My mom was an athlete among a family of athletes (her dad and two of her brothers were division I college football players). Growing up, she spent endless hours at the park competing with the neighborhood kids in a variety of games. But going to high school in the early 1960s, her school sports options were limited to being a cheerleader (which she chose over being majorette) and gym class. When they played basketball in Phys Ed., she was chosen to play the position of rover, which meant she could play on both ends of the court. To avoid overexertion, her teammates were restricted to one end: offense or defense.

Girls sports have exploded since those dark ages of a half century ago, thanks to the Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, a federal law that 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 education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

I interviewed area high school girls head coaches.

QUESTION #1: What sport(s) did you play in high school?

SANDY VALLEY SOFTBALL COACH CORTNEY GEIGER (2009 Sandy Valley graduate): I played volleyball (setter), basketball, and softball (second base). My senior softball season was the first year Sandy Valley had ever made it to the state Final Four.

CARROLLTON BASKETBALL COACH CHANDRA MYERS (2005 Garaway graduate): Volleyball (middle hitter), basketball, and track (discus, and was a shot put state placer).

TUSCARAWAS CENTRAL CATHOLIC VOLLEYBALL COACH KRISTEN TRIVOLI (2000 Tusky Valley graduate): Volleyball (middle hitter) and basketball.

DOVER SOCCER COACH ANGIE PINION (2000 Reynoldsburg graduate): Once I got to high school, I only played soccer (right mid or right defender). I played for the school in the fall and played club in the spring.

NEW PHILADELPHIA VOLLEYBALL COACH CARLA PRY (1988 Canton McKinley graduate): I was a setter on the volleyball team and I swam in high school (freestyle, 100, 200, 500, relays), and went on to swim in college.

DOVER VOLLEYBALL COACH BETH MATHEWS (1987 Carrollton graduate): I played volleyball (my position changed each year depending on what the team needed), I was a forward on the basketball team, and pitcher on the softball team.

TUSKY VALLEY GIRLS AND BOYS CROSS COUNTRY AND TRACK COACH SANDY DEBOS (1984 Tusky Valley graduate): I had a wonderful childhood with wonderful parents (and two older brothers), and was in every sport and lesson imaginable from piano lessons, baton, dance, gymnastics, basketball, cross country, and track. I was outside all the time, and did not see most Disney movies until I had kids of my own. In high school, I ran cross country, played basketball for a few years, ran track from the 400 up and was on the gymnastics team all year (which was not a school sport).

DOVER BOYS & GIRLS SWIM COACH BRENDA WHERLEY (1983 Dover graduate): I swam on the Y swim team, Dover did not have a high school team yet.

QUESTION #2: What has been a good change/evolution for girls athletics in general since you were in high school?

COACH TRIVOLI: I think girls have more opportunities to excel in athletics.

COACH WHERLEY: A very positive change for girls athletics since I was in high school is the variety of sports now available to girls. Such a great opportunity for girls to be involved in many different sports.

COACH MATHEWS: The evolution of girls athletics has changed dramatically since the 80s. The equity of opportunities and facilities/equipment has been dramatic. I can remember wearing old warm-ups the boys team no longer wanted for basketball and one softball season we did not play one home game because maintenance could not get the field ready on those days. Those inequalities would not fly in todays world. Today, girls are respected for choosing to get involved in athletics without stereotypical labels being attached. They are fierce competitors and passionate about their sports.

COACH PINION: I think the support for girls athletics has increased since I was in school. I love seeing the large student section at our big games. Once people come to a game who are not as familiar with soccer, let alone girls soccer, are surprised at the fast pace, skill, and aggressiveness of our team.

COACH GEIGER: A good change that I have seen in girls athletics is that female athletes are slowly becoming more recognized and supported for their talents. It would take a team making a good run during tournaments before the stands would be filled at an event. Although the stands arent filled during all regular season games, teams and individuals are receiving more recognition.

COACH PRY: A good change for girls sports is that their skills have improved such a great deal, that the public seems to be more willing to come and watch. The recognition by fans and the public that girls sports is competitive and exciting to be part of. Girls are now being recognized for their athleticism and accomplishments that they have earned.

COACH DEBOS: Tusky Valley has always been great as far as female athletics go. I think the biggest change in my sport is strength training. The kids are strength training more than they used to because they see the benefits that it provides even to distance runners. The stronger they are, the faster they will be and the fewer injuries they will have. Obviously Title IX has been great for female athletics, especially with the COVID-19 and many of the college sports being discontinued.

