Women’s sports have dramatically changed over the years, with a remarkable increase in professional organizations and spectator viewership. Before 1972, there were few women participating/showing interest in sports. Women’s sports were nearly nonexistent during that time period, given they were mainly seen as house cleaners and child bearers. This stigma affected the opportunity for women’s sports to gain enough traction to succeed.
On January 23rd, 1972, however, Title IX was passed to ensure equal access to any program that receives federal financial assistance, including sports. Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Before Title IX, 1/27 women played sports. In 2016 that proportion changed to 2/5. The Women’s Sports Foundation’s first president, Donna de Varona, tributes the effect of Title IX on women’s sports today, saying, “Since 1972, thanks to increased funding and institutional opportunities, there has been a 545% increase in the percentage of women playing college sports and a 990% increase in the percentage of women playing high school sports.”
Mrs. Goudes, a social studies teacher, dive, and swim coach here at Myers Park, shared her experience being a female athlete during the start of Title IX. Goudes was a swimmer and zoned for West Charlotte High School. Since West Charlotte didn’t have a swim team and Title IX existed, CMS had two choices: either start a team at West Charlotte for Goudes or allow her to go to Myers Park and swim there. CMS chose the second option, allowing her to attend Myers Park. She spoke about her experience as a female athlete and how the experience has changed since she attended. She states that today it’s “much more acceptable to be a female athlete.” In describing herself as a tomboy then, she says she was “personally chastised” and “called a male” in high school. Goudes adds, “In the ’70s and early 80’s it wasn’t really as accepted to be a female athlete. That has totally changed. And changed for the better. You want to be an athlete? Be an athlete. It is more accepting, whichever you want to do. It is actually quite liberating”.
Emma Price, a senior and varsity soccer player here at Myers Park, also shared her experience as a female athlete. During Price’s freshman-sophomore years, she played for the JV women’s soccer team, and during her junior-senior years, she played for the varsity women’s soccer team. She says, “I love being in this program with so many incredible people/players and they all push me to be better on and off the field. Everyone is so supportive and always wants you to be the best you can be.” Price says, however, that the team does not receive a lot of MP support, and “one struggle that I would think of would be the least amount of support that we get … we can barely get many people to come to our games even after we won states in 2021. People will sometimes come for playoff games but not all the time, and rarely ever show up for the conference games we have every week. I think people just don’t pay attention to women’s soccer, which is frustrating because we have won a state championship. And yes, we lost 13 seniors after that year, but we still are good and are competitive throughout the playoffs each season.”
Myers Park High School has a variety of hard-working women’s teams, whether it be our women’s basketball team that made it to the playoffs this year, our women’s soccer team that is at the beginning of their season, our women on the swim team holding the state title, our softball team also beginning their season and so many more.