[Hobart, Australia; December 6. Image via Getty]

HOBART, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 06: Nicola Earls of Western Australia competes in the Girls Under 17 Discus Throw during day three of the Australian All Schools Championships at the Domain Athletics Centre on December 6, 2009 in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images

Schmitt writes that because of Title IX and a suit by NOW that prompted the Little League to eliminate mentions of "boys" and "manhood" from its charter, his daughter is able to be her team's Most Valuable Catcher with very little consciousness of the fact that she's also the only girl. He thinks Title IX has had other, more subtle benefits for her generation as well. Schmitt writes,

This generation of children is unfailingly decent to one another, respectful of one another's different personalities, and attentive to and proud of one another's successes. The petty cruelties of childhood are rare. Political scientists have marveled at the distinctive attitudes of "millennials," born roughly between 1982 and 2003. (Thus, a single generation seems to encompass both my daughter and many of my co-workers!) They are characterized above all by tolerance but also by cooperation, liberal political views, and respect for public institutions. They form the basis not just for the Obama Democratic coalition but for the hope of a progressive politics in the future. And the kind of equality promoted by Title IX surely has had something to do with that.

I'm a little skeptical that "millennials" (a generation that apparently includes not only Schmitt's daughter and coworkers, but also my brother, who played Little League baseball through most of the nineties, and me) are actually more "decent" than other people. But I fervently hope Schmitt's right that the drive for fairness for girl athletes has led to an across-the-board rise in progressivism and the respect of differences. There's plenty of evidence that millennials still have some work to do in creating a culture of gender equality, but I do notice that my brother's friends are more comfortable identifying as feminists than even my friends were at their age. And my brother has been, since his teens, more open-minded and quicker to call out prejudice for what it is than most of the boys I grew up with. Some of this is probably because he went to a very progressive high school, but some of it may come from the fact that he played Little League with girls.

Of course, those girls, like Schmitt's daughter, were always outnumbered, and girls' equality, in sports and elsewhere, still has a ways to go. But his experience with his daughter's team makes Schmitt hopeful that social change can happen more quickly than some liberals fear. He writes:

[M]any liberals have become wary of getting too far ahead of the culture. We know that same-sex marriage will eventually be legal everywhere, and we fight efforts to ban it, but many of us are also hesitant about pushing the point too hard in areas of the country that don't seem ready. Sensible liberal legal scholars worry that Roe v. Wade (1973) got ahead of changing attitudes on reproductive rights. If we were transported back to 1972, some of us might worry that schoolchildren and their parents weren't ready for such an abrupt transformation as Title IX. [...] But as I watch my daughter do something that would have been unlikely for a girl of my generation, and see all that goes with it, I'm endlessly thankful to those litigators and legislators of the early 1970s who weren't at all afraid to give the culture and its assumptions a shove in the name of fairness.

Schmitt has a point — liberals can be timid about social change, but sometimes the culture needs a shove. And waiting for people to be "ready" for change can sometimes be an excuse for inaction. I'm not quite as sanguine about the impact of Title IX as Schmitt is — the popularity of girls' sports, for instance, hasn't traveled upward to women's sports. But I am heartened by the obvious pride with which Schmitt views his daughter's athletic achievements, and the importance he places on opportunities for girls like her. Playing alongside girls may make boys more respectful, but having a daughter who's an athlete — or who tries to enter any sphere once reserved for boys — can open dads' minds as well. If Schmitt is representative of other "Title IX dads," the "millennial" generation might be getting a pretty awesome upbringing.

Title IX Dad [The American Prospect]

According to a story by Katie Thomas in today's Times, families are more likely to travel with their daughters to sporting events than with their sons. "There are far more people who will travel with 12-year-old girls than even 12-year-old boys," explains Don Schumacher, executive director of the National Association of Sports Commissions, "And vastly more people will travel with 12-year-old girls than 18-year-old boys." This may have to do with families being more protective of girls, or with moms being more likely to attend girls' events.

Whatever the cause, the phenomenon translates into money. Families who travel with their kids stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, and buy things. Mika Ryan, president of a sporting commission in New Jersey, says she considers the often more lucrative nature of girls' sports when booking events. And now that it has built a new softball complex, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee is enjoying a boost in revenue from girls and their families. At least one naysayer doubts that girl athletes buy more than boys. Bobby Dodd, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, says, "I have three granddaughters. They love to shop. But I can tell you my boys darn near love to shop as much as the girls." Dodd's words notwithstanding, it's clear that girls' sports are getting attention from families and businesses alike.

Though it's a little sad that families feel they have to "protect" their girl athletes more than their boys, it's nice to hear that the days of ignoring girls' sports are over. Not so, however, for women's sports. On NPR, Frank Deford examines the financial difficulties of many women's pro leagues. The Women's United Soccer Association folded in 2003, the WNBA's Houston Comets are the only major sports team so far to go out of business in the recession, and the LPGA recently fired its commissioner amid a loss of sponsorship contracts. According to Deford, women just don't want to pay to watch women's games.

