WASHINGTON – Members of the Georgetown University women's basketball team were part
of a group invited by the Department of Education to play some pick-up
basketball in the District.
Forty
years ago, it was probably something that women would not have had the
chance to do. But in 2012, 40 years after the passage of Title IX, the
participation of women in sports at the high school and collegiate level
is at an all-time high.
Secretary
of Education Arne Duncan and his family joined Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, U.N.
Ambassador Susan Rice, members from the women's basketball teams of
Georgetown George Washington and Howard universities, current and former
WNBA players at the Interior Department Thursday night to commemorate the passage of Title IX 40 years ago.
"To
see three million young girls playing high school sports now, 10 times
as much, and six times as many playing at the collegiate level," Duncan
said, "it's absolutely staggering the process we've made."
Led by Director of Basketball Operations Tasha Harris, the Hoya contingent included senior Sydney Wilson (Silver Spring, Md./St. John's College Prep), Sugar Rodgers (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork), Andrea White (Lancaster, Va./Lancaster) and Samisha Powell (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne).
Title
IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all education
programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance, and
has resulted in millions of women competing in interscholastic and
intercollegiate sports as never before.
"Without
Title IX, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to come to
Georgetown," Rodgers said. "I get a chance to play against the best in
the country and 40 years ago, that wouldn't have happened for me."
Participants
for the event, which included Washington Mystics star Chamique
Holdsclaw, arrived at 5 p.m. and were split into teams. After remarks
from Duncan and other dignitaries, teams had a 10-minute shoot-around
and then games began at 6 p.m., playing for 45 minutes.
"It
was great to be here and to have the chance to celebrate something that
has given women so much," Rodgers said. "And getting a chance to play
with kids from other schools, WNBA players and influential people in the
country made this a lot of fun."
