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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. 

Cheer Finals & More LIVE on MHSAA.tv

March 3, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

It’s another big weekend of MHSAA Championship action on MHSAA.tv, with nearly 300 hours of live streaming video in Girls Competitive Cheer and Individual Wrestling, plus Student Broadcast Program-produced coverage of Basketball Districts.

Live streaming this week begins at 2 p.m. Thursday (March 5) from The Palace of Auburn Hills at the Individual Wrestling Finals. A dedicated camera will be on each of 12 mats on the floor, and include full graphics to indicate the participants in each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.

Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:

  • Thursday – First Round – 2 p.m.

  • Friday – Rounds 2-3-4 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 2 at 8:30 a.m. is the first Consolation round. Round 3 at 10:30 a.m. is the second round in the Championship bracket. Round 4 at 1:30 p.m. is the second round in the Consolation bracket.

  • Friday – Semifinal Round – 7 p.m.

  • Saturday – Rounds 6-7-8 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 6 at 8:30 a.m. is the third Consolation round. Round 7 at 9:45 a.m. is the fourth Consolation Round. Round 8 at 11 a.m. is the final round in the Consolation bracket.

  • Saturday – Final Round & Awards Presentations – 4:45 p.m.

Girls Competitive Cheer coverage begins Friday (March 6) from The DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. Here’s the complete schedule:

  • Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (Grand Blanc, Grandville, Hartland, Lake Orion, Livonia Stevenson, Rochester, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, Sterling Heights Stevenson)

  • Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Dearborn Divine Child, DeWitt, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, Ortonville Brandon, St. Joseph)

  • Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m.  (Breckenridge, Hart, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Manistique, Michigan Center, Pewamo-Westphalia, Shelby)

  • Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Armada, Comstock Park, Howard City Tri-County, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Onsted, Paw Paw, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Richmond)

The continued wrestling and full cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv, and online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $14.95. 

A Month Pass on MHSAA.tv for $14.95 will give a viewer access to events over a 30-day period from the time it is purchased.  Over the next three weekends of live winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals – March 12-14
  • Girls Gymnastics Finals – March 13-14
  • Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals – March 14
  • Girls Basketball Semifinals – March 19-20
  • Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 26-27 

A Day Pass is available for $9.95. All events will be available for free on-demand viewing by Wednesday the week following their initial live airing. 

Highlights from last weekend’s Team Wrestling Finals are now available at MHSAA.tv. Two highlight clips – one for each team from each match – are available from the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals – 56 highlights in all.  You can also view those clips from the Second Half pages of the MHSAA Website:

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 on MHSAA.tv  (as of Feb. 23). The following events will have live streaming video unless otherwise indicated:

Monday, March 2
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Wolverine v. Posen at Hillman, 6 p.m. (Video on Demand)
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Hancock v. L’Anse at Calumet, 6 p.m. (VOD)
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Onaway at Hillman, 7:30 p.m. (VOD)
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Ironwood at Calumet, 7:30 p.m. (VOD)

Tuesday, March 3
Boys Basketball – Wolverine at Posen, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Houghton at Calumet, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Midland Bullock Creek at Pinconning, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 4
Girls Basketball District Final at Hillman, 6 p.m. (VOD)
Girls Basketball District Final at Calumet, 7 p.m. (VOD)

Friday, March 6
Boys Basketball – Byron at Montrose, 7 p.m.

Monday, March 9
Boys Basketball District First Round – Wyoming Lee at Comstock Park, 7 p.m. (VOD)

Live stats of select basketball games are also available on MHSAA.tv. Check out the MHSAA.tv website on game night to see which schools are streaming live stats, or stop by to view stats following games on an On-Demand basis.  A Day Pass to view live stats is $1.95.

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 schools originating the broadcast. Video subscriptions run $9.95 for a Day Pass and $14.95 for a Month Pass.  Some schools are also offering Annual Passes at a discounted rate. 

To view all of the recent School Broadcast Program productions, go to MHSAA.tv, click On-Demand on the nav 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.