The solution: sex! Reacting to a Wimbledon official's comment that it's often the hottest female players who are chosen to play on show courts, Deford writes,

Everybody was aghast at such overt chauvinism, only the harsh reality is that until women start stepping up and buying tickets for women's games, then - like it or not - sex may simply be good box office.

Ten years later, what do most people remember about the 1999 World Cup - that Brandi Chastain scored the winning goal? No, that Brandi Chastain took her shirt off.

But apparently teams think only the "right" kind of sex sells tickets. According to Mike Wise of the Washington Post, the WNBA's Washington Mystics don't have a kiss-cam at their games because they're worried about displaying lesbian fans kissing. Lindsey Harding, the team's point guard (pictured, right), says, "We wouldn't broadcast on our Jumbotron about abortion issues because of the religious and political conflicts it would cause. It's a similar, sensitive subject. We don't want to put anything out there to turn down certain fans." A lesbian kiss similar to abortion? Apparently, if all you're thinking about is the box office, yes. Wise writes,

This is a seminal, scary time for women's professional sports. Ten years after Brandi Chastain's ab-crunching moment in the women's World Cup ushered in a new era of empowerment, less than half of the LPGA Tour's 29 events have secured sponsorship for next year. Though attendance numbers are up in Washington, the league can barely pull in an average of 8,000 people per game and many of its arenas hold 20,000.

In a time when TV networks stay silent about male athletes' rape allegations, how come women's teams have to curry favor with bigoted fans? Is it really true that women don't want to pay to watch women play? Or are women's professional sports just too new — and as yet too under-marketed — to capture the kind of audience that men's sports have? Just because we live in a culture where women are more often celebrated for their looks than their athletic prowess doesn't mean all women athletes have to take off their shirts. It just means we need to train audiences to follow women's sports with the same rabid passion they've long had for the Dodgers or the Lakers. And given the fact that families seem to turn out in droves to watch their girls compete, that shouldn't be so hard to do.

Girls' Sports Pack Economic Punch [NYT]
Deford: 'That's No Lady, That's An Athlete!' [NPR]
Mystics Give Big Issue The Kiss-Off [Washington Post, via Pandagon]

In a country where a whopping 50% of the population is under 16, reaching youth can have a profound effect. Skateistan hopes to teach classes in computers, music, art, and "life skills." The organization also hopes that skating will help break down Afghanistan's formidable class, ethnic, and gender barriers. Children of different socioeconomic backgrounds skate together at the school — currently housed in what the Times called "a decrepit Soviet-style concrete fountain," but slated to move to an indoor/outdoor skate park at the end of summer — and half the students are girls. Though most sports, including bicycling, are seen as off-limits to girls in Afghanistan, Skateistan says skateboarding is more accepted.

Obstacles, however, abound. A January article in the Times told the story of Hadisa, whose brothers beat her with wires for skating with poorer children. "I'm not upset with my brothers for beating me," she said. "They have the right." And many girls may have to stop skating when they reach puberty, and are prohibited from going out without veils or spending time with unrelated men. Skateistan founder Oliver Percovich says the indoor portion of his skate park will offer separate classes for girls, but nine-year-old Maro says, "If my family doesn't let me skate when I grow up, and they tell me I need to be at home, then I have to respect my family. And I won't be able to skate."

Maro's grandfather says "Families are still careful and thoughtful about letting their daughters out. We're entitled to be very strict and afraid because negative consequences from the Taliban time are still out there, and men do whatever they want to women." He says it may take ten years for the situation to get better. Programs like Skateistan may help. Maro says skating "gives me courage, and once I start skating, I completely forget about my fears." Percovich adds, "Afghan kids are the same as kids all over the world. They just haven't been given the same opportunities. They need a positive environment to do positive things for Afghanistan and for themselves." Perhaps Skateistan will help them do those things, one kick-flip at a time.

Skateistan [Official Site]
Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion From Desolation [New York Times]

Berner [pictured, second from right] went 16-2 this season, and helped New York's small Beacon High School sweep the city's three major tennis tournaments. But her opponent aren't happy about a girl demonstrating such prowess. After one of her wins, the opposing coach claimed that the game was unfair "because her gender unnerved her opponents." The coach said that for a boy, playing Berner is "a lose-lose situation. If he wins, he's supposed to win. If he loses, he lost to a girl."

This statement highlights the weirdness of people's reactions to girls like Berner. Traditionally, the rationale for keeping girls out of boys' sports has been that girls aren't good enough to compete with boys. But increasingly, parents and coaches are complaining that girls are too good. Twelve-year-old Jaime Nared was ousted from a boys' team, likely because of concerns that she was outshining the boys (she was later reinstated). And when the Cheetahs, a girls' soccer team, began playing boys' teams, parents got concerned about girls beating their sons.

The whole issue is a sad example of stereotypes begetting stereotypes. If no one had ever assumed that girls would be worse at sports than boys, there would be no shame in boys getting beaten by them. But because boys are brought up to think girls are obviously lesser athletes, they are "unnerved" when a girl is actually good. The solution isn't to continue protecting boys' fragile masculinity by keeping them away from female opponents. It's to expose them to girl players more often, so that they understand that girls can be athletes in their own right, and not just wimpier versions of boys.

