-Over at Saving Sports, Eric McErlain points to this article which articulates quite well an aspect of Title IX that rarely gets discussed: it can hurt female athletes. Over the weekend, the Delaware men’s track and field team competed in their last home meet, with their program scheduled to be eliminated at the end of the school year. Obviously, that’s a big negative to the male athletes. But it’s also impacted the female track and field team:
The UD women’s track and cross country teams, which will remain, have also been negatively affected. Some prospective recruits, worried the women’s programs could be axed next or just preferring the camaraderie that men’s and women’s teams share, have looked elsewhere.
When the meet ended Saturday, and people began to disperse, members of the UD women’s team stayed the longest as Fischer was called into one photograph after another.
“We’ve been so lucky,” said senior distance runner Karen Mandrachia, a Newark High graduate, of having been around Fischer, whom she called a “one-of-a-kind coach.”
Yet, the absurdity of it all – UD losing two men’s teams and a beloved coach in the name of gender equity – was hard to swallow.
“The irony, oh my God, I don’t even understand it,” Mandrachia added. “It [Title IX] is supposed to be helping us, but it’s actually hurting us because we need him just as much as the guys need him.”It’s a sober reminder that while it’s often easy to point out that Title IX has been generally positive for women and negative for men in terms of what programs get added or cut, the reality is more complicated. Often times when a men’s team gets cut, female athletes on campus are losing their trusted training partners and teammates.
-On a positive note, Cal officials announced Friday that their baseball will be reinstated following a major fundraising effort. Congrats to all involved.