Saving Women's Sports: A Coach's Perspective
In Arizona Women of Action’s defense of all the girl and women athletes, it’s important to hear from the coaches. Coach Carrie also wants to defend female sports, and she shares her experience this week in our blog. Thank you, Coach! ~ Kim
My name is Carrie Cox and I am a retired high school coach. I had the awesome honor to be inducted in the Athletic Hall of Fame at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Illinois, the school I taught at for 35 years. I now live in Scottsdale and I am the 1st Vice Chair for GOP Legislative District 3.
At my induction ceremony, there were retired coaches, current coaches, the Athletic Director, school administrators, Principal, school board members and the District Superintendent. After the ceremony, many current coaches reached out to me to say thank you for having the courage to address this issue and speak for what they are feeling. I’ve been asked to share my speech and am grateful for groups like Arizona Women of Action that can share my story….Enjoy!
Here are the attributes girls receive when participating in Athletics: leadership, sportsmanship, decision-making skills, critical thinking, team building, loyalty, respect, understanding and gratefulness. Athletes that acquire these attributes will be successful during their entire life. These are the attributes I learned as an athlete and taught during my 35 years of coaching.
I would now like to take you through my journey of girl’s athletics. Back in the day and before Title IX, girls participated in club sports in an organization called the Girls Athletic Association. We only competed against each other in our own high schools. There were no conferences, regional, sectional, or state tournaments. I was in high school during the early 70’s and finally in 1973 the US Congress passed title IX!!! Title IX opened the door to opportunity for female athletes. Female athletes could now participate in a vast variety of sports, compete against other schools, have a conference tournament, and participate in the IHSA state series. I will say… we were only allowed to play 4 games per season in the early 70’s. But this was the beginning stages of Title IX! I went on to college and after getting my teaching degree, I pursued a teaching job in Illinois District 230 and was ready to coach. I was ready to give back what I had learned from my coaches during my high school athletic experiences.
In 1978, I started coaching and found out very quickly that female athletics was far from being equal. For decades we struggled for equality! It wasn’t until the middle 1990s that girls’ athletics finally achieved equality. We finally had an equal number of sports, equal number of levels, equal facilities, equal number of coaches and of course equal pay! And I must say, District 230 was a leader and champion for girls’ athletics. Plus, District 230 brought girls athletics to the highest standard of equality in the area and state--a far cry from the days of a “girls’ gym” and a “boys’ gym”! You can look around that gymnasium and see the banners that fly high and show the successes female athletes have achieved over the years at Andrew. And we can expect more achievements in the future.
Unfortunately, today we see female athletics under attack. We know for a fact, equality in girls’ sports can only be achieved by girls competing against girls. The transgender movement is destroying female athletics to its core! Female athletes are physically, psychologically and emotionally different than transgender athletes. Regardless of the hormonal change a transgender athlete goes through, you CAN NOT change their muscle mass, bone structure and lung capacity. There is no doubt transgender athletes are faster, and stronger than female athletes. Here is the proof: transgender athletes are breaking all female records by leaps and bounds. Transgender athletes are taking away college scholarships and opportunities for females to participate in the sport they love. Transgender athletes are taking away the very important attributes that build a young female athlete into a mature adult. We are living in an upside-down society today.
It is also important to say, as a female athlete you should not succumb to this madness! As a veteran coach, one must wonder; are we setting up females to accept 2nd place instead of trying to become the best? Are we teaching female athletes equity, tolerance, and fear--instead of all the lifelong learning attributes needed to be successful?
So, right now our call to action is simple; we women, grandmas, aunts, sisters and yes, dads too: We need to stand up and say, “We are not going to take it anymore”! We are going to shout this loudly and proudly! We are going to say, “Do not shut the door on females trying to achieve their God-given athletic greatness while participating in athletics!”
This coming year, 2024 is an election year! Educate yourself as a voter and challenge candidates for school boards, city councils and state legislators! Ask these candidates one question: “Do you support women in athletics?” Let your voices be heard, Vote! Vote for candidates that meet your core values along with your moral compass. Vote Values over Party affiliation.
In conclusion, I have been an advocate for girls’ athletics my entire professional career. I, like many others fought for decades over these battles. We fought to give every female athlete the opportunities to succeed. Females today need to experience those opportunities freely, so they can pursue their constitutional right to…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I stand to say I will fight this new battle until we win the war. Join me and many others to stop this attack on female athletes!
Carrie Cox
Scottsdale AZ Resident
GOP Legislative District 1st Vice Chair