Title IX

January 8, 1997

Dear Mr. Clinton,

I am writing because of a concern I have for my children. First let me state that I am not what one might call a politically active person. I pay attention to the issues, and vote according to what I feel is in the best interest of my family and my community. This is the first time I have "spoken out" against a policy, due to what I believe is its destructive nature.

I have been reading just about everything I can get my hands on regarding Title IX. Most of what I’ve read has been on the internet. For the life of me I do not understand it. Let me restate that. I understand its intent, but not how it is being implemented. Being the father of three very active, and athletic children, I see the benefits of sports, both organized and "pick up", every day. I also make it my business to insure that my daughter has the same opportunities to participate as my sons do. My concern is that with the current implementation of Title IX, there will be far fewer opportunities for my boys if things continue on the course that’s being taken.

As I have mentioned, I have researched this issue quite thoroughly, and it clearly seems misdirected. I agree that equality in athletics is a goal we should strive towards, but eliminating male athletic programs to achieve this is going about it the wrong way. To quote my grandmother (and millions of other parents and grandparents) "Two wrongs don’t make a right." Eliminating male programs to make the numbers look balanced is the wrong approach. There have been a number of women’s programs added over the last few years, which is the right thing to do. Unfortunately a lot of these programs have received varsity status, but can not field complete teams (according to a number of articles on the internet). Because the numbers are not balanced, a male program, which may have up to 40 participants, is eliminated while a female team without a full squad is kept. This not only hurts the guys who are participating in a sport when it is cut, but there is also school revenue to be considered. A sport like swimming, baseball or wrestling that actually makes money for the school is cut, while a new women’s program is struggling to field an entire team and not bringing in anything at the gate. What’s wrong with this picture.

I was lucky, competing in the early and mid seventies, there were no such concerns. In fact if it was not for athletics, I’m not sure where I would be today. Like yourself, I didn’t have the easiest of childhoods, but I believe that gave me character. But is was wrestling that kept me in school, forced me to keep my grades up (School policy was no failing grades. My coaches policy was a B average or you don’t wrestle.) and allowed me the opportunity to go to college, something my mother would have never been able to afford. Today I am a corporate executive at a major computer company, which allows me the opportunity to provide my children with a lot of things I did not have. I feel I owe a lot to athletics.

This is what the intent of Title IX is. Offering women the opportunities to compete and take it as far as they can. But not at the expense of men’s programs. I believe that women’s athletics have gained great strides over the last decade, but not because of Title IX which the media would like you to believe. For instance this summers Olympic games highlighted many accomplishments of our female athletes. These were all wonderful and each individual deserved their moment in the spotlight. But title IX had little to do with the success! In fact the fall of the iron curtain had far more to do with the American women’s success then any gender equality law. If the old Solviet Union and East Germany were still intact, these pharmaceutically enhanced athletes would have continued to dominate. The best example is the East German women swimmers. In 1972 they were non existent. In 1976 they were the dominant force. This continued until 1992, just coincidentally a couple of years after the Berlin wall came down. Then out of nowhere the Chinese women began breaking world records.

All one has to do is look at history and see that American women were predominately better overall then the rest of the world long before Title IX, until the late sixties and early seventies, when better living through chemistry became a way of life for the eastern athletes.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team, Title IX had nothing to do with this wonderful victory. There has always been opportunities for girls in gymnastics. I strongly believe Marylou Retton had more to do with this past teams success then Title IX. And then of course there was the great gold medal winning softball team. A sport that girls have been competing in long before Title IX. I’m sure you understand my line of thought here. Don’t believe all the hype.

We must continue to create opportunity for all our athletes, boys and girls. If we continue to cut male programs in college, it will just be a matter of time before that makes its way to high schools and then youth sports. By the time the 2008 summer games roll around we won’t have much of a men’s team. Not to mention all the potential corporate executives, loving fathers and all around nice guys that may turn out differently.

Sincerely,

Phil Riccio

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