Womens sports is still a work in progress I Opinion – NJ.com

By Bridgette Quimpo

Like the world itself, a softball is round.

I like using this analogy when asked to describe how the sport of softball has opened doors for me and my players. These are doors that I may never have been able to imagine, not just for me, but for literally hundreds of other women.

I am the head coach for a Division III college softball program a position I have held for the past 18 years, including the past nine at Ramapo College of New Jersey. And, most recently, in the last six months, assumed the role of Senior Woman Administrator at Ramapo.

Today February 2 is National Girls & Women in Sports Day, a day when we celebrate the confidence, strength and character that being part of an athletic program can inspire. I want to empower and help champion women in softball, athletics and in life.

Ive coached teams that have won NJAC conference championships and played in NCAA Tournaments. And Ive coached women who are academic standouts many have earned spots on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American Scholar Athlete Team for earning grade point averages of 3.5 or higher.

Ive also coached players who have been named Woman of the Year by the New Jersey Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

This year, we mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX the landmark ruling that gives women athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports at educational institutions, like Ramapo College of New Jersey, that receive federal funds. Today, two in five girls have the opportunity to participate in a high school sport an increase from one in 27 in 1972, the year that Title IX took effect.

Progress is being made.

Ramapo offers a total of 10 womens sports including, softball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field and volleyball. More than 150 women participate in intercollegiate athletics at our college, a sizable number when you consider that Ramapo is a Division III school that does not offer scholarships to student-athletes. And as a coach at Ramapo, I am proud to point out that the collective grade point average among Ramapo athletes is consistently higher than that of the general student population.

By the time I reached high school in the 1990s, Title IX had opened up doors for me that may not have existed for girls before me. I played three sports basketball, softball and tennis. I was able to continue my playing career into college, earning a degree from the University of South Carolina-Aiken.

Had I been born 25 years earlier, I may never have had an opportunity to be a student-athlete, let alone enjoy a post-playing career as a coach. Title IX changed my life, making it possible for me to build a career in sports where I can inspire, mentor and guide future woman leaders to positions of success.

The Womens Sports Foundation had compiled a list of the ways that sports help a young woman build character and life skills. Here are a few:

Gender barriers that once existed are breaking down. There are more opportunities for women in sports than ever before even in predominantly mens sports. This past summer, softball returned to the Olympic Games for the first time in 13 years, after it was deemed not global enough to stick around more than a decade ago.

In 2020, Kim Ng became the first woman general manager of a major league baseball team, the Miami Marlins. Becky Hammon spent seven years as an assistant coach on the San Antonio Spurs, before being named head coach of the WNBAs Las Vegas Aces. Last month, Rachel Balkovec became the first woman to be named manager of a minor league baseball team, the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees Class A team.

Still, despite the advances, an equity gap remains one that women like me have to work to help close.

Only 3.2% of sports media coverage is devoted to womens sports, according to the Womens Sports Foundation. Also, just 43% of head coaching positions in womens college sports are actually held by women, according to the same organization. Finally, 60% of women in sports report being paid less money for doing the same job as a man, according to the Female Leaders in Sports Survey in 2019.

Alarmingly, 31% of women coaches believe they would risk their job if they spoke up about Title IX and gender equity. Sixty-three percent of female leaders in sports report experiencing sex discrimination in the workplace (thankfully, this is not the case at Ramapo).

We can and must do better.

On this day National Girls and Women in Sports Day we are here to celebrate our successes while recognizing that we still have a long way to go. After all, there are more softballs to be pitched and hit, and more doors to be opened for women athletes everywhere.

Bridgette Quimpo is the head softball coach and Senior Woman Administrator at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

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Womens sports is still a work in progress I Opinion - NJ.com