DEBORAH CROMBIE: I know I've mentioned here on the blog that my granddaughter (who will be TEN tomorrow!! Happy birthday, Wren!) is playing soccer, and how much I LOVE going to her games. I tried to get a good action shot last night but it's hard when they're moving so fast!
Obviously, I love supporting her, but I also love supporting all the girls. It's been fascinating to watch their personalities and characters develop over the couple of years the team has been together, and to see their strengths in the way they play and interact with one another. I love that they are such good sports–more important than any athletic achievements, in my opinion. They're good natured when they lose and they're kind to their opponents. You wouldn't guess Wren's team lost from this picture with her dad!
My daughter played sports, too (as she reminds me!), a couple of years of soccer and then softball up into early middle school, when she switched to gymnastics.
I, however, did not, and I envy these girls the experience. Before Title IX in 1972, a few high schools had girls' basketball and volleyball teams, but there was nothing organized for younger girls. Girls were expected to want to be cheerleaders and that was pretty much it.
Would I have been any more athletic or coordinated if the opportunities had been available? Maybe not, but I'm sorry I missed that boat, and really glad I get to experience it vicariously!
How about you, dear REDs? Did you play sports? Did/do your kids/grandkids play sports? And did you love it or hate it?
RHYS BOWEN: I had sporty high achieving parents. My mom was a schools high jump champion. My dad a good soccer and cricket player. I started tennis when I was 8 and it was a big part of my life until I was in my 60s and got a damaged disc between my shoulder blades. I played for school, college and in various groups. In school I was also on the netball team. In college captain of table tennis ( in which I still play a mean game!)
Going to a girl’s school we had every sport offered to us. My own kids started on swim teams when they were five and some moved to water polo ( still an important sport for Jane and daughter Meghan) They play golf and pickleball.
I also watch any sport on TV ( except darts and bowling. Too boring)
I should add that the one sport I hated was watching my grandson in high school wrestling! Horrifying!
HALLIE EPHRON: There were virtually no sports for women (pre Title 9) when I was in grammar school. We had “gym” every day but all I remember is lining up in size places and taking a shot at the basket and playing dodge ball. In high school, having to take swimming was pure torture, and I had a very frequently recurring “period” that excused me.
Things are so much better now. My daughter played soccer – on the girls team and a coed team. She liked the girls team better. My granddaughter is on the swim team and does gymnastics and (heaven help me) “cheer.” It’s great, but exhausting from a parent’s perspective, having to show up (which we WANT to do) at so many events and cheer her on.
DEBS: That's a lot, Hallie! Wren is still in gymnastics, but it's very low key, and I'm not sure how much longer that will last with the demands of soccer.
JENN McKINLAY: YES! Basketball, volleyball, and judo as a youth. Volleyball as an adult. And now, I’m taking Tai Chi in an adult ed class because why not? I was a kid in the seventies and a tween/teen in the eighties so sports were a big thing for girls. Mostly, I got lucky that I had a sibling less than a year older than me and he included me in everything so I also played hockey, skateboarded, kayaked, hiked, fished, boogie boarded, and skied. I’m sure I’m missing some stuff, too. Looking back, we were very busy in the best possible way.
HANK PHILLIPI RYAN: Argh. ALL I wanted was to be on some team, any team, anything. There were no girls teams, though, not formally, it was more “let's play softball during gym class.” But there was no one worse at sports than I–maybe because I refused to wear my glasses, which does create problems. Always chosen last. And “PE” in those horrible horrible horrible snap up the front gymsuit things was, to use Hallie’s perfect word, torture.
I was a pretty good horseback rider, I have to say, back in the day. And I could actually ice skate pretty well, strangely. And I was in all the plays–that kind of team sport I could do.
LUCY BURDETTE: I regret that there weren’t sports for girls when I was growing up, but girls did dancing and cheerleading. Boys played the sports. In another world, our daughter Molly was a very talented athlete with a lot of options. She played soccer and lacrosse, and then lacrosse for UC Berkeley. Her kids are not as driven, which I think is a disappointment, or at least a puzzle. John and I had lots of fun watching Thea play soccer last time we visited. Her team won their first tournament, and as you can see in the photo, she was thrilled.
