Boy’s High School Soccer Team Squashed by Title IX Concerns

From the Journal-Enterprise (Kentucky):

The meeting began with a report from Webster County High School Athletic Director Matt Bell, who told the board he had spoken to state officials regarding a previous request to implement a boys’ soccer program at the high school. Bell said the main issue preventing formation of a boys’ soccer team is the restrictions imposed on the school by Title IX, a federal law that includes a mandate that each school and district must have the same number of male and female athletes.

“It’s not about the number of sports, but about the number of girls versus the number of boys participating in athletics, as well as the amount of money being spent,” Bell said, adding that he is planning to attend a training in December to learn more about the Title IX program.

He said the state officials he spoke with recommended the district develop an intramural program to determine the level of interest before proceeding further, and board members encouraged Bell and the booster club sponsors who attended the meeting to work through the high school’s Site-Based Decision Making council to develop such a program.

Of course, if this sort of thinking takes hold all across the country, the incredible disparity that we see nationwide in NCAA Division I soccer could well take hold at the high school level as well.