By FRED HEATH
The success of implementing Title IX in high school athletics far outweighs problems and finances and worrying about compliance standards, according to local athletic directors.
Title IX is a law that went into effect in 1972 and helps ensure equal opportunity in sports, said Drew Bolander, coordinator of pupil personnel.
According to the U.S. Department of Education's Web site, fewer than 300,000 high school girls played interscholastic sports in 1971, a year before Title IX was passed. Today, that number is 2.4 million and growing.
According to the article 'Achieving Success Under Title IX,' at the site www.ed.gov, a Connecticut judge in 1971 was legally able to disallow girls from competing on a boys cross-country team even though there was not a team for girls.
To put the importance of Title IX into perspective, Cheryl Miller, an Olympic athlete and member of the 1984 gold medal women's basketball team, said, 'Without Title IX, I'd be nowhere,' according to the Web site.
On the local level, high school athletics have achieved success and increased interest as far as equality is concerned, said Joel Gardner, athletic director at Mountain View High School.
'There has been a tremendous change since I started 25 years ago. Girls' sports were second-rate in almost every category. Now it's ... pretty much equal, and everything works well together,' Gardner said.
He said Mountain View's girls' athletic program is potentially the best in the state, and that the idea was supported by Steven Downey, athletic director of Orem High School.
Downey said both schools have achieved tremendous success in boys and girls athletics at the highest level of competition in the state, 5A.
'I think it's a great program,' said Keith Allred, athletic director of Pleasant Grove High School.
Allred said Title IX gives girls a great opportunity to build self-esteem, and that it is here to stay. In his 20-plus years of coaching experience with both boys' and girls' basketball, Allred said girls' athletics has come a long way.
Even though Title IX has provided important opportunities for girls participating in sports, and it has helped to increase equality in athletic programs, Downey and Gardner said funding is always a pressing issue.
'Financing is a huge issue. The major complaints were financing all along,' Gardner said.
Downey said the main concern is simply making sure it's equal for everybody when it comes to funding.
Budgets are the same with all the sports where there are both a boys' and girls' teams. However, because of football and all the revenue the sport brings in, and the fact that there isn't a girls' sport equivalent, neutralizing costs doesn't help, Gardner said.
He said a big difference that may contribute to an inequality in funding is that more money is spent on supervision for boys' games. The extra expenditures are due to higher attendance at those games which are played on the more popular Wednesday and Friday nights. In addition, the pep band usually plays at the boys' games and not the girls'.
Gardner said there is equal pay for coaches in the equivalent sport for girls, and that is in keeping with the compliance standards of Title IX.
Downey said he believes this is an issue that deserves more attention.
'I think it's a part of the whole issue. I think you have to look at the job description as well. Some jobs are (more stressful) than other jobs,' Downey said.
He said he thinks the district does not put that into consideration when they give out coaching checks. Some of the issues they need to consider are how high-profile the particular sport is. If it is a high-profile sport, it requires more interaction with parents, liability, equipment and safety factors, Downey said.
Even though there may be problems with equal pay for coaches, according to Downey, he said the major part of compliance is making sure there is equal money and equal facilities for the genders.
Downey said providing equal money and facilities is not much of a problem, just something that has to be worked out.
As far as being within compliance, Downey said the general public sometimes will help them stay within regulation.
'The public lets us know if we get out of line. Also, the students will ask, `Why don't we have this,' and that helps us know where we may not be offering equal opportunities,' Downey said.
He said he thinks Orem High, as well as other schools in the area, is in compliance as much as possible.