Understanding the Amateur Sports Act
Published: Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Amateur Sports Act and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC)The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 set up the governance structure for amateur sports in this country. The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) is charged with governing amateur sports. The USOC, in turn, authorizes one national governing body (NGB) to govern each specific sport. (For example, U.S. Swimming governs swimming.) That includes making the rules, choosing teams for international competitions, certifying officials, running national championships, etc. They are also charged with developing the sport from the grassroots level through Olympic level. Thus, besides providing coverage to elite-level amateur athletes, the law applies ...
Judge Dismisses Wrestlers' Case!
Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2003
STATEMENT TO THE PRESS: Title IX DecisionJune 11, 2003Women's Sports FoundationOn June 11, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan dismissed the lawsuit, National Wrestling Coaches Association v. United States Department of Education. The Wrestling Coaches Association maintained that Title IX was the cause of cuts to men's teams and that the three-part test for participation compliance created a quota system.The court's decision made it clear that Title IX cannot be blamed for cuts to men's teams because educational institutions make decisions based on multiple unrelated factors. The court also recognized the importance of Title IX, characterizing it as a "landmark" ...
Briefing Paper Two: Title IX Commission— Inequities in the Process
Published: Thursday, December 19, 2002
This is one of five briefing papers addressing the importance of maintaining the current state of Title IX, the bias and flaws in the Title IX Commission's public hearing process, the radical changes to Title IX athletic policies which are being proposed and the economic analysis of current collegiate spending.
Briefing Paper Three: Proposals Being Considered by the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics Would Further Disadvantage Female Athletes and Dismantle Title IX Protections
Published: Thursday, December 19, 2002
This is one of five briefing papers addressing the importance of maintaining the current state of Title IX, the bias and flaws in the Title IX Commission's public hearing process, the radical changes to Title IX athletic policies which are being proposed and the economic analysis of current collegiate spending.
Briefing Paper Four: Fiscal Responsibility, Not Weakening Civil Rights Law, is Key to Title IX Compliance and Deterring Institutions from Discontinuing Some Men's Sports Teams
Published: Thursday, December 19, 2002
This is one of five briefing papers addressing the importance of maintaining the current state of Title IX, the bias and flaws in the Title IX Commission's public hearing process, the radical changes to Title IX athletic policies which are being proposed and the economic analysis of current collegiate spending.
Briefing Paper Five: Frequently asked questions about NCAA statistics
Published: Thursday, December 19, 2002
This is one of five briefing papers addressing the importance of maintaining the current state of Title IX, the bias and flaws in the Title IX Commission's public hearing process, the radical changes to Title IX athletic policies which are being proposed and the economic analysis of current collegiate spending.
A Grandfather's Take on Women's Sports
Published: Wednesday, November 28, 2001
As a 55-year-old man, I am challenged, learn and am ultimately inspired by the women's sports movement. That has been the case since I became involved as a member of the National Advisory Board of the Women's Sports Foundation in the mid-1980s. However, it has taken on added meaning as I watch and dream with Emily, our 11-year-old girl. In addition, my 26-year-old daughter Chamy has just given birth to Taylor, our first grandchild, who happens to be a granddaughter. I'm listening. I hope other fathers and grandfathers are doing the same. We benefit from women and girls playing sport. ...
Women's Pre-Title IX Sports History in the United States
Published: Thursday, April 26, 2001
Women's sport in the United States, which has a population of 268 million, reaches far beyond its borders and has had an enormous influence on women's sport around the world. Two sports that originated in the United States, basketball and volleyball, are now among the world's most popular sports. In addition, the United States has become a major training center for athletes from many nations and Title IX, the 1972 U.S. legislation that has been credited with encouraging much of the growth in women's sports in the United States, has also helped to influence thinking about women's sports elsewhere in ...
Women's Sports Timeline
Published: Thursday, November 02, 2000
1873 - Ten women compete in a one-mile swimming race in New York; first prize was a $175 silk dress1876 - First competition between sexes with no handicap; Mary Marshall won two out of three 20-mile races against Peter Van Ness1879 - Twenty women enter the National Archery Championship, the first national tournament for American women in any sport1883 - The National Baseball League sponsors the first "Ladies' Day", inviting women to see a game for free1885 - Sharpshooter Annie Oakley becomes the first ever cowgirl in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show 1895 - Frances Willard publishes A Wheel Within ...
