALL. I'M SURE IN EVERY ROOM ACCROSS OUR GREAT NATION THERE
IS MANY YOUNG GIRLS JUST WAITING FOR THEIR OPPORTUNITIES TO COME
AND IT JUST MIGHT NOT COME DUE TO THE SPLIT ATTITUDES OF OUR
COACHING POOLS ON WHETHER FREE OR FOLKSTYLES. PLEASE STEP BACK
AND REEVALUATE YOUR POSITION AND GET THEM GIRLS TO THE EVENTS
BEFORE THERE ARE NO EVENTS FOR THEM. THIS IS TO ME LIKE WOMENS
SUFFERAGE ALL OVER, AND LIKE THEN IT'S MEN THAT ARE IN CONTROL
OF THE WOMEN DESTINEY AND THAT WRONG, THIS IS THE YEAR 2000 NOT
THE EARLY 1900'S, GET A GRIP.
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TOURNAMENTS
4-15-00,TNT WOMENS FREESTYLE TOURNAMENT,AGES 7-UP. 1752 STATE STREET,SCHENECTDY,N.Y CONTACT JACK PREST 1-518-346-3662........................
4-22-00,HERKIMER WOMENS FREESTYLE TOURNAMENT,AGES 7-UP. HERKIMER HIGH SCHOOL,WEIGH INS AT SCHOOL 730AM-900AM. ..............................
4/20-22,2000 WOMENS NATIONALS,AGES 17 AND UP,LAS VEGAS NEVADA. 1-719-598-8181 ..............................
JUNE 1-4,2000 WOMENS CADET JUNIOR AND SENIOR WORLD TEAM TRIALS,KELLOGG ARENA,BATTLECREEK,MICH, CONTACT DEB ELDERKIN1-616-984-6062........................ ..........
CAMPS
KEN CHERTOW WOMENS CAMPS JUNE 24-28 TRAINING CAMP$425 JUNE 25-28TECHNIQUE CAMP$350 FEATURING SHANNON YANCEY-WILLIAMS,IN WEST VIRGINIA. CONTACT KEN CHERTOW AT KCHERTOW@THEMAT.COM. ..............................
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY WOMENS CAMP,FEATURING STEPHANIE MURATA AND ROB EITER JULY 9-13,$310,CONTACT TIM CYSEWSKI,1-847-491-4799 ..............................
MINN MORRIS WOMENS CAMP,JUNE 14-18,FEATURING SARA MCMANN,KATIE DOWNING AND AIMEE MCNABB,PLUS OTHER MORRIS WRESTLERS,$305 CONTACT DOUG REESE AT 1-320-589-6437.