DEBS: So cute! And that trophy is enormous!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I straddled the Title IX era - it was passed when I was in grade school, but the tiny and always underfunded rural school I went to after we came back from Germany couldn’t support many teams. There was field hockey for girls, which I played with zest, and I was in the ski club, which started a life-long passion for alpine skiing. I skated a LOT, both in Germany, and in upstate NY, and when Mom married Dad and we moved to the Finger Lakes, I got my boating and sailing licenses. I still sail whenever and wherever I can.
Other than that… not so much, and I’ve had to be grudgingly driven to exercise for my health. Ross loved riding (his parents were both professional equestrians) and racket sports. We used to joke we had to-the-manor born tastes in sports and a living-in-the-hovel income.
DEBS: I'll bet there are a lot of younger women who don't realize that girls weren't offered the opportunity to play sports. We take things for granted so quickly.
What about you, dear readers, guys and girls? Did you grow up playing sports? Was being part of team important?
I didn't play sports, wasn't part of a team. Instead, I danced. Our girls both were ice skaters . . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure dance was even an option where we lived--it was rural just becoming suburban. Ditto skating! By my daughter's time, there were some indoor skating rinks but nowhere close to us. We did take her ice skating for a treat and she loved it.
DeleteMy high school had softball, volleyball, and swim teams for girls, but I wasn't interested. I took ballet for many years and was a cheerleader at the end of high school. When I went to Brazil for a year at 17, I learned to play soccer, and at college we would have co-ed pick-up games on the lawn.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter-in-law played soccer into high school, and Ida Rose already has two soccer balls. Looking forward to that!
I might add that as an adult I have been active. I ran daily for years, earned a black belt in karate, cross-country skied whenever I could, hiked, and danced. Now I walk 11-12k steps a day and am grateful I still can, because the rest of it is over. I miss XX skiing the most, but my arthritic toe and stiff hips have ruled that out.
DeleteEdith, you will love baby soccer! Kayti sent me a picture of Wren at maybe 4, her first Saturday soccer. Not "games", just teaching the kids what to do with the ball. It was like watching puppies!
DeleteMy mother was an athlete in the 1930s in Alabama, to the sorrow of her mother. She was naturally gifted at tennis, basketball, and baseball. She rode horses and was a good shot. She won every sort of prize and the other kids nicknamed her "Mike," because she was so good at boy things. She was known as Mike McDonald when she married and was called Mike until she decided at 48 to go back to her real name. Mom taught my younger sister and me to throw and catch and to shoot baskets. Outside of school we were on swim teams, tennis teams, and softball teams. Our oldest sister was hopeless at sports but our grandmother finally had her little girl who loved to sew and knit. I had decent hand-eye coordination and always won those Presidential Fitness Awards patches (remember them?) but I didn't CARE about sports, I'd rather read and daydream. I play no sports today. It was our younger sister who was really like our mother athletically. Not only talented but with incredible drive. Jane broke every record at our elementary school and was shaping to be a track star in high school. Unfortunately in the early 1970s this was not cool so she quit and became a cheerleader and party girl instead. This derailed her for a long, long time, to her regret. Today at 65 she's still a fierce tennis competitor and her own daughters played sports year round and won running scholarships to the U.S. Naval Academy. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteSelden, congrats to your daughters! Go Navy!!
DeleteYour mother sounds like a force to be reckoned with! But also sounds as if she let each of you blossom in your own way rather than pressing you into her mold.
DeleteThank you, but those were my nieces, who grew up in southern California. My own daughter in the Adirondacks raced for the U.S. Biathlon team (cross-country skiing + rifle sharpshooting). :) Selden
DeleteWhat a competitive family, Selden! My older brother was very good sports that didn't require teamwork, and was very competive. Me, I was happy to read and daydream, like you.
DeleteI finished school long before Title IX. I was extremely skinny and not well coordinated, so in grammar school I was always chosen last. But, as a teen I danced modern dance and stuck with that through my 20's. I was a good swimmer, too, and up to just a couple years ago, was still swimming for exercise. My coordination improved immensely with the dance. In my 20's I took Karate lessons and dressage. I always loved horses. I continued to ride into my 30's and still did occasionally for years. We also skied every winter, something that I loved. .
ReplyDeleteIrwin played baseball through high school. He took up tennis and skiing and skating as an adult and was a very strong and competitive tennis player. In the winter, we spent lots of family time skiing and skating.