Significant Events in Women's Sports History Post-Title IX History
Published: Sunday, October 15, 2000
Fifty million television viewers watch Billie Jean King defeat Bobby Riggs in the "Challenge of the Sexes" tennis match. (1973)
The Association for Intercollegiate athletics for Women adopts legislation to permit the first college scholarships for women athletes. Today American women receive more than $180 million dollars each year in college athletic scholarships. (1973)
The U.S. Open is the first tennis tournament to offer equal prize money to men and women ($25,000). (1973)
The Women's Sports Foundation is established by Billie Jean King, its founder, Donna de Varona, a founding member and first president, and other champion female athletes to become a collective ...
Women and Modern Sport
Published: Thursday, August 17, 2000
While general worldwide sport participation rates by gender are difficult to obtain because of definitional differences in what constitutes a participant at various skills levels, an examination of the participation of women in the Olympic Games over the last century appears to support this prediction. The growth of women's sports in the Olympic Games during the last one hundred years has been impressive. Women were excluded from Olympic participation from ancient times through the advent of the modern Olympics in 1896. In the 1900 Paris Games, eleven women, less than 1% of all participating athletes, were allowed to compete in ...
Seniors Find Fitness, Fun and Fans with Louisiana Tigerettes Hi-Tops
Published: Sunday, July 23, 2000
It's a typical Saturday morning in Baton Rouge, La. Mavis Albin laces up her hi-tops and heads to the gym for practice. Albin joins the rest of her teammates as they prepare for an upcoming competition. They aren't training for the high school championships or the NCAA Tournament - Albin's basketball team is training for the Senior Olympic Games.When the members of the Louisiana Tigerettes Hi-Tops senior women's basketball team graduated from high school, they thought their basketball careers were over. They never dreamed that 40 years later they would still have the opportunity to play and would be enjoying ...
IOC World Conference on Women and Sport, 2000 Resolution of the 2nd IOC World Conference on Women and Sport
Published: Tuesday, May 16, 2000
The Second IOC World Conference on Women and Sport, which took place in Paris from 6 to 8 March 2000, concluded its work by adopting the following resolution:a) Recalling that the aim of the Olympic Movement is to build a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal without discrimination of any kind b) Welcoming the initiatives undertaken by the International Olympic Committee, the International Sports Federations, the National Olympic Committees to promote women in sport
c) Taking into consideration the work accomplished since the first IOC World Conference on Women and Sport held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1996 ...
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty: Pioneer Athlete
Published: Tuesday, March 14, 2000
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty was born in Perth, Western Australia, and went to boarding school at the age of 12. Though she was an outstanding student, de la Hunty was refused admission to the engineering school at the University of Western Australia because the engineering building had no restroom facilities for females. Undeterred, de la Hunty settled for nuclear physics instead and graduated with honors. Seeking a physical challenge to accompany the mental challenges of nuclear physics, she began participating in track.
In a day and age when most girls did not participate in sports because it was considered "unladylike," ...
1996: The Year of Women in Sports
"Just one Olympic Games does not a cultural movement make..."Jane Doe, 1996
The real hit of the 1996 Atlanta Games was, undoubtedly, the media attention given to the achievements of female athletes. Great performances in the individual sports of swimming, gymnastics and track, the unanticipated public response to USA gold medal team sport efforts in women's basketball, soccer and softball and NBC decisions "play" to a 65% female audience created huge prime time audiences. Quirk or trend? Manufactured momentary outcome or indicator of major cultural change? Answer: The latter on both counts. Women's sports is here to stay and we are ...
How Title IX Helped Me
Do you know how it was before Title IX? These women do. In honor of the 30th anniversary of this milestone legislation, here's what top female athletes have to say about how Title IX has changed their lives:
A Quarter Century In The Evolution Of Women's Sports
Twenty-five years. Three hundred months. Nine thousand, one hundred and twenty-five days. No matter how you measure it, 25 years is a long time. In that time period, the women's sports movement has made outstanding strides toward equality and acceptance in mainstream sports, but more work lies ahead. As the Women's Sports Foundation stands on the precipice of that milestone in 1999, let's reflect on the highlights of the last quarter-century.
