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Karissa Niehoff

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. 

Playoffs Coming to MHSAA.tv, Fox

October 29, 2014

A big month of live streaming video from MHSAA Tournaments gets underway this week, with the return of the PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com and MHSAA.tv broadcasts of Finals in two sports, plus its own Football Playoff coverage.

It’s the fourth season for the popular PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com, which will provide free live coverage of four Football Playoff games each week for the first four weekends of the tournament.

Games to be covered Friday are:

  • Division 2 – Warren DeLaSalle at Grosse Pointe North
  • Division 4 – Grosse Ile at Chelsea
  • Division 4 – Kalamazoo United (Hackett, Christian, Heritage Christian) at Eaton Rapids
  • Division 6 – Hillsdale at Hanover-Horton

All games will take place Friday at 7 p.m., with short-term archives available on FoxSportsDetroit.com and long-term on-demand viewing on MHSAA.tv.

Boys Soccer coverage on MHSAA.tv begins Wednesday with three live Semifinal games, and wraps up on Saturday with live coverage from Finals sites at Brighton and East Kentwood.  Here’s the full schedule (all coverage by subscription):

Semifinals – Wednesday

  • Finals – Saturday
  • Noon – 2 Finals games (Sites and Divisions TBA after Semifinals)
  • 3 p.m. – 2 Finals games (Sites and Divisions TBA after Semifinals)

Live streaming of the Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals takes place Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. Planned coverage on MHSAA.tv includes a leader cam, split cams at one and two miles and a camera at the top of the MIS press center covering the finish of race. Commentary will come from a team of reporters around the course.  

Here’s the complete schedule (all coverage by subscription unless noted):

  • 9:55 a.m. – On Air – Morning Session
  • 10 a.m. – Division 4 Boys
  • 10:30 a.m. – Division 3 Boys
  • 11 a.m. – Division 4 Girls
  • 11:30 a.m. – Division 2 Girls
  • 12:15 p.m. – Division 3 & 4 Awards (Free video stream)
  • 1:25 p.m. – On Air – Afternoon Session
  • 1:30 p.m. – Division 2 Boys
  • 2 p.m. – Division 1 Boys
  • 2:30 p.m. – Division 2 Girls
  • 3 p.m. – Division 1 Girls
  • 3:45 p.m. – Division 1 & 2 Awards (Free video stream)

MHSAA.tv also will cover two Football Playoff games live each Saturday the first three weeks of the tournament and 12 Semifinal games on Nov. 22. Here’s this week’s schedule (all coverage by subscription):

Coverage of the Girls Volleyball Tournament begins next week, with two District Semifinal Matches each night for four straight nights.  Here’s the complete schedule (all coverage by subscription):

Nov. 3 – Class C at Hanover-Horton

  • Concord v. Jackson Lumen Christi, 5:30 p.m.
  • Napoleon v. Vandercook Lake, 7 p.m.

Nov. 4 – Class C at Calumet

  • Ironwood v. L’Anse, 6 p.m.
  • Calumet v. Hancock, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 5 – Class B at Frankenmuth

  • Frankenmuth v. Otisville-Lakeville/North Branch winner, 6 p.m.
  • Caro v. Flint Northwestern/Mt. Morris winner, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 6 – Class A at Hudsonville

  • Jenison v. Grandville/Holland West Ottawa winner, 5 p.m.
  • Hudsonville/Holland winner v. Wyoming/Zeeland East winner, 7 p.m.

A Day Pass subscription to MHSAA.tv is $9.95. A Month Pass subscription is $14.95, enabling purchasers to watch all of this week’s action plus three weeks of coverage of the Girls Volleyball Tournament, weekly Football Playoff coverage and the Preliminaries and Finals of the Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Tournament. All events become available for free on demand viewing three days after the date of the contest. 

Radio: The MHSAA Internet Broadcast Network – MHSAANetwork.com – kicks off its Fall audio coverage with the Boys Soccer Finals on Saturday. During the month of November, the MHSAA Network will also provide live free audio of the 8-Player and 11-Player Football Finals and the Semifinals and Finals of the Girls Volleyball Tournament.

School Broadcast Program: A number of events broadcast last week are available on-demand on MHSAA.tv:

Soccer Regionals

  • Bay City Western vs. East Lansing
  • Madison Heights Lamphere vs. Ortonville-Brandon
  • Kalamazoo Hackett vs. St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic
  • Marysville vs. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
  • Spring Lake vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern
  • Grand Rapids Covenant Christian vs. Kalamazoo Heritage Christian
  • Grand Haven vs. Saline
  • Elk Rapids vs. Grant
  • Ludington vs. Tawas
  • Okemos vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
  • Spring Lake vs. East Lansing

Volleyball

  • Montrose vs. Genesee
  • Central Montcalm vs. Big Rapids
  • Calumet vs. Houghton
  • Posen vs. Mio
  • Montrose vs. Saginaw Arts & Sciences
  • Calumet vs. Lake Linden-Hubbell

Football

  • Hillman vs. Hale
  • Negaunee vs. Ishpeming Westwood
  • Whittemore-Prescott vs. Reese
  • Stanton Central Montcalm vs. Lakeview
  • Rockford vs. Holland West Ottawa
  • Pinconning vs. Midland Bullock Creek
  • Comstock Park vs. Sparta
  • Posen vs. Owendale-Gagetown
  • Watervliet vs. Lawton
  • Cedar Springs vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern

MHSAA Highlights: This week's package includes clips from the Spring Lake/East Lansing soccer and the Midland Bullock Creek/Pinconning and Ishpeming Westwood/Negaunee football games.