June
23, 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the passage of Title IX into
federal law, mandating the inclusion and equal funding of females in
school-based athletics. This is the first in a 6-part, weekly series of blogs
exploring females in sports in America.
Last Thursday, two excellent high school baseball teams were scheduled to compete for the end of the season championship in the Arizona Charter Athletic Association in Phoenix. To be a part of such a clash of titans is what so many young people work for. Win or lose, the thrill of championship competition is something that can’t be matched elsewhere.
But the scheduled game between Our Lady of Sorrows and Mesa Preparatory Academy never happened. There was no rain delay, there were no suspended players, and there was no reschedule. Our Lady of Sorrows forfeited the game, because one of Mesa Prep’s players is a girl, and OLS has a policy forbidding co-educational sports.
Every private institution is entitled to create its own policies, and exercise internal control, and OLS did not complain or try to prevent Paige Sultzbach, Mesa Prep’s female player, from playing. In fact, Paige had graciously sat out two prior meetings to appease OLS’s policy. But OLS humbly lost a chance to compete for the title, and Mesa Prep technically “won” the ACAA championship.
No laws were broken, and no one’s rights were infringed, but doesn’t something just seem a little wrong here? Is this what sport is about? Paige obviously demonstrates a level of skill to beat out other male counterparts for a spot on a high-level team. Furthermore, baseball is a sport where a female’s natural build would make her neither more susceptible to injury nor superior to her male counterparts. So why did OLS forfeit, and not give their players, and Mesa Prep’s, the right to compete in one of life’s purest arenas—sport?
It would be wrong to condemn OLS for making this decision that in some way lines up with their value structure. This country is celebrated for our freedom of association and religion. But must their policy be so rigid? Women have come so far in our culture over the last century, but there is still so much beautiful potential for growth. It is so important for us, friends of sport, to think about the potential that sport still has to grow. OLS’s insistence on not making an exception in this case seems to be counter-productive to the progress we have made in our country.
Let’s imagine a sports world where men and women compete side by side, if they choose to. Part of the beauty of sport its objectivity and its merit-based achievement. If girls and women are skilled and have the courage compete in leagues where females typically do not, then let’s celebrate that courage, rather than shy away from the challenge! In this year when we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX, let us not see its achievement as the pinnacle of progress, but as an opportunity for more progress towards equal opportunity for all!