No chronicle of the history of women's sports would be complete without addressing the passage of Title IX. Although there are several noteworthy moments in the women's sports movement that ...
The Women's Sports Foundation 25 Years of Effort Giving Girls and Women A Sporting Chance
1974· The Women's Sports Foundation is established by Billie Jean King, its founder; Donna de Varona, first president; and other champion female athletes to become a collective voice for women in sport.· WomenSports magazine is founded by Billie Jean King.· Little League allows girls to play baseball and softball.· Phyllis Ackerman becomes the first woman to do sports commentary for a professional basketball team.· The first women's professional football league begins with a seven team, ten game schedule. Each player earns twenty-five dollars a game.
1975· Olympian and national team member Debbie Green becomes volleyball's youngest All-American at the age of ...
How Title IX Helped Me
Do you know how it was before Title IX? These women do. In honor of the 30th anniversary of this milestone legislation, here's what top female athletes have to say about how Title IX has changed their lives:
Title IX Legislative Chronology
In 2002 we celebrate thirty years of Title IX. Many people are unaware of the legislative activity brought about by this law. Here we outline the history of Title IX from its inception in 1972 to the present.
Foremothers of Title IX
We competed on courts, fields, and in poolsWithout spectators, reporters or fan-fareWe gave our all and raised the level of our playWithout ever realizing our potentialOr receiving offers of scholarshipsWe coached without pay, andPersonally labored To ready our arenas for competitionWe persistently studied, analyzed and conferred toRaise the level of our knowledge and skillsWe prepared our athletesTo compete on courts, fields and in poolsWith spectators, reporters and fan-fareWe gave them our all, in order to Raise their level of play, and toIncreaseThe fulfillment of their potential, andOffers of scholarshipsWe are the women of yesterdayOn whose shoulders the women of todayStand ...
"Breaking the Grass Ceiling"
“There may come a day when women will be invited to join our membership, but that timetable will be ours and not at the point of a bayonet.” -- William “Hootie” Johnson, Chairman, Augusta National Golf Club Hootie Johnson will be most remembered for this fiery response to a privately sent July 2002 request sent by Martha Burk, president of the National Council of Women's Organization (NCWO), to admit women members to Augusta National Golf Club. Fireworks have ensued ever since.The NCWO has spearheaded the Augusta debate. NCWO, consisting of more than 100 women's advocacy, grassroots and research organizations, claims ...
Title IX at 34
Title IX opened the door for female athletes, but 34 years later, much still needs to be done to level the playing field.
Once Upon A Time Before Title IX
Reprint Courtesy of Geezer Jock Magazine
Significant Events in Women's Sports History Pre-Title IX History
1. The first known women's golf tournament is held at the Musselburgh Golf Club in Scotland among the local fishwives. (January 9, 1811)2. Twelve women from Smith College form the first intercollegiate women's tennis club. (June 6, 1881)3. A woman (probably named Stamata Revithi runs the marathon course unofficially a few weeks prior to and/or the day after the marathon at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens. (1896)4. The first women's intercollegiate basketball game is held between the University of California-Berkeley and Stanford University. Male spectators are barred. (April 4, 1896)5. Lizzie Arlington becomes the first woman to sign ...
The Billie's Top 10 Memorable Moments in Women's Sports Countdown
NUMBER 10… 1943
With America at war and Major League Baseball depleted of players, women step into the batter's box. For 11 years, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League keeps the national pastime alive for fans all over the country. At its peak, in 1948, the league draws nearly a million fans.NUBMER 9… 1996Softball and soccer make their Olympic debut at the Games in Atlanta, and the U.S. women dominate! The Americans win gold in softball and soccer, as well as basketball, gymnastics and synchronized swimming. The Games make stars of athletes like Lisa Leslie, Mia Hamm and Lisa Fernandez ...
What the Olympics Has Done for Women's Sports?
The Olympic Games have always played a critical role in the history of women's sports from both a positive and negative perspective. When women runners collapsed at the end of long distance races earlier this century, it set women's distance running back for decades. But, it was only fitting that the televising of the Olympic Games in the 1950's brought women's sports from obscurity into widespread public awareness through exposure of the extraordinary abilities of the first female athlete heros such as Donna deVarona, Olga Korbut and Wilma Rudolph. America went from no knowledge of women's participation to widespread public ...
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Reviewing women's sports in 2006