Jonathan is very well coordinated. He took Karate from age 5 and got his junior black belt at 13. He still dabbles in Marshall arts. In college, he was on the fencing team. We had him on skates and skis as soon as he was out of diapers. As a toddler, he was not thrilled, but we explained that this is what our family does in the winter. He played hockey until age 11 when the size difference between him and other skaters made it too dangerous. I let him decide whether to keep playing or not and was relieved when he gave it up. He played soccer for a long time, earning money as a ref for kid's games.
Rachel was a natural, strong and capable. When she was with us she also skied and I believe she was on her high school tennis team. Her boys are great athletes.
Our grandsons are all very active. Rachel's sons are very athletic, catching on quickly to every sport. The oldest is a competitive runner who is already competing in national meets. The younger one still plays a few sports, but is mostly settling into soccer. Jonathan's son swims all year. He also takes Karate lessons and has fun skiing. He has not shown the patience for team sports and with his temperament, he might never be one to join a team. We'll see.
Team sports don't suit everyone, Judy, but it sounds like you'll have a lot of fun with your athletic grandkids.
DeleteI was a book nerd, so if we can call being on the debating team, than yeah, I played sports, otherwise, the only sports and team I was on was when we had gym.
ReplyDeleteI think anything that's about "winning" can be termed "sports"... I was terrified of the debating team. At my high school they were all guys. And a sort of macho ethic ruled.
DeleteThe debating team terrified me, too, Dru! I couldn't imagine doing that--although I think that training would have served me better than any team sport later in life.
DeleteIt was definitely all macho and there I was the only person of color and a *girl*. The one thing I learned being on the debating team was to listen.
DeleteBecause I 1) possess the Y chromosome, and 2) have all the athletic ability of a dead marmot by the side of the road (like Dru Ann, I was on the debate team), I really have no business speaking on this topic, but I will because I have daughters and granddaughters and friends of the double X persuasion. I fully support Title IX. I fully support the smashing of the glass ceiling. I fully support the right of every person to achieve the highest goal possible. And, yes, I fully support the right of trans people to participate in sports. I do not support mealy-mouth politicians and the so-called righteous who work to deny any human being of trying to reach their potential.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Jerry!
DeleteDouble Amen, Jerry!
DeleteWe love you, too, Jerry. Thank you.
DeleteJerry, we all want you on our team. And your daughters, granddaughters, and friends are lucky to have you.
DeleteSpeaking of talented and powerful women, let me note that my granddaughter Erin turns 24 tomorrow. Every day on her own small way, Erin works to make the world a better place. Each of you know young women shine a light on humanity in their own way; they deserve our attention and our support.
DeleteI was the least sporty girl you can imagine. Always picked last for teams, unless the captain was a good friend. Phys. ed. was the worst - except for gymnastics, which I enjoyed. My PE teacher was shocked, years later, when she discovered one of the sportiest girls was my daughter. Obviously she didn't get the sporty gene from me.
ReplyDeleteDebs, don't you find that 10 year old girls are simply the best? At that age my granddaughter was more mature than either of her parents. For the most part it didn't last but while it lasted there was nothing better.
So where is the line where girls go from delightful to impossible, sullen, eye-rolling trolls? Which fortunately doesn't last forever. And do boys undergo the same transition??
DeleteJudi, I was just thinking that about 10-11 year old girls yesterday. Full of confidence and creativity. My favorite great niece turns 10 in a couple weeks, and she is the best big sister, full of pep, and just a delight.
DeleteDelightful is the word that absolutely defined my GD. Hallie, I'm not sure exactly when that happens, but it does happen. Boys are a whole different kind of animal. My GS is still the best kid ever but he's 15, so we'll see. Of my two boys, the youngest one was always an old soul, while the oldest at 50+ is finally growing up.
DeleteI think that 10-11, at least for girls, is just magic. These girls are so smart and are so full of confidence and joy. I'm hoping that staying in sports will smooth over some of the puberty bumps.
DeleteMy older son turned monstrous at 12 and it lasted three years. Then he transformed himself into a polite, responsible high school student. The younger son never became a troll, but I think it was because he didn't mature physically until he was seventeen!
DeleteI too was pre-Title IX. But I do remember we had all the usual high school gym sports which I loved as I considered myself somewhat athletic. We also had some all girls after school teams (I remember being on the girls field hockey team) which we were selected for. And I was on the girls track team. I loved gymnastics but wished I had had more personalized instruction from coaches.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a small community that was near the ocean so we were always at the beach, surfing (at least my brother was), body surfing, swimming at the several local pools. As an adult, I took up tennis, walking-jogging, tried skiing (but didn't fair well!). As an older adult - for many years I swam laps at the local Y and did some open water swimming at a local popular beach cove.