MACS THOUGHTS:

* Many of us that graduated in the 1980s can relate to Coach DeBos childhood of being outside all the time, and we somehow survived without cellphones to connect us to our parents. Like her, I was periodically stuck inside for tortuous piano lessons!

* Girls have vastly more opportunities nowadays. Many high schools like mine didnt have softball until the mid-1980s, and soccer until the mid-1990s or later, which are now two of the most popular girls youth sports.

* I am sure many female athletes of past generations can greatly relate to the second-class treatment that Coach Mathews described.

* Both the perception and recognition of girls sports has vastly improved over the decades. Coach Pry brought up an important result of this growth: "Young girls now have many athletic role models that they can look up to and emulate."

QUESTION #3: What car you drove during your senior year?

COACH GEIGER: I drove my parents 2005 Dodge Ram.

COACH MYERS: 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue

COACH KRISTEN: I drove a Geo Metro which had a hole in the floor board, so I got wet when it rained.

COACH PINION: I drove a 1992 Acura Integra.

COACH PRY: I was driving my parents car during my senior year of high school! I always tell my students that most of them would be horrified in todays day and age, but I rode the bus to school until I graduated. With four kids in our family, no way they had enough money to have cars for the kids:) I was either driving a blue station wagon or a Ford Taurus.

COACH MATHEWS: I saved my money to buy a blue Subaru Brat with the rear facing jump seats my senior year. Prior to that I drove my moms orange Chevette.

COACH DEBOS: I drove a tan Ford Granada with a crank sunroof. When I first got it, the tire fell off as I was driving and rolled down the road in front of me.

COACH WHERLEY: I drove my parents car, a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass 88, which I am proud to say I passed my drivers test in that boat!

QUESTION #4: What has been a good change to your sport since you were in high school?

COACH TRIVOLI: The addition of the rally scoring has really picked up the intensity and speed of the game

COACH MATHEWS: The change from side out scoring to rally scoring has to be the biggest change volleyball has seen during my tenure. It has really put pressure on players with a point being awarded on every rally regardless of who served. It has made the game more fast-paced and exciting.

COACH PRY: When I played in high school your team could only score when you served, we played best of 3 sets to 15, there were no net serves and there was no libero. So our rules now are rally scoring, where a team can score each play is a good change, it speeds the game up. I like the libero; this helps with the defensive side of the game since the hitters seem to be getting taller and much more powerful since I played a very long time ago! Our sport has sped up tremendously over the past 20 years, it is a very fun sport to watch.

COACH PINION: I think the variety of formations teams play now in high school has changed in the last 20 years.

COACH GEIGER: The game has sped up so much and the talent of the athletes, compared to when I was in high school, seems to have excelled. More girls are participating in travel and summer ball, fall ball and even indoor leagues throughout the winter. All of these opportunities to play allow the girls to continue to compete and work harder even when they are out of the regular season.

COACH DEBOS: In cross country, we just have meets on Saturdays, which gives us the whole week to have some good workouts so that we can improve a lot and peak at the end of the season. When I was in school, we had meets during the week and on weekends. We really couldnt train properly. Cross Country was only 2.5 miles for the first year or two of my high school career. Now it is 3.1 miles (5k). In track they just added the 3200 and 300 hurdles for females my senior year.

COACH MYERS: The sport is ever-evolving, but being able to have (individual off-season) workouts, with up to four players at a time like the colleges do, was a nice change.

COACH WHERLEY: Currently, training is much more technique focused. Instead of swimming as many yards as possible, now the goal is to work on stroke technique. We coach by swimming a lot of drill sets as opposed to just completing as many laps as possible.

MACS THOUGHTS:

* I could write an entire series just on those car stories! Coach Trivolis tale of wet feet is a very old-school problem. My dad had the same issue back in the 1960s. Coach Mathews was cruising in some serious sweet rides! Google search a Subaru Brat and see what I mean. Coach DeBos educated me on both a crank sunroof (have todays kids even seen a crank car window?) and how to drive on three wheels. Coach Wherleys ride surely cornered like a battleship. And Coach Pry probably channeled Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles during her bus rides home.

* More than probably any other sport, volleyball has had the most radical overhaul. The OHSAA changed from traditional side-out scoring to rally scoring in 2004, when the libero position was also introduced. Oversimplified, a libero is a defensive and passing specialist who wears a different colored jersey, and substitutes into the back row.

