Comments

Readers’ Workouts — the Mother’s Day edition — 11 Comments

  1. What a great question. I was born in the early 80s so I always took it for granted the availability of sports for girls. The boys’ sports were still bigger and more celebrated, but playing a sport was always an option.

  2. I wasn’t really into sports in high school, but I do remember that there were options. Raising my kids (both boys) I was very aware of the fact that both boys and girls had a multitude of options. When my boys were little they were on co-ed baseball teams and I loved that it was just a natural occurrence for them from a young age. This is when your attitudes develop.

  3. Title IX passed one year after I graduated from high school, so it was a little late for me. Nonetheless, I was thrilled that girls would finally get the same opportunities as boys. My daughters played sports in high school and it was one of the best parts of their adolescence.

  4. What really resonated here for me was your observation that we work with our bodies now to solve problems instead of just putting things into them. I love seeing this awareness in my own children – to know what they can ask of their bodies and how in turn the body responds.

  5. Like Helene, I was a year late for Title IX. In my high school field hockey was the only sport for girls. Tall big girls with sticks in a cold muddy field did not appeal to this short small easily chilled girl!
    My Mother was a big golfer. She walked the course and played for over 45 years several days a week. In High School she won so many tournaments that with the prizes being a gift card at a sporting goods store, I was able to buy a new jacket, pants, gloves and hat! Not a golfer she encouraged me to bike and I try to bike daily. My knees hurt if I don’t get on the bike or do some sort of exercise!

  6. I was very surprised to find Coach Davis looking back at me in my twitter feed today. I don’t recall the names of everyone in the picture, but there are several on that team that I didn’t recall as playing sports.

    • Did you find me on Twitter as a librarian book blogger? Or did I find you as a writer? And, then it turns out there’s the Louisiana, MO connection? The world seems small today!

  7. Love this post. When I was in 5th grade my elementary team started a co-ed soccer team (city league, for your school). I signed up and have fond memories of running the field, spiking the ball. The issue… when I went to junior high (sames school district), they didn’t have soccer. So I played for two seasons.

  8. Great question! I never played high school sports, but I did play recreational softball until I was a senior in high school. That was a lot of fun, although I never remember being much of an exerciser. I never spent much time thinking about what it must have been like for kids to be in school when Title IX went into effect — sounds like a good thing for you and the rest of the girls at your school!

  9. Wow, I am so late this week. Anyway, I had no interest in athletics in school. We had options I just didn’t care. I was in the band though and marching band can be a workout.

    I went to eh gym last night and ran about 4 miles on the treadmill – slowly, but still I was proud of myself.

  10. Ohh I have no idea what Title IX is, but I suppose for the context that it’s a kind of law for girls to be allowed to play sports in schools, is it?
    In my case, I was born in the early 80s so I was allowed to do whatever I wanted. I did rhythmic Gymnastics for several years, and at the age of 18 I started to work in a gym as an instructor, so I have always done exercise.
    My mother’s case is the opposite because she hates exercising, so she has never done anything apart from the exercise she did at school; it’s a shame, because my father, who is her age, is very sportive, but he can’t get her to do the same!!

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