Final Exam- Distance Learning

Prior to the course, I felt that the women were allowed an unfair amount of scholarships compared with men’s sports, especially when it comes to the smaller men’s sports. For instance, women volleyball teams receive 12 full ride scholarships, while men’s teams receive just 4.5. To continue, women’s division one volleyball team throughout the nation are around 365 teams, while men’s division one teams number 21. The drastic changes have occurred because of Title IX, while the changes has promoted women’s participation in sports, the change has drastically hit small sports for men. Sports such as volleyball, rowing, soccer, wrestling, water polo, golf, and other such sports have felt the effect of Title IX. Although, Title IX has been a major step towards equality for women, the law has detrimentally affected sports that use to thrive within the college atmosphere. After taking the class, I have come to realize that the law has an important step toward equality for women. Without this movement, women in sports would still be a relatively rare in a field dominated by men. Although, I still believe that the small sports or the non-money making sports should not fall victim to Title IX. There needs to be some sort of modification of the law that does not eliminate sports.
One thing that I would like to learn more about are the psychological factors behind each gender participating in sports. From my experience, there seems to be a drastic difference in individual reasoning why each person participates in sports, however, between genders there seems to be an even greater difference in participation. I also feel that it would be important from a coaching viewpoint to understand the basic reasons why the different genders participate in sport. With a better understanding of what drives different individuals would allow coaches to tailor their practices and drills to suit the different genders.

Gavin Christensen
338i Kin
T/Th 9:30