* Among the different sports, theres a common theme of a greater focus on skill and technique development. I am sure Coach Wherley would likely echo Coach DeBos description of designing workouts throughout the year to have athletes peak in the post-season.

QUESTION #5: What music did you listen to during your senior year in high school?

COACH WHERLEY: I am a huge Jimmy Buffett fan and I also enjoyed listening to Phil Collins, Def Leppard, Duran Duran, and A-Ha.

COACH DEBOS: The Go-Gos, Michael Jackson, John Denver, the Bee Gees.

COACH PRY: I was a huge U2 and Journey fan. Phil Collins also was a favorite.

COACH MATHEWS: Bon Jovi, Van Halen and maybe some Madonna.

COACH TRIVOLI: I listened to everything but country.

COACH PINION: I listened to mostly Top 40 and was just starting to listen to country music.

COACH MYERS: I listened to country mainly, but also listened to pop and classic rock.

COACH GEIGER: I listened to whatever was popular on the radio, mostly country and pop music, or whatever was on the burnt CD one of my friends made for me. At that time, iPod were just beginning to come out and take over the MP3 players.

QUESTION #6: What is a way that your sport has changed for the worseor something you miss as to how your sport was played--since you were in high school?

COACH TRIVOLI: I dont know that there is anything thats made it worse, but I was pretty bummed out when they changed the block the serve rule right before I went to college.

COACH PINION: The worst rule change is the change in the off-sides rule.

COACH MATHEWS: Although I think the evolution of volleyball has changed for the better, if I had to pick one area I would say that some of the sloppy contact of the ball that is now legal on some contacts has changed the game for the worse.

COACH DEBOS: They get too hung up on what the kids are wearing as far as clothing and watches during races, but they are getting better. And kids are not as active as they used to be.

COACH WHERLEY: The only thing I "missed" was not getting the opportunity to compete for Dover High School since it was strictly a YMCA team. And, there were no "fast suits/tech suits" to compete in. Nor did we practice using goggles.

COACH GEIGER: Although the sport has changed over the years, what I miss most about it was the amount of girls we had on the team. So many people wanted to be involved with sports and be a part of a team. Nowadays in some places/schools, there are barely enough girls to fill a varsity team. As a three-sport athlete I lived for my sports. It was what I loved about school, which is why I have a hard time wrapping my head around the lack of participation by students in some extracurriculars.

COACH MYERS: I guess I would have to say that sometimes the athletes are more focused on AAU.

COACH PRY: Just the evolution of travel ball in general for most sports is something that has changed a great deal since I played in high school, and I think that prevents many athletes from being multi-sport athletes in todays age. The expectation of kids playing the same sport 9-10 months out of the year is too much, but it is what is expected and is done by many of todays athletes. Also the time in the summer that every sport has with their athletes is a lot more than when I was in high school. I feel the kids and parents are used to it now, but we ask a great deal of our athletes that I wish we could pull back on a little.

MACS THOUGHTS:

* Want clear evidence that old-school music is much better than the tunes of this new millennium? Notice that each of my four fellow 1980s graduates gave the names of specific artists, all of which were music legendsother than A-Ha (sorry coach Wherley, but I will give you bonus points for giving Jimmy Buffett a shout-out). The four coaches that graduated this century only mentioned general music genres, which indicates to me the lack of elite, memorable talent of this modern music era.

* Coach Mathews complaint of the allowance of sloppy contact of the ball reminds me of a erosions of fundamentals point made by Garaway coach Terry Rowe in my recent boys basketball series, where he pointed out the greater allowance for palming the ball and traveling.

* Coach DeBos and Coach Wherley both mentioned what clothing and other items that athletes can and cannot wear today. Related to that, I do feel that some rules prohibiting/allowing certain equipment can put a serious financial burden on todays athletes to keep up with competitors. When I played high school baseball, I just used a bat from team bat bag (usually a 33-30 Easton Black Magic). Nowadays, baseball and softball players buy their own bats, and many feel the need to spend $300 to $500 on elite bats to maximize their performance. The same can be said of various equipment in other sports.