Anon, where you lived must have been condsiderably more progressive that my north Texas in pre Title IX!
DeleteMy dad grew up in the UK and played rugby, cricket and soccer. He was Portland State University's very first (men's) soccer coach in the late 1950s. We grew up paying attention to sports and kicking a soccer ball around, learning to dribble and pass at least. At high school in the '70s, the girls options were track and field, swimming (I loved to swim, but never competitively), volleyball, and softball--and cheerleading. If soccer had been an option, I might have tried out. By the time our younger sister came along, there was a girls soccer team, and she played for several years. We loved supporting her! My niece played soccer from the time she was tiny, but quit in middle school. That competitive, team motivation never really took hold for her. I only found out that I was competitive many years after high school when we had a Portland to Coast Walk relay team. I loved passing people (road kills).
ReplyDeleteThat sounds really fun, Gillian!
DeleteI come from a long line of non-sporty people, on both sides of my family. Title IX came my first year at university. We still had physical Ed requirements so I took volleyball (I was terrible at it) swimming (I love to swim in warm ocean waters) and archery. Phy. Ed. In junior high and high school was akin to torture-except for the uneven bars and the little bit of gymnastics. And those awful one piece snap-up uniforms! My goddaughter and her twin sister were into sports. Adorable at 5 playing soccer! If I could change one thing about growing up I’d have added some sports ability to my love of spending all day reading!
ReplyDeleteI just hope that sports as Wren's age fosters a lifetime committment to physical activity.
DeleteI think it might, Debs! My twin nieces (that played soccer at 5, and are now 31!) are still very active, my goddaughter runs and coaches at the school where she teaches.
DeleteField hockey and track for me, because my HS didn't allow girls to run cross-country, and soccer wasn't available. I rowed in college. My kids grew up in Atlanta, a city of year 'round sports: swim team, tennis, baseball, basketball, soccer. The single most memorable season: 8 year old rec basketball didn't keep score. The object was to learn the game and have fun. The girls loved it and the parents were frustrated.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to row!! Where did you go to college, Margaret?
DeleteConnecticut College, New London, CT. We rowed on the Thames River. Nothing like encountering a submarine from the nearby base during our practices.
DeleteI didn't know there was a Thames River in CT!
DeleteI played basketball in the Wareham JBA organization for three years as a kid. That was my only organized team sports outlet. I didn't play football or baseball. However, I played pretty much every sport as part of my youth. Just not on any official team. Oh, and I did gymnastics for about three years as a kid.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I would go on to coach in the JBA for 25 years as the first player to ever come back as a coach. And some of my players would go on to coach as well. Some even on the high school level. One player, though I had absolutely nothing to do with it, is even a college football coach in the area. A couple others would go on to play college football in the area too.
And while I'm a guy, I did have a hand in coaching girls as well as boys. The last five years I coached, I coached in the girls division. I was tired of watching gawdawful coaching of girls by dads who didn't know what they were doing. A girl would get the ball at one end of the floor, run all the way to the other end without dribbling the ball, the ref would call traveling, and the girl would not know what she did wrong because the "coach" of her team would be on the sideline clapping and saying, "Good job!".
That was horrifying to me, because she didn't do a good job. She made a mistake. And if you are any kind of decent coach, you're going to tell her she made a mistake and then correct the mistake so she knows what she did and how to avoid it next time.
It took a while for me to get the league to let me coach a girls team because they had put a rule in place after a rather public scandal with a coach occurred the next town over on the high school level. So the rule was only fathers with daughters on the team could coach a girls team. Years went by and I finally was able to convince them to let me do it.
First team I had was in the summer league and my first intro talk to the team was telling them that, "I don't know what you're used to, but I'm not going to lie to you and say you did something right if you didn't. I'll tell you what you did wrong and then how to fix it." One of the girls (she was ten) piped up with, "You're going to tell us we suck?"
I was a bit stunned and said, "Who have you been playing for?"
Basically, I refused to treat them as girls on the court. I may have altered how I said things to them, but I coached them as "basketball players". The name of the game is "BASKETBALL", not "Girls Basketball" or "Boys Basketball". So I treated them accordingly. It took a couple of seasons but the girls I coached came around to how I did things and soon we started winning. Ended up having three title winning teams, two of which were undefeated.
