Time for a Change

by David Portney

I posted an article on our social media sites yesterday about how the U.S. Department of Education is being sued by the American Sports Counsel over the use of Title IX's three-part compliance test in high schools, arguing that this type of enforcement violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

You can find the article here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2011/07/group_sues_dept_of_ed_over_use_of_title_ixs_three-part_test_in_high_schools.html

Before I go any further, I want to say that I am by no means a Title IX expert, but I don't think a whole lot of us are, and it's better to have the conversation than not have it at all.

As a former high school male athlete I can tell you this, there was a lot of animosity over Title IX because in the world of male athletes because it was viewed as something that denied males the right to play other sports and not much more than that. Granted, we've all become much smarter over the years, but I think to a degree that feeling still exists in the male dominated sport world.

I'm not going to go over all of Title IX intricacies, it's all over the internet if you're interested, but this lawsuit does once again give the Title IX supporters the task of reiterating the fact that cutting male sports is not the goal. It's not pro-female sports it's pro gender equality. Ideally, instead of cutting male sports to meet Title IX demands, schools would add female sports. But I think we all know at this point it's not quite as simple as that.

Since 1972, females have been given numerous opportunities to compete in athletics. Pre-1972, few females were given the right to participate in athletics and something needed to be done to change that. But 29 years later, maybe it's time for a change. Now that females have experienced more mainstream success in athletics, Title IX should be re-evaluated to accommodate the situation in 2011. As far as what that is exactly I'm not too sure, but we have to be able to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of athletics. If we don't, then whatever progress this country has made in that respect is in danger of regressing.

Volleyball Participation up to Second

by David Portney

As I was out on vacation enjoying the Fourth of July holiday, AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer left an interesting article on my desk. A report from LJWorld.com released on Independence Day said that volleyball is now the second most played team sport in the country behind basketball, with baseball being moved down to third and outdoor soccer fourth.

You can check out the article here: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/jul/04/search-americas-game-other-sports-activities-chall/

So here's the million dollar question: Ho do we translate this apparent high rate of participation into higher viewership and dollars?

It seems that today's youth (and yesterday's for that matter) are more interested in playing it than watching people play it, unlike football, where the vast majority of the consumers never played in an organized league or school format. Why are there those differences?

The answer is simple. Many studies have shown that males simply watch more sports on TV than females. With volleyball being a sport dominated by girls and women, we all know men aren't tuning into volleyball at the same rate as male-dominated sports.

So is it a matter of the volleyball community needing to convince men that volleyball is worth watching or do we go after the females? Both will be tall tasks. The women's volleyball season is in the fall, directly competing not only with the NFL (you can bank on the season happening), but with college football as well. I think we're all smart enough to know there is nothing we can say to those fans that would convince them to change the channel on those respective Saturdays and Sundays.

It looks like our best hope is to face the girls and women and beg and plead for them to not only play the sport of volleyball, but consume the sport as well. The more money that's pumped into the sport at all levels, the better off we all are. Keep in mind, TV networks, venders, big businesses follow the money trail without caring what the sport is. With big business comes a better overall volleyball life for players, parents and fans alike...so tune in and open those wallets!

Happy 4th!

Hello everyone! Everyone here from the AVCA want to wish all of our members and readers of the blog a very happy and safe Fourth of July!

We also want to thank all 500+ schools who have been nominated for our annual Team Academic Award! You'll be hearing from us in a couple of weeks with more information on the winners!