KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY. APRIL 15. 2010 / SPORTS
7B
Bending over backwards
Mia Iverson/KANSAN
Pole vault junior Abby Jones stretches Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Stadium during the Kansas Relays. Jones' event is on Saturday and she took the opportunity to practice on the field.
Home runs, strikeouts up
SOFTBALL
Technology and strength training are responsible
UWIRE
College softball is not the defense-oriented sport it once was.
Recent national softball statistics have shown a rise in offensive numbers as well as a rise in strikeouts. Whether it be the improvement in technology or the increased strength training, one thing is certain: more pitches are either being sent out of the park or smacking into the catcher's mitt.
to .57, though the number was .61 in 2007.
Statistical archives of Division I softball from 1999 to 2009 show a definite increase in big-hitting ability. The average number of home runs per game has jumped from .31
Few modern statistics look similar to their 1999 counterparts.
University of Kentucky head coach Rachel Lawson, a former University
around 220 feet," Lawson said. "After teams began investing more money into their facilities and putting emphasis on softball, they put up 200-foot fences, which are obviously easier to
sily easier to hit over."
"Another big change has been the use of composite bats. That is a new technology we didn't have when I played. We need to get a
"These girls are already bigger,stronger,and faster."
The most notable change for Kentucky has been the number of strikeouts. Kentucky pitchers recorded 103 in 2002, an average of 1.84 per game. Last season
of Massachusetts softball player, has witnessed many of these changes firsthand.
better handle on the batting technology and get those home run numbers under control. These girls are already bigger, stronger and faster."
RACHEL LAWSON University of Kentucky coach
"Many of the fields I played at had no fences, so a home run was
"We need to get a better handle on the batting technology and get those home run, numbers under control."
In sharp contrast, strikeouts are up as well. Through a seven-inning game in 1999, a pitcher tossed 4.45 Ks. That number has now jumped
to 5.27 per game.
- RACHEL LAWSON
University of Kentucky coach
The University of Kentucky's statistics are even more staggering. Though the Cats' softball statistics are only archived since 2002, the trends are still visible.
315 batters, an average of 5.53 per game. Though the rise can be attributed to Kentucky's talented pitchers, the number has been climbing since 2002.
That number has been steadily increasing recently and jumped to 39 last season. The Cats are an extreme example of the national number of home runs.
$ ^{a} $Any time
Chanda Bell goes onto the field she can earn anywhere from eight to 13 or 14 strikeouts per game," Lawson said. "Her and Amber (Mateusow) have done a great job for us. But any time a pitcher can provide half of the outs like they can, it is an absolute game-changer."
— Chandler Howard writes for the Kentucky Kernel at the University of Kentucky.
Alan Merrick, head coach of the Minnesota men's club soccer team, said he would love to bring Division I men's soccer to the school, which already has a women's soccer team.
"We're stuck with Title IX," Merrick said. "Title IX precludes that happening to us at this time."
But some experts, like Dr. John Cheslock, a professor and senior research associate at Pennsylvania State, disagree with the commission's findings. Cheslock, who has conducted extensive research on the impact of Title IX, said Title IX itself has not led to a reduction of men's sports and that such claims are not supported by facts.
Debate over Title IX continues
COLLEGE ATHLETICS
The club team has tried to gain varsity status at Minnesota in the past, Merrick said, but unless another women's sport is added, it won't happen.
Ever since the enactment of Title IX of the Higher Education Amendment Acts of 1972, federal legislation aimed at preventing gender discrimination in educational institutions, the law's implications have been a hot-button issue in the world of collegiate athletics.
At the University of Minnesota, some argue Title IX has kept new men's sports from developing.
UWIRE
"In newspaper op-eds they can sort of fly, but if you get some statisticians in the room they can pretty quickly debunk those and show that, well no, there hasn't been these large declines in men's participation," Cheslock said.
The commission is an independent, bipartisan agency established by Congress that investigates issues of sex, race, age, disability or national origin.
The report stated: "Panelists reported instances of colleges and universities dropping men's sports programs in order to reach Title IX compliance under the proportional representation."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report recommending less stringent compliance standards for Title IX and hinted that the predominant method of compliance leads to a reduction in men's sports.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' report contends that surveying the student body to gauge athletic interest and ability is an effective way of meeting the third condition.
"Your student body is not composed of your potential student athletes, so surveying them is not really relevant." Cheslock said.
Cheslock authored a study in 2008 for the Women's Sports Foundation, which found that in response to Title IX, colleges and universities were increasing women's participation without decreasing men's participation.
According to the study, between the 1992-93 and 2000-01 academic years, when Title IX was more strictly enforced, women's participation increased by 4.5 percent and men's participation increased by .3 percent annually.
The third method of compliance, which is perhaps the least rigid, states that universities must show they are adequately accommodating the
athletic interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.
THREE TESTS OF COMPLIANCE
There are three forms of satisfying Title IX compliance. The first is used by most institutions and calls for universities to have substantial proportional representation in their athletic opportunities meaning that the number of opportunities should reflect the gender ratio of general student body.
The second requires schools to show a history of progress providing athletic opportunities to the children.
underrepresented sex.
Merrick said there was no doubt that there was enough talent and interest in men's soccer to field a team capable of competing at the Division I level. Merrick said Minnesota produced a high number of the nation's top recruits each year.
Interpreting the third condition can be difficult, Cheslock said, but the model survey method endorsed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights may not be appropriate for large Division I schools who recruit across the country and even internationally. Cheslock said student athletes interested in a particular sport likely would not attend a school that doesn't offer that sport.
In order to comply with the proportional representation standard of Title IX, some universities have added women's rowing teams to balance the large rosters of Division 1 football teams.
"To me Title IX has opened the door for women to experience what men have for a long time."
"For somebody like me, it's frustrating that we've got so many wonderful players in the state of Minnesota who are having to go out of state ... to find Division I soccer somewhere else," Merrick said.
While Title IX may hinder the chances that Merrick and the men's club soccer team will one day compete at the NCAA level, it has undeniably led to new opportunities for female athletes, particularly in the sport of rowing.
when she said the men's rowing team received four times more funding than the women's team.
WENDY DAVIS Women's rowing coach
to experience what men have for a long time," Davis said.
A 2007 study conducted by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education found that while women comprise 57 percent of the college population, only 42 percent of athletic participation opportunities are for women.
Women's rowing coach Wendy Davis said she had experienced the benefits of TITLE IX first hand.
Davis recalled her days at the University of California-Los Angeles from 1978 to 1982.
"To me, what Title IX has done is it opened the door for women
Michael Rietmulder writes for the Minnesota Daily at the University of Minnesota
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