Oh, and that girl who piped up? She would play 7 seasons for me and was an essential member of each team. I joked that she became like a basketball daughter to me. I had one of my players come back to coach with me. There were two that, and again I had nothing to do with it, went on to play Division 1 college basketball, and another girl won two state titles in high school. Of course, a lot of them would go on to become teachers, nurses, social workers and moms after their playing careers ended which is also great since very few of them (unlike some of my boys players) would go on to criminal records.
Oh, and I have a cousin who despite being handicapped by her parents utter lack of athletic skills, would become a total jock growing up. She played basketball, field hockey, track and won a New Hampshire state championship in soccer.
I'm not sure how important being "part of a team" was to me growing up. I just liked playing. The problem was even though I knew what to do, I wasn't a great athlete when it came to playing in the basketball league. Hell, I pretty much stunk. Couldn't translate what I knew to being able to do it. But those who can't do, coach...right?
My time coaching is long done but I still remember the fun I had back in the day.
Jay, what a great coaching story. I'm sure you were great. (Selden)
DeleteWhen I was in high school we played "girls basketball" which had very different rules. For instance, a player could only dribble 3 bounces before shooting or passing or throwing it away... We played on half a court so had no idea about "off sides" - weird game.
DeleteOn behalf of the girls you coached, thank you, Jay. Not having kids of your own made you a rarity in the coaching of children, but it sounds like you gave the kids, especially the girls, more than enough to help them succeed, and not just in the game of basketball.
DeleteThe girls were lucky to have you, Jay, and I'm sure the life skills you taught them made a lasting difference in their lives.
DeleteWhat a great story Jay - thanks for taking the time to tell it. Don't sell yourself short, I'm sure the many girls who became successful in basketball did so because they had good coaching.
ReplyDeleteDEBS: Your granddaughter Wren looks like a mini you! Regarding sports, if you asked me if I played sports when I was 6 years old, then I would have said yes. I remember how much I loved playing sports (kickball, baseball) during recess at my public school. However, if you asked me at the age of 9 if I played sports, then I would have said No because I would be thinking of sports at the boarding school because the sport teams were very similar to Hunger Games scenarios (very rough with lots of injuries).
ReplyDeleteHowever, sports can mean many different things. Though I started ice skating lessons at the age of two, I actually started skating at the age of six when I no longer needed to hold on to the rails or hold someone's hand. In high school, I joined a citywide swim team, which meant that the team members included teens from many different schools since most of the public high schools had NO swim teams. I continued my dancing classes. By sports, if you mean team sports, I would say Swim Team. If Sports include All kinds of exercise like Aerobics, Ballet, and Ice Skating, then yes.
Nothing is more fun than ice skating, Diana. If you can stay on your feet!!
DeleteNo team sports, no eye-hand coordination--in PE we numbered off for teams (evens, odds). I might have enjoyed track--but we only had softball, basketball, volleyball for girls and the coach for all was our PE teacher. She was a sadistic b*tch who enjoyed tormenting me all through middle school and the two years of high school when PE was still mandated. Not sure what I ever did to antagonize her so thoroughly, but her greatest pleasure in life was to humiliate me in front of the class. Shining moment occurred in 10th grade, when the entire class dropped out of a softball game to walk the track with me (my punishment for being completely disinterested in participating).
ReplyDeleteAnd Jay, how we would've loved to have a coach who cared about our strengths and cheered us on!
Lucy, congrats to your granddaughter - we have a Cardiff Sockers Club in our area. I wouldn't be surprised if our grandkids played in competition with them a number of years back. Soccer is big in San Diego and we have a national womens soccer team that plays at Snapdragon Stadium.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's huge in San Diego, we were astonished at how many teams of all ages were playing in this tournament.
DeleteDebs, your granddaughter is blessed to have you in her corner. I am a total klutz and PE/Gym was a nightmare for me. One semester I made honor roll except for a D in PE. My mom marched into that school and told the teacher that she needed to base her grading on effort as much as skill. I am happy to say I made the honor roll and survived PE. This reminds me of when my niece was in high school and there was no girl's soccer team so she tried out for the boy's team, made it and was better than many of the boys on the team. A lawsuit ensued and she was forced off the team. That was a sad moment. -- Victoria
ReplyDeleteSo unfair, Victoria!!
