Title IX and its impact should be part of a high school athlete's education

For a 17-year-old in 2022, the term "Title IX" doesn't register the way it once did. 

To a current teen, "Title IX" might just as well be the name of a new sci-fi series on Netflix. 

In a way, that could be considered a positive development. The opportunities to play high school sports or the ability to get an athletic scholarship are plentiful for young female athletes these days.

But a working knowledge of the amendment that has done so much good for young women both in and out of athletics can only be helpful, and that discussion should begin in high school.

"During high school, I didn't know much about Title IX, and it was never a huge topic of discussion," said Akemi Von Scherr, a 2020 La Quinta grad who just finished her sophomore year as a cross country and track runner at Ohio State University. "At the start of my first year in college, it got brought up by a few of my teammates, and that's how I learned about it. Knowing what I know now, I think it gives women a great opportunity to pursue their college dreams and their passions."

Basketball star Emma Svoboda, a 2021 La Quinta graduate who just finished her freshman year at the University of Oklahoma, said almost the same thing. 

"It wasn't ever talked about in high school, but it's definitely covered in college," Svoboda said. "We have had to attend meetings in regard to Title IX, and it is heavily covered due to there being both a women's and men's basketball program so things technically have to be equal for both teams."

Responses like Von Scherr's and Svoboda's are familiar. A history lesson, or even a simple conversation, about Title IX is not common or mandated at the high school level. This was confirmed by every athletic director I talked to about the subject.

But perhaps it should be. As the monumental amendment celebrates its 50th anniversary, maybe this would be a good time to educate our high school athletes — girls and boys — about what Title IX is, what it has accomplished and in what ways it can still grow. 

For example, most people would be shocked to know that the amendment doesn't actually have anything to do with sports, though equality in athletics has been the most recognizable offshoot of its principles. 

Knowledge is power, as they say, and knowing about Title IX can be useful for high school athletes as they continue their athletic careers at college.

Parents and coaches do so much to prepare our high school student-athletes to play at the next level when it comes to gear and recruiting profiles and summer club teams, that it only makes sense that they go to college armed with knowledge about Title IX, too.

It could be a small part of the phys-ed curriculum or perhaps something mandated by CIF-SS. It could be a rule, like getting a physical, that to play high school sports you have to watch a 30-minute video about Title IX or something simple like that. 

But don't take it from me, take it from one of the greatest female athletes of the last 50 years, Ann Meyers Drysdale. She also believes that everyone would benefit from knowing more about what Title IX is and isn't. 

Meyers Drysdale, who earned the first four-year college sports scholarship for a woman when she signed to play at UCLA in 1974 and is currently in the front office with the Phoenix Mercury, would also like to see Title IX be taught before college.

"These young girls and young women don't know what Title IX is. They just expect that 'Hey, we're going to get a scholarship' and that's all well and good but you need to understand why," she said. "I think parents and coaches at AAU or high school need to educate these young girls. They need to know what Title IX is, and what it means. And again it's not just about sports. We've seen on campuses where young women are attacked or sexually violated, think about Dr. Nassar, and Title IX is a part of that law, too. There are so many things that are positive about it."

If there is a high school athlete out there who wants to learn about Title IX on their own, there are some resources at the CIF website. 

Svoboda said it was interesting for her to see how wide-ranging the discussions are about equality between the Sooners women's basketball program and the men's basketball program.

She said there are obvious things like equality in practice gym time, and weight room amenities, but also smaller things like, are the "swag bags" that the women get at the NCAA Tournament equal to the men's. The most recent NCAA Tournament was the first time the women's tournament was allowed to use the phrase "March Madness." That came from a gender-inequity report specific to the NCAA basketball tournaments.  

Svoboda said it's still "a huge work in progress." 

A simple part of that progress would be to begin the discussion about Title IX in high schools.

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.