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Required to cheer for your assailant? Whose rights count?

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

By Susan McGee Bailey The U.S. Supreme Court last week remained silent in the case of a Texas cheerleader, but the message was alarmingly loud: It may be 2011, but high school girls don’t have the same rights as high school guys. The Court declined to hear an appeal from a Texas ...

Super Bowl edition: Why is football so special?

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

By Laura Pappano More people will watch Super Bowl XLV this Sunday than tuned in for the President’s State of the Union address last week. It’s not even close (42.8 million watched President Barack Obama vs. an expected 110 million). That’s no dis to Obama because George W. Bush was out-viewed, too. The ...

The problem with HS football (it’s not just concussions)

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

By Laura Pappano I had to wince at a Birmingham News pre-season high school football analysis: Quick! Go pay $6 to see Hueytown high school quarterback Jameis Winston because “come 2012 at a major BCS school [it]will be around $50 and that’s not even counting the donation for priority seating…” It’s there. ...

5 Reasons many girls don’t play sports at my high school (and it’s not because they don’t want to)

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

By Hannah Ritchie Only one in four girls at Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas, my school, participate in sports while more than half of boys are on sports teams. This is NOT because girls aren’t interested. Last December, 3,374  girls in grades 6-12 participated in a survey to gauge their interest ...

Spike this: Pregnant volleyball player misserved by school officials

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

By Laura Pappano Sure, research shows that high school girls who play sports are less likely than their non-athletic peers to get pregnant. But sometimes it happens. When it does, schools and districts need fair and sensible policies that allow girls (with guidance from a physician) to continue to compete and participate, ...