![Karissa Niehoff](/sites/default/files/2021-05/KarissaNiehoff_2H.jpg)
Title IX Continues to Fuel Growth of Girls and Women’s Sports, Olympic Dominance
By
Karissa Niehoff
NFHS Executive Director
September 24, 2021
To say that American female athletes dominated the recent Olympics in Tokyo would be an understatement.
Among the 66 medals earned by American female Olympians – most by any country in the history of the Games – were gold-medal performances by the U.S. basketball, volleyball, water polo and beach volleyball teams. Eighteen medals were earned by the U.S. women swimmers, female track and field athletes claimed 15 medals, and the U.S. women’s softball and soccer teams won silver and bronze medals, respectively.
In the past 30 years of the Olympic Games, the United States has dominated the women’s team sports of basketball (nine golds), soccer (four golds, one silver, one bronze) and softball (three golds, two silvers) — not to mention the untold number of medals in track and field. And this past summer, the U.S. women’s volleyball team claimed its first gold medal.
These performances by some of our nation’s most skilled female athletes never would have been possible without the passage of Title IX and the offerings of these sports through our nation’s schools. With the chance to play afforded by the landmark Title IX legislation in 1972, girls participation in several high school sports skyrocketed in the years that followed.
When the NFHS conducted its first participation survey in 1971, basketball and outdoor track and field were the primary girls sports, comprising about two-thirds of the 294,000 total. However, with the opportunity to play additional sports, girls flocked to volleyball and softball first, along with cross country and eventually soccer.
Soccer, in fact, has had the most remarkable growth. In 1971, only 700 girls were playing high school soccer. Twenty-five years later, that number had climbed to almost 210,000; and as the 50th anniversary of Title IX approaches, there are now almost 400,000 girls playing high school soccer – a staggering 56,200 percentage increase in 50 years. Soccer now ranks fourth in popularity among girls high school sports – all because of that opportunity in 1972.
There are many other success stories, however. The pre-Title IX survey in 1971 indicated that 1,719 girls were participating in cross country. With increases every year until 2015, today, there are 219,345 girls competing in high school programs and the sport ranks sixth in popularity.
Although participation numbers have leveled a bit the past 10 years, fast-pitch softball is another sport that flourished after the passage of Title IX. With fewer than 10,000 participants in 1971, the numbers quickly rose to 220,000 by 1985 and 343,000 by 2000, and softball is currently fifth among girls sports with 362,038 participants.
Since track and field and basketball were the primary sports in the early days of girls sports programs, increases in those sports have not been as dramatic; however, they remain the first and third most-popular sports, respectively, today. Volleyball, however, much like soccer, continues its upward climb.
Without a doubt, volleyball has seen the steadiest increases among girls high school sports the past 50 years. After starting with 17,952 participants in 1971, the numbers jumped to 300,810 by 1990 and 409,332 by 2010 and 452,808 by 2018. During its climb, volleyball surpassed basketball as the No. 2 girls sport.
And among the top six girls sports from 2010 to 2018 (numbers are not available the past two years due to the pandemic), volleyball has gained the most participants (43,476), followed by soccer (32,549). And all of this has occurred thanks to legislation passed in 1972 that was not fundamentally meant to address opportunities for girls to participate in high school sports.
The NFHS is leading a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, which officially occurs on June 23, 2022. “Title IX at 50 – Celebrating and Growing Opportunities” is highlighting the law’s impact by celebrating the inspirational individuals and landmark moments in the history of Title IX, and continuing to grow the educational and competitive opportunities for the future.
More information, including a Title IX Timeline, Title IX Milestones, The History and Importance of Title IX, Title IX Fact Sheet, Title IX Frequently Asked Questions and several Title IX videos, can be accessed on the NFHS Website.
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is beginning her fourth year as executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.
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Live Stats, Games on MHSAA.tv
December 9, 2014
Another feature offered on the MHSAA.tv website is the availability of live basketball stats at member schools using the Digital Scout platform for their in-game statistics keeping.
Digital Scout is a division of PlayOn! Sports, which powers the NFHS Network. Schools input statistics live using a handheld device. When connected to the Internet, those stats stream live on a school’s portal page and on the MHSAA portal page. For those games which have live streaming video and live stats, they are incorporated onto a single page to enhance the viewer’s experience.
Last week, live stats were available for over a dozen girls basketball games, along with a similar number of basketball and ice hockey games with live streaming video from MHSAA members participating in the School Broadcast Program; those numbers will only grow now that the boys basketball season has begun.
The School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
Here’s the schedule of School Broadcast Program members planning to cover varsity competition this week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv (As of Dec. 8). The following events will be shown live:
Monday – Dec. 8
Boys Basketball – Highland Milford at Gibraltar Carlson, 5:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball – Sault Ste. Marie at Escanaba, 6:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Pellston at Mackinaw City, 7 p.m.
Tuesday – Dec. 9
Boys Basketball – Cassopolis at Dowagiac, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Negaunee at Escanaba, 7:30 p.m.
Friday – Dec. 12
Boys Basketball – Riverview at Gibraltar Carlson, 5:30 p.m.
Ice Hockey – Grand Rapids Catholic Central v. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood @ Gaylord, 6:15 p.m.
Girls Basketball – Atlanta at Hillman, 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball – Boyne Falls at Mackinaw City, 7 p.m.
Ice Hockey – Rochester at Calumet, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Kingsford at Escanaba, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday – Dec. 13
Ice Hockey – Flint Powers Catholic v. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood @ Gaylord, 4:15 p.m.
Ice Hockey – Farmington Hills Harrison at Calumet, 7 p.m.
Monday – Dec. 15
Boys Basketball – Dollar Bay at Calumet, 7 p.m.
Tuesday – Dec. 16
Girls Basketball – West Iron County at Calumet, 7 p.m.
The following events will be available on video following their completion on a delayed basis:
Monday – Dec. 8
Boys Basketball – Fairview at Oscoda, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Hale at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
Tuesday – Dec. 9
Girls Basketball – Lansing Eastern at Mason, 7 p.m.
Thursday – Dec. 11
Boys Basketball – Hale at Oscoda, 6 p.m.
Friday – Dec. 12
Wrestling – Charlevoix at Rogers City, 1:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball – Posen at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
Monday - Dec. 15
Boys Basketball – Oscoda at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
Tuesday – Dec. 16
Girls Basketball - Okemos at Mason, 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball – Rogers City at Oscoda, 6 p.m.
All sporting events – live or delayed - are available on MHSAA.tv on a subscription basis for their first 72 hours online. A portion of each subscription is returned to school originating the broadcast. Subscriptions run either $9.95 for a Day Pass, or $14.95 for a Month Pass. Some schools are also offering Annual Passes at a discounted rate. All sporting events become available for free On Demand viewing three days after they have been posted.
To view all of the recent School Broadcast Program productions, go to MHSAA.TV, click On Demand on the navigation bar of the left side of the page, and on the Filters tab at the top of next page, click on All States and then select Michigan.
See below for highlights from last week's School Broadcast Program events on MHSAA.tv.