DeleteI wasn't athletic as a child (or an adult, for that matter), but I played field hockey in 4th grade and sported a black eye that my father said let him know what I would look like with eye shadow! However, I love to watch my grandkids play. Henry, 9, is currently playing soccer, basketball, and flag football. He has to audition for his soccer team every year, and they are a select team that plays year-round. He insists on wearing soccer gear, including shorts, in all kinds of weather. He is very good at basketball as well. Autumn, 7, used to join the other divas who, while playing soccer, would do more socializing than competing. This year, however, she has suddenly gotten more serious about it, and in basketball, in particular, she excels. She's learned to dribble and defend, and she is particularly good at making baskets, while most of the other girls are still too hesitant. Her father and his brother played a lot of soccer--one of them on a traveling team--, but that was pretty much what was offered at that time.
ReplyDeleteIt's such fun to see that progression in skills, isn't it!
DeleteI was never on a sports team. At the time, I didn't regret it--I don't even know if there were girls' teams at my school. In elementary school, I played some softball, I was proud of being a fast runner, and I could swim well. (After all, in first Puerto Rico and then West Vancouver, BC, I lived on the ocean.) But no teams. My husband and I were pleased when our son wanted to be on an elementary school soccer team, starting at about the age of eight, but when he decided at 12 or 13 that it was getting too serious, with too many practices a week and wanted to stop, we decided that was his decision and weren't upset with him. But we think he learned a lot about winning and losing and team spirit even from those four or five years. Debs, I think what your granddaughter is experiencing is so good for her! And good for you for supporting her.
ReplyDeleteI think I must be the team granny mascot!! But it has been lovely for me, not only for supporting the girls but for getting to know the parents, too. It's a great group.
DeleteGood for you Kim, for going with what he wanted, rather than pressing forward! I think it's hard for parents these days...
DeleteWell, I graduated from high school in 1969, and went to all Catholic schools, which put a heckuva lot more energy and money into boys' sports, and still do. We had gym class, and for girls there was intramural basketball, gymnastics, and drill team. I always had to work after school, so even if I had the predilection, I would not have been able to participate. Also, Coke bottle glasses.
ReplyDeleteMy first year of college was my first chance to "play" a sport, and since I was in the Police Science program, it was Judo and Self-Defense. I LOVED Judo, and if I could have found classes for women I would have continued.
After being in a car accident in 1974 the therapist told me to swim or jog. So a friend and I took lessons at the local Y. That place became my after-work hangout for the next few years, and I started jogging, taking exercise classes, lifting weights, and I even tried racquet ball for a hot minute. When I was 55 I started taking riding lessons, and did that for a few years, getting as far into dressage as we (my best friend and I) could before jumping was introduced. We were by then over 60, and had both had riding accidents. We decided it was best to stop, but oh man, did we love the riding exercises we did in the arena together. I still miss it.
My three daughters have done a lot between them: soccer, basketball, swimming, martial arts, ballet, gymnastics, cross-country, track (including pole-vaulting), yoga, climbing, and marathon running. The grand nieces are doing even more, and at a younger age: cheerleading (which is now a legitimate sport), softball, basketball, soccer--they are 9, 6, and 5!
I rode as a child and loved it. We had horses and knew people with horses. I even did a sheep drive in west Texas with my dad once! But those opportunities had dwindled by the end of primary school and riding lessons weren't really a thing yet. My daughter did take riding lessons and loved it. Unfortunately her dad was so terribly allergic to horses that he couldn't even pick her up at the stables!
DeleteA sheep drive! That would be fun, more fun than a cattle drive.
DeleteI so wish I could have learned to ride when I was a kid. I was never even on horseback until I started lessons.
By the way, Wren looks pretty official in her soccer getup!
All these great reminiscences from us pre-Title IX athletes reminded me that when I ran high school track, we had to buy men’s running shoes because they didn’t make cleats for women (true story, even in the 1970s!) and the longest race we were allowed to compete in was the mile. Cross country? Not a prayer. Fast forward to now, and a black belt judo friend was wondering why she seldom gets young women signing up for her self-defense classes, and we concurred that all the girls we knew who grew up playing organized sports from the age of four were stronger, more confident in their bodies, more likely to rely on other women to help them avoid being alone in dangerous situations. That piece of legislation changed so many lives for the better!
ReplyDeleteIt absolutely did!! Girls who grew up in sports after Title IX had (and have!) so much more physical confidence and awareness of their bodies. And that translates to emotional confidence, too.
