Don’t Mess Up A Good Thing

By Steve Mergelsberg

A decade ago, Duke University did not charge admission to a women’s basketball game. But last Saturday evening before a full house at Cameron Indoor Stadium, a paid full house! All of the 9,314 who bought tickets and others who watched on national television, as this writer did, watched a breathtaking match between Duke and Connecticut, No.1 versus No.2, a battle of the Division I undefeated. I had a special interest in the game because last July, I spent four weeks in Storrs, Connecticut working at the women’s basketball camp.

I saw women demonstrating fundamental basketball, with great skill and teamwork by both teams. UConn had a 51-23 lead, when Duke woke up, grinding its deficit to 71-65 before losing 77-65. On the court, these were true student-athletes. No LeBron James here! And if there is any reader out there who believes that the jerseys were the first freebie given to James, please email me with the phone numbers of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Every player who completes her eligibility graduates at Duke or UConn year after year.

For too many young men, college is a mere step to the pros. For women, it is more often a chance for a great education. But there is now the threat by the Bush administration of a rollback of federal funds for Title IX. Title IX is the law passed in 1972 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities at educational institutions that receive federal funds. The Bush administration indicated the support amending Title IX to change the law’s proportionality provision because this provision was hurting men’s sports. Supporters of women’s sports think that the opportunities of women’s sports may disappear as did UConn’s 28 point early lead.

Men’s sports participation and funding has continued to grow. Men’s sports participation is at the highest level ever. If some sports have been dropped, other more popular sports have been added. Decisions to drop men’s non-revenue sports are institutional decisions related to choosing to place more resources into revenue generating men’s athletics rather than women’s athletics. The bottom line, men’s sports do not need protection.

No law has meant more to women in sport than Title IX. Much has been accomplished in the classroom and on the playing field and we have many reasons to celebrate the success of Title IX in expanding our nations definition of equality. Leveling the playing field has meant scholarship funding and sport opportunities for over 150,000 women. And at the high school level, Title IX has provided the chance to millions of girls to play varsity sports.

We can only hope that the UConn-Duke match-up was a signal of what is to be gained. Working at the UConn women’s basketball camp, I realized that the myth that women are not as interested in sports as men is a fallacy. It is only February and all three sessions of the girls camp is already sold out for this coming summer.

Steve Mergelsberg is presently an assistant men's basketball coach at Rutgers University-Newark with over twenty-five years of coaching experience on the high school, college and professional levels. He has published articles in Winning Hoops, Basketball Sense and Coach & Athletic Director magazines.