Story on Rise in Female HS Athletes Quotes Coach Jane Chowning Shields '80

August 30, 2004

August 30, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - Jane Chowning Shields, women's soccer coach at Indiana's Hamilton Heights High School and a 1980 graduate of DePauw, "belonged to the first generation to take advantage" of Title IX, the 1972 US legislation that banned sex discrimination in schools, notes the Indianapolis Star.

Kristen Leigh Porter writes, "The 1976 Noblesville High School graduate, who swam in high school and at DePauw University, experienced firsthand the effects of the [Indiana High School Athletic Association] sanctioning girls sports and schools fielding official teams. The first IHSAA girls swimming and diving championships were held in the 1974-75 school year. 'I think it was just the feeling of it. I swam in clubs and stuff like that, but it was nice to be representing your school and feel like that was something you could do not just for exercise,' Shields said. Her current players also have benefited. In Shields' first year as the Huskies soccer coach in 1998, she had about 15 players. That number has doubled the past three years, enough to consistently field a junior varsity team."

The article focuses on a new report on high school athletics which indicates "girls' participation for the 2003-04 school year is at an all-time high. The total number of 2,865,299 female participants is an increase of 8,941. (Based on figures from the 50 state high school athletic/activity associations, plus the District of Columbia, that are NFHS members.) For the 1971-1972 school year, that number was 294,015."

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