Title 9 at AHS

In 1972, lawmakers introduced the Title IX amendment.

“Title IX gives women athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports in educational institutions” according to Women’s Sports Foundation, (https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/advocacy/what-is-title-ix/).

For example, women’s basketball used to be just a half court experience for women, and female collegiate athletes didn’t get a varsity letter. 

“Males and females can participate in different sports according to their respective interests and abilities. Thus, broad variations in the type and number of sports opportunities offered to each gender are permitted,” Women’s Sports Foundation said. 

Sports are an essential part of the high school experience. Within Washington State Co-Ed sports are prohibited by the WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association). 

“When a girl turns and plays volleyball there isn’t a fear of the female having an opportunity to like overtake the sport, but when you have a boy that comes to play volleyball if you had all boys come play volleyball then that could run the girls completely out of volleyball which is exactly what Title 9 is supposed to be about, is providing opportunities for girls to play sports” Tom Roys (Arlington High School Athletic Director) said. 

They need equal opportunities. Football is a male dominated sport. They allow girl athletes to play because they won’t dominate and over take that sport. However, if we have a male play on a girls volleyball team “-the boys would dominate physically, and – that takes away opportunities for girls which is what we’re trying to create,” Roys said.

Communication is an essential skill on any team 

Co-ed sports would also allow for “more voices and things to be heard, a lot more feedback rather than just run-of-the-mill boys and girls [responses],” Dallas Miller (‘24) said.

Experts say that this allows for you to make more connections and to grow a stronger bond between each other. Also, developing communication skills that you are destined to need later in life. 

“I think if they were able to communicate really well, it would damage – the other teams,” Roman Little (‘27) said. Because the opponents would see that amazing communication of our team and would lose confidence because they can’t replicate it. 

While these are good points on how both genders on the same team help with communication but they’re also a competing opinion: “I feel like it would be difficult just because they are not really similar because like guys connect with guys and girls connect with girls,” Parker Birch (‘25) says.

And also a neutral opinion from Miguel Zambrano (‘24). “I don’t think anything could go wrong if everybody is just nice to each other,” Zambrano said.

Communication comes with working together.

Rule changes 

“I think [co-ed sports would] for sure change the rules – for the most part men are a lot stronger and taller than girls are, so I think it [would] change the rules and the dynamic of the game,” Emmonie Price (‘24) said.

As a whole, “It would probably bring a lot of negative attention,” Price said.

Vice versa, “I feel like [Co-Ed teams] would get rid of a little sexism there and I think it would help them bond a little bit. But still, we’re always gonna have in society and in the school, we’re always going to see sexism in sports, it’s always there. And I think that’s something that we can try to change but it’s not necessarily gonna change unless we work on it over and over and over again,” Grace Davis (‘25) said. 

Two opinions-When Co-Ed sports should be introduced

One, in middle school because then “people can get used to it” Zambrano said.

And so that they can introduce it “when they’re learning to have [sports] in school” Christie Belew (‘26) said. 

Two, that they should be introduced in high school because “middle school tends to not take things seriously” Birch said. 

“It would be more of a high school thing just because people who are in middle school often are a bit insensitive to the differences in people,” Price said.

Little says that if we are going to have a Co-Ed sports team, we need to introduce it slowly, starting with a program where we just have that one gender on a team then combine the two genders into one team. 

And Miller suggests that the two genders should be able to practice together if not on the same team.

“I feel like in some cases it would be fun cause like I know that [for] volleyball and football there isn’t opportunities for the others to play it but I feel like it also would be more unsafe cause like during volleyball guys can hit it physically a lot stronger than girls can which I feel like could put other people at a high risk to get hurt” Belew said.

Boys’ and girls’ different physical strength and skills levels

“Boys have different physiques than girls and – boys are naturally stronger than [girls and] have a different build; -it’s easier for them to build muscle and they already have more muscle than [girls],” Davis said. “And so I think putting those two together like that can cause injuries for girl players – and honestly it could cause injuries for boys players and it could make boys worse players because they would have to slow down and not be as physical with girls because they would be worried about hurting them.”

In agreement, “I think when the sports are more serious it’s important that we for the most part are in the same, like strengths and weaknesses,” Price said.

For volleyball, they would “give the ball to the boys for the third hit because they are taller than us, they are stronger than us and they had the best chances of getting the third hit over in a spike,” Price, who has co-ed team experience, said. For her team, they were able to make it work and communicate well.

Can’t have that reality

One of the many good reasons for having Co-Ed teams is the inclusivity and new opportunities. 

“I think that it’s nice to have sports that like include both genders but at the same time but it’s nice to have sports that like kinda like separate it, – I kinda enjoy when it’s more mixed I just feel like it’s more fun,” Grace Oman (‘24) said. And “we’ll hopefully get more involvement, which is [what] the school’s aiming for if there are more options” for sports. 

However, we can’t have co-ed sports or even a boys volleyball team. “It’s prohibited by the [Washington Interscholastic Activities Association] -there is no such thing as a coed basketball team that’s governed by the WIAA.” Roys said. “There wouldn’t be anybody to play, it’s just not sanctioned that way, that’s not the way it’s set up.”