Recently, there has been talk of the high school creating a new competitive sport for female athletes. The process and reasons for creating this new sport are complicated.

Currently there are two laws that govern equal gender participation in Montana high school sports. The first is a Montana court decision called the Ridgeway Settlement, which calls for an equal number of sports for males and females. The second is a federal law called Title Nine. That requires “equal participant opportunities” for males and females in high school sports. This means that there should be an equal number of male and female athletes, and not just equal number of activities. Currently BHS complies with the Ridgeway Settlement since there are an equal number of male and female activities. Title Nine requires equal participation numbers and currently there are more male athletes at BHS. “Currently we have more male participation in sports at the high school due to football,” said Randy Russell, BHS Activities Director.

The discussion over adding a new sport began when the federal Office for Civil Rights audited Glacier and Flathead High Schools. The Office for Civil Rights is the agency that enforces Title Nine requirements. This audit led to the Montana AA conference forming a study committee to look at how to balance participation in the AA conference. This is to avoid future audits that could eventually lead to the Office for Civil Rights telling schools that they have to cut male participation numbers, such as making cuts to the football team. “The goal is to avoid having the Office for Civil Rights tell us we have to cut part of the football team or a whole male sport,” said Randy Russell. The School is trying to solve this potential problem now so they can figure out a solution themselves; instead of being told what to do by a federal agency. “We’re trying to be proactive and take a hard look at whether we’re providing females the opportunities they deserve or should have,” said Russell.

This new sport is still a ways out from competition. Although the study group has yet to meet, ideas for the new sport have been discussed. Badminton, Competitive
Cheer, Lacrosse, and Bowling have been the most popular ideas so far.

There are numerous challenges and hurdles that adding a new sport requires, and the earliest a new sport could be added is 3 to 5 years down the road, according to Mr. Russell. The conference and BHS are moving forward with developing a new female sport. Next fall, surveys will go out to all females at BHS to find out what sports interest them. After that the study group will meet to discuss what are the most popular and feasible sports. To add this new sport all athletic directors, school principals, and ultimately local school boards have to approve of the sport. An important consideration for schools in finding a sport is financial viability. As schools are facing budget cuts across the state schools are looking for a sport that has minimal startup costs, such as Competitive Cheer or Badminton. The schools also have to have the sport facilities available to them for no or minimal cost, which rules out sports like Bowling. The adding of a new sport still isn’t guaranteed. A few years ago the AA Conference voted on adding Competitive Cheer as a sport but the proposal was voted down. “But with new pressure from the federal government a new female sport is a very realistic possibility”, said Mr. Russell.