DeleteJonelle, before my husband and I had littles, we used to fish a lot together. I needed hip waders, but they were impossible to find for women, especially for my size 6 feet. That was in 1979-82.
DeleteI have a photo of my grandmother with her high school basketball team--probably about 1910. Sadly, by the time I was in high school in the mid-50s there was only GAA: Girl's Athletic Association. This meant we could have the gym one day a week after school. Half court basketball and volleyball! Annette
ReplyDeleteMy MIL, born in 1914, played basketball in high school. We have the team photo from her Iowa school days. Iowa has supported women in sports for a long time.
ReplyDeleteTexas seems to have been late out the gate!
DeleteI understand that HS girls basketball is to Iowa what boys basketball is to Indiana. I think that is wonderful and hope it is growing on other states.
DeleteI was not sporty, but my sister played volleyball and ran track and my best friend did track and cross country. My favorite sporting memory was as a freshman when we played field hockey. I think we all liked it because we didn’t have to wear our gym uniforms (which we were all bursting out of, having originally been measured for them in 6th grade). Our teacher extended that segment - in my mind we played for months, but it was probably only 2 weeks. I think I also enjoyed that it wasn’t a team sport at my school, so the other girls weren’t more experienced than I was, so I had more fun playing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if field hockey is a thing here--I'm not even sure how it's played!
DeleteI loved girls hockey which i played in high school. It's very similar to soccer and basically the difference is you kick the soccer ball vs pushing around the hockey puck.
DeleteHere's a fun thing. My dad coached the women's fast pitch softball team for Dr. Pepper in the late 1930s into the 1940s. I'm guessing at the dates, but here's a fun piece on the popularity of women's softball leagues in Dallas during that time period. https://flashbackdallas.com/2016/05/01/girls-softball-in-dallas-hugely-popular/
ReplyDeleteNow I have so many questions I wish I'd asked!
I detested gym class in school. I did love swimming - but not in gym class (I also had a frequently occurring "period"). I was terrible at any sport involving a ball. I did take up taekwondo in my late 30s and did earn a second-degree black belt.
ReplyDeleteMy kids? Different story. They both did summer swim and were really good. They dabbled in soccer, but it didn't stick. The Girl did dance, including competitive. The Boy did basketball and taekwondo. The Girl did swimming in high school, lettered in it and became the team captain her senior year. The Boy tried high school swimming, but quit after his freshman year. He wanted to do baseball, but unlike when my brother did it, summer leagues practiced during the day and games involved travel. As a working parent, I would have needed help with transport and I wasn't "popular" enough with the other moms to get them to offer (we lived in the wrong ZIP code - insert eyeroll).
Daytime practice does seem unfair. Wren's soccer is a town league, not a school league, and all of their games and practices are either evenings or weekends, so no one is left out.
DeleteIt was summer, so it didn't conflict with school. I guess the leagues assume parents will carpool or work it out. Unfortunately, the other moms weren't all that interested in "working it out" with me. They were absolutely lovely to each other, though. Sigh
DeleteWhat a great post. So interesting to hear everyone's experiences from the past and present day.
ReplyDeleteBTW Debs you have strong genes, you grnd-dau looks so much like you.
I was just thinking how much she's looking like her dad!!
DeleteI grew up before all these sports were encouraged for girls.
ReplyDeleteWe did have gym classes. My problem was that I was taller than most of the other girls so my body was not designed for gymnastics and some of the other sports that smaller people do well.
I was also always the last person selected for teams for that.
Even ballet lessons were an issue because of size. I was never able to do cartwheels and was told that I just wasn’t trying hard enough so I was discouraged from continuing with them. It was actually because my legs were too long and I just didn’t have the flexibility the other girls had.
I discovered tennis as an adult and enjoyed it, but at that point it was difficult to find others at my level so I didn’t do too much with it though I would have liked to continue with it.
My high school required passing a swimming test and if you didn’t know how one of the two gym periods was mandatory swimming. The lessons were never really done with any regularity. I did learn the basics but never took the required test,
Since I was never a beach or pool fan it isn’t something that I probably would have done much of it.
My nephew was taught to swim when he was about two. He had riding lessons but was told he was too tall for most of the horses (he is 6’4”) now so he didn’t continue with it.
I know that in a lot of other countries the children are matched with sports that fit in with their physical build.
Perhaps if that had happened when I was growing up, I would have been more encouraged to participate in sports that were more suitable for me.