* The lack of participation and the detriments of specialization were mentioned by several coaches, and are clearly connected. Few schools have freshmen teams any more, and many struggle to field JV teams because of low participation numbers. Coach Geiger said that she "lived for my sports. It was what I loved about school." Echoing Coach Geigers words, I was also three-sport high school athlete (like my three siblings) because loved playing sports. Unfortunately for many of todays competitors, the heavy burdens and demands have turned that love into burn out. Many even drop out by middle school age because they cant even find a team that have a reasonable time demands. In many sports, you either make the enormous time and financial commitment to a travel team, or fade from the sport. Local rec teams, for the most part, have become extinct.

QUESTION #7: What job did you have around your senior year?

COACH TRIVOLI: I worked as a waitress at the Atwood Lighthouse

COACH PINION: I worked at a bakery in Pickerington. The owner did a great job working with my school and soccer schedule.

COACH GEIGER: After I graduated, I worked for the Sandy Valley Community Pool as a receptionist.

COACH MATHEWS: During the summer, I worked at the courthouse in Carrollton for the appraisal company doing the county re-appraisal. We drew out property sketches on cards, checked square footage of buildings, and features of each home.

COACH DEBOS: I worked at Burfields picking strawberries, taught gymnastics classes at the YMCA, and worked at cross country and track camps at Malone the summer before my freshman year of college.

COACH MYERS: I played three sports, but did chores on the family farm. Since I was on a full athletic scholarship to Ohio University, I had to report to college/summer school in July for classes and workouts right after my senior year.

COACH WHERLEY: Lifeguard at the Dover Pool the summer after my senior year of high school.

COACH PRY: I was a swimmer, so I was a lifeguard during the summer, and also during the year at CT Branin Natatorium.

QUESTION #8: What is a rule change that you would like to enact for your sport for the future?

COACH TRIVOLI: If a serve hits the net and bounces over, it is an automatic side out (serve goes to the other team).

COACH MATHEWS: I would like for the governing bodies of different organizations to come together and agree upon one set of rules across the board. I feel it is confusing for players and coaches to cross over between National Federation rules, which OHSAA follows, and USAVB rules which are followed in club volleyball. There are differences in net violation/center line rules, re-toss for serve, number of substitutions permitted per set, even the score sheet is different for both. That being said, overall I like how volleyball has evolved over the years and continues to grow.

COACH PINION: I would like to reverse the current off-sides rule back to how it originally was.

COACH GEIGER: One change that I would like to see happen in softball and any sport would be to allow coaches to have more coaching time with their players in the off-season. It is difficult to make progress when coaches are only allowed to work with small groups of girls at a time. Being able to work with the team as a whole builds not just on talent, but on their chemistry with one another as well.

COACH DEBOS: I think the rule in track that no one gets a false start stinks. Even in the Olympics, the field gets one false start per event. They are seasoned athletes and get a second chance. High school kids are just learning and should also get a second chance.

COACH WHERLEY: Currently, you can compete in a maximum of two individual events and/or three relays. I would change the rule so you are able to compete in three individual events maximum.

COACH PRY: I would love to see the OHSAA step in and place a mandatory time off in the summer for all sports to allow a week to shut down and give the athletes a break. Along the same lines, I would love to see travel ball being limited, so the athletes could have a little more time off for recovery. I realize these things will not happen, but one can dream!

MACS THOUGHTS:

* Concerning summer jobs, I am give Coach Myers the gold medal. For a city kid like me, doing chores means unloading the dishwasher, sweeping the living room, or folding laundry. Farm chores are a completely different story. One time when I stayed overnight at a farm buddys house, I woke up around 8 am and the house was empty. I eventually found the kids out in the field picking up rocks.

* Coach Mathews gets the silver medal for tackling such a mentally challenging job, while Coach DeBos gets the bronze for her diverse portfolio of occupations. And when Coach Pinion now smells a freshly baked item, is she entranced or repulsed?

* Coach Geiger brings up an interesting point about the off-season workouts. Some sports allow for full squad camp days, while others only allow for small group skill sessions.

* Coach Pry echos overload concerns that were mentioned by some football and boys basketball coaches that I interviewed earlier this summer. As Indian Valley football coach Matt Lancaster shared, his school district has a mandatory two-week break during the summer around the Fourth of July. The OHSAA should mandate a similar dead period for all sports to give athletes, coaches, and their families a needed break.

* I am sure all of these women could point to role models from their pastcoaches, teammates, siblings, parents,...that inspired them to pursue a career in coaching. Their selfless mentorship on our young athletes of today is helping to develop our female leaders of tomorrow both in and out of the sports world.

Read the rest here:

Looking at the evolution of girls sports - Press News