It's not necessarily true that all sports should be coed — women's bodies are different from men, and segregation at the professional level can make sense for some sports. A single-gender environment may be good for some girls too. Anna was impressed by "the Cheetahs' embrace of their more aggressive, competitive sides," an embrace that may be easier to develop if you're not worried about impressing boys. But in many situations, coed competition can teach boys and girls that sports aren't just a guy thing, and that winning is about using your skills, not proving your masculinity.

She Plays With Boys, and Rivals Don't Like It [New York Times]

Earlier: Jaime Nared, "The Next Candace Parker," Will Play With The Boys Again
Kick Like A Girl: When Girls Take On Boys, And Triumph

The team, the Cheetahs, is coached by Jenny Mackenzie (she is also the film's director/producer and mom to player Lizzie, seen in the first clip at left); after multiple blowouts against other girls' teams, Mackenzie asked for - and was granted - permission for her team to play against boys' teams, with the idea that the girls under her tutelage might find themselves more challenged, athletically.

As could be expected, people had issues with this. Some parents were concerned that the boys might play less aggressively out of fear of "hurting" the female players they were up against; others couldn't seem to wrap their heads around the simple fact that their sons had to play girls at all - and that they might actually lose to them.

What resonated the most for me - other my envy of the abundance of confidence and team spirit on display - was the Cheetahs' embrace of their more aggressive, competitive sides. As a former (mediocre) soccer player, I can say that one of my fondest memories of my 7 years as a forward in the AYSO league in Northern California is that I was afforded the opportunity - nay, encouraged - to B-E AGGRESSIVE. I am now 36, and that opportunity hasn't really presented itself since.

Above left, star player Lizzie talks about playing soccer and growing up in Mormon country. Below, the boys - and parents - react to the introduction of the girls.

To see the entire film, check the schedule here.

Kick Like A Girl [HBO]

Double-dutch teams have been created at 10 high schools in predominantly black New York City neighborhoods, according to Salon. Last year, the New York Times reported that the city was introducing varsity double-dutch to address the fact that in city schools only 10 percent of high school students played on sports teams, compared to more than a third in many suburban districts.

Legitimizing the sport, which many girls already participate in when they're young, may be the key to getting them to continue their involvement in sports through high school. A study last year from the Women's Sports Foundation found that inner-city girls of color have some of the lowest rates of sports participation of U.S. teens, according to Women's eNews. Sociologist Don Sabo, the organization's research director says that urban girls tend to start organized sports later and are thus more likely to drop out. He says:

"They haven't learned the fundamentals of how to balance, jump, run, how to be a team member, how to suck it up and play through being tired. They feel foolish," said Sabo ... "When was the last time you tried something you weren't good at and stayed with it for a year?"

Urban girls of color are "hit with a double whammy," says Neena Chaudhry of the National Women's Law Center. Often their communities have less access to open spaces and they face competition for scarce resources at school. Theoretically, Title IX should solve this problem, but unlike in colleges and universities, high schools are not required to report gender breakdowns by sport, resources, and funding. A study by the National Women's Law Center suggested that few urban female athletes were using Title IX to demand equal treatment.

There's a push now to require high schools to report statistics like colleges and universities do to make sure that the schools are complying to Title IX. Last month Senator Olympia Snowe reintroduced a 2004 bill to the Senate called the High School Sports Information Collection Act, which would require high schools to report the gender of student athletes and the financing of sports teams.

Advocates say that enacting Title IX compliance laws would increase sports opportunities for girls and boys across the country. While city officials hope to increase girls' participation in sports especially, the new double-dutch teams in New York are coed. The video below from the annual double dutch tournament held at the Apollo Theater in New York shows the incredible amount of athleticism that competitive double-dutch requires. Since countless studies have shown that student athletes perform better in school and have higher self-esteem, clearly girls across the country would benefit from similar programs.

Double Dutch Bust [Salon]
Double Dutch Gets Status in the Schools [The New York Times]
Girls' Sports Opportunities MIA In City Schools [Women's eNews]

Like any prodigy, Jaime is in some ways isolated from her peers, as a story in the NY Times' "Play" magazine outlined this past weekend. She's taller than all the boys at school, for one — she says the tallest comes up to her chest. (Her classmates sometimes call her names like Godzilla.) And her skills on the court can inspire sexism. When Jaime fouled a boy, her mother remembers a parent yelling, "Get that girl away from him!" But playing with girls her age isn't an option, says her dad: “To be quite honest with you, it just wouldn’t be fair.” Her mom concurs, asking, "Particularly before puberty, why do we separate boys only, girls only? We say boys are stronger, faster, but that’s a generalization." Jaime's skills — she may turn out to be the next Candace Parker, the first woman to dunk in a NCAA tournament — certainly show this to be true. So should all kids' sports be co-ed? Or is there value in separating the boys from the girls?

Scary, Isn’t She? [NY Times]
Girl To Rejoin Boy's Basketball Team [UPI]

Earlier: Awesome Oregon Girl Barred From B-Ball With The Boys