“A game for every girl and a girl for every game”?

For much of the twentieth century, women’s intercollegiate sports operated on a different model from those of the men. Organized by female physical education instructors, the emphasis was on “a game for every girl and a girl for every game.” Widespread participation and the benefits of physical exercise were the goals; competition and a stress on winning were secondary. Intramurals and “play days” were geared accordingly. In greatly modified form, this spirit was preserved in the modern era by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), the largest organizing body for women’s sports programs, but the AIAW was supplanted by the NCAA, which in the 1980s became the dominant force in women’s intercollegiate sports. Title IX, enacted in 1972, while expanding opportunities for young women to enjoy intercollegiate athletic competition, also encouraged the evolution of women’s sports along a path similar to that of men’s sports, with recruiting, scholarships, different admission standards for athletes, and a sharp reduction from AIAW days in the percentage of female athletic directors and female coaches of women’s basketball. The emphasis has shifted from widespread participation to high-level competition for the most talented.