I'm sure there are sports other than basketball where height is an advantage. It would be interesting to learn which ones. Our Jenn is tall and played lots of things.
DeleteOn the other hand, because he was so tall, many people assumed that he did play basketball.
DeleteOne of his high school teachers was also the main basketball coach and was annoyed with my nephew because he wasn’t interested in playing the game.
It is fine when someone wants to play, but they shouldn’t be treated differently if they don’t have the physical ability or the interest.
I don’t know if it is the same now, but when I was growing up the students who were top athletes were recognized for their sports talent as opposed to academic achievers who were often not paid attention to at all.
Who receives a higher salary, the winning sports coach or the teachers who encourage their student to do well in their academic studies.
I had a teacher who saw I wasn’t working at the level I should have and went out of her way to take an interest in me and exposed me to the theater and other subjects which I still enjoy.
I am sure her salary was never at the same level as many of the athletic coaches. The same is true in colleges where the top sports coaches are given multi-million dollar salaries and are highly publicized. How often do we know how much the freshman biology teacher who may be responsible for providing encouragement for a future Nobel prize winner makes?
So glad to see how sport has changed for women. It seems the pay for professional female athletes is getting there as well.
ReplyDeleteYes, and I hope they can hang on to it.
DeleteIsn't the new season of Ted Lasso going to be about the women's team? That should be really fun.
I have a book titled A Pictorial History of Harrison County Iowa which contains a photo of my grandmother in her gym uniform which was taken in 1925. I believe she also played basketball, but I could be mistaken as she was a short woman like me.
ReplyDeleteMy high school in Missouri had volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, golf, track and field, softball, and tennis for girls. I was not athletic and did not participate in school sports. My sister who was five years older than me played tennis. My sister two grades behind me played volleyball and basketball. I think she was in 8th or 9th grade after Title IX passed and they didn’t have to wear the gym suits anymore could wear shorts and tshirts like the boys.
How many girls were permanently psychologically damaged by those gym suits, I wonder??
DeleteHaha !! I remember them. I did like that ours, at least, were one piece and easy to put on and take off.
DeleteI didn’t mind the gym suits so much. Ours were one piece knit fabric with a zipper up the top front. Light blue on the bottom and then light blue horizontal stripes for the top. We had to write our first initial and last name across the back 2” high in black permanent marker.
DeleteWhat I really detested was having to shower, go to the counter place to get a towel and get name checked off by the teacher in her grade book.
I should have added that Ross and I insisted each of our kids choose a sport when they started high school. We got two year-round runners and an archer (also a year-round sport.) I got to see what I missed not being on a team at that stage of my life, and I'm so glad it's changed (or changing, if you account for the disparities in spending) for girls and young women
ReplyDeleteMy hairdresser's older daughter, a senior in high school now, is a serious volleyball player and has offers from colleges around the country!
DeleteOur school didn't have much in the way of sports for girls. I remember a girl's basketball team that I really wanted to try out for, but my mom gave me the choice of playing high school basketball or keeping my horses. Obviously, I chose the horses. We did have an intermural basketball tournament once, and the team I was on won.
ReplyDeleteI'd have kept the horses, too. And short girl here, basketball would have been a non-starter.
DeleteI was quite the athlete in junior high but I had to settle for intramurals and the President's Fitness challenge. I envied the boys their opportunities to jump hurdles on the track. I asked our P.E. teacher if we could. She said absolutely not. If a girl got hurt, her parents would sue the school board. I guess the boys could break their necks and it'd be okay. I did make the volleyball team in high school but opted for the drum and bugle corps instead. In the middle of all this we moved, so it was a moot point.
ReplyDeleteThe drum and bugle core would have been fun!
DeleteWhen I was growing up, there were no sports options available to me. We didn’t even have gym classes. I’ve always been clumsy, and I sometimes wonder if I would have been less so if I’d been able to participate in sports. In our neighborhood, I was always the last chosen to be on a team.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Wow, lot's of sporty types here. Love it. Growing up I don't remember any organized girls sports. I was lucky to live in a neighborhood of all boys, so I came by my sporty honestly, if vicariously in terms of teams. There was a girls softball league, but having been raised by boys, I thought underhand pitching was sissy. My folks enrolled me in dance, tennis, and horseback riding lessons, and I loved them all, but nothing was organized. I went to an all girls' high school, where basketball was our only team sport and definitely NOT my strong point.
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