Brooke Volza and other girls who play in the top divisions of high school football in Albuquerque know everything about the curse of the metro. The team that won the city’s metro tournament at the beginning of the season is destined to finish the year without a state championship.
So when Shibora High School scored the only goal with the team’s 1-0 victory over Carlsbad High School last year in front of the crowd at the University of New Mexico’s cheering stadium, and Bolza went against that fate, it was a mess. did. “I started crying. I started hugging everyone,” said 17-year-old Volza, who described the experience as “10 times better.”
Currently, the ball she used to score that goal is placed on a shelf in her bedroom and covered with a teammate’s signature and jersey number. Written in large capital letters is the word “2021STATE CHAMPIONS”.
Fifty years ago, Volza’s vast, powerful and competitive high school soccer experience was virtually unheard of in the United States. However, generations of girls have been promised access to sports and other educational programs, thanks to Title IX, which became a law in 1972 and banned sexism in education.
And women’s football has probably grown tremendously in the 50 years since then, more than any other women’s sport. School managers quickly saw the addition of football as a cost-effective way to comply with the law. And the growing interest helped to expand the youth league. Talented players from all over the world have come to America. And when millions of American women and girls benefited, the best of them created the National Program of American Women, which has dominated the world stage.
“The girls came in a hurry after Title IX said it needed to break these barriers, let women and girls play sports and provide equal opportunity,” said National Senior Counsel and Education. Adviser Nina Chaudhry said. Women’s Law Center. “They came in large numbers.”
NCAA count before Title IX passes found During the 1971-72 season, there were only 13 women’s college soccer teams and 313 players.
In 1974, the first year the National Federation of State High Schools survey tracked the participation of girls across the United States, it counted 6,446 girls playing football primarily at 321 schools in just seven states in New York. rice field. That number increased to about 394,100 girls playing soccer in high schools across the country during the 2018-19 semester. Schools often have multiple teams and the state sponsors five departments.
In 2018-19, the latest season counted for the coronavirus pandemic, there were 3.4 million girls participating in high school sports overall, compared to 4.5 million boys.
Many of those athletes have overcome their fear of challenging the team. Some people sprinted and practiced late into the night after fooling around with their teammates. Some have found the archive through competition, while others have tackled the puncture wounds of defeat. Many girls and women on the football pitch are proud of the thrill of goals and being part of something bigger than themselves.
“We are the heart of Cibola football,” Volza said.
Title IX is a law in a broad sense and is not originally intended to cover sports. Its origins are in the fight against discrimination against women and girls in federal-sponsored academic institutions. However, when regulations were hashed, they eventually included athletics, helping to close cross-classroom disparities. Today, Title IX is probably best known for its legacy in women’s interdisciplinary athletics.
Initially strongly opposed to the law because of the perceived threat to men’s athletic programs, the NCAA sponsored women’s sports, including football, in 1982. Prior to that, only a few teams were playing nationwide.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has won the 21st NCAA Championship, producing unparalleled players, including Mia Hamm, and starting a match against high school students.
“No one actually played,” said Anson Dorans, head coach of the women’s team since it was founded in 1979. “Come to UNC and beat us like a drum,” said McLean Glass Hoppers, a travel football club.
After the NCAA held women’s football Participation rate In 1982, there were 1,855 players in 80 teams in all three divisions, and in 2020-21, there were about 28,000 players in 1,026 teams.
The NCAA now claims that football is the most expanded women’s sports program in the university in the last three decades.
Current and former athletic directors, sports managers, and coaches attribute the rise of football to several factors. Initially, compliance with the law was a game of numbers and dollars. Soccer is a relatively large sport, and the average roster size usually fluctuates between 20 and 26 players. The generous roster size helped the school meet the legal requirements to provide similar numbers of opportunities for male and female students.
Soccer was also economical for managers. All I needed was a field, a ball, and two goals. It was also a sport that was relatively easy to learn.
“When the school was interested,” How can I add sports for women that don’t cost me so much? “, Founder and President of Sports Management Resources and former Women’s Sports Foundation. Chief Executive Officer Donaro Piano said. She added: “The school was looking for an easy way to escape.”
The shift did not begin from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. University programs have gained more and more diversity status — Often pressured by proceedings — Created scholarship opportunities and made football the path to higher education. The game became a boom at high school level, The most popular sportAccording to the High School Federation, it is the fourth highest female participation rate in 2018-19 (the top three women’s sports were athletics, volleyball and basketball).
The club team’s cottage industry has also emerged nationwide as athletes joked to get attention from college coaches. As women struggled to play sports in many countries other than the United States, youth games grew and college teams became a farmer for the elite world stage.
The women’s national team in the United States was barely noticed when they played their first international match in 1985. It also received little attention in 1991, when it won the first Women’s World Cup in Guangdong, China.
After that, the United States began to feel the power of Title IX. In 1996, women’s soccer made its debut at the Atlanta Olympics, and the United States won the gold medal. In the 1999 Women’s World Cup final, Americans won a penalty shootout in a match against China before more than 90,000 spectators gathered at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Michelle Akers, a pillar of USWNT in the 80’s and 90’s, who is now an assistant coach for Orlando Pride’s women’s professional team, said Title IX “changes the game.” “I can’t even understand the time, energy and pain it took to push it through. You can not only push it through, but you can also force it. Make it a reality for people and make it a reality for me. I’ll make it a thing, “she said.
The success of the national team continued, winning four gold medals at the World Cup and four at the Olympics. And this year After 6 years of court struggleMillions of dollars reconciliation and final collective bargaining agreement established Equal pay for players representing the US men’s and women’s national teams When competing internationally.
“It was a historic moment not only for football but also for sports,” said Cindy Pallo Korn, president of the American Football Federation.
In 1993, Michele Scharts threatened to sue the school under Title IX for being part of the UCLA club team and not sponsoring women’s football.
Separated from the first national team, Scharts is currently playing with two daughters in a large college program. After 22-year-old Hannah started working at UCLA, she transferred to Colorado, where she became a graduate student. 20-year-old Sydney started in Oklahoma and moved to Kansas for the next season.
Hannah Sharts has played in front of as many as 5,000 fans. “It’s very promising to see more and more fans gradually fill the stands through my college experience,” said Hannah Scharts. Both Hannah and Sydney dream of playing professionally.
Like the Sisters Scharts, New Mexico’s up-and-coming senior Volza plans to play in college. She sees Division II and III schools with strong engineering programs.
But first, she’s about to reach her final year of high school. She said Volza wanted to be the leader of the young players.
“I want to motivate them and teach them what it’s like to play national team football for the state’s winning team,” Bolza said.
And Volza wants to re-establish history in his corner of America by leading the team to winning metro tournaments and state championships in a row.
