Boys in Girls Sports: Spokane track and field coach speaks out...

Описание: Track and Field Coach Dori Whitford talks about the many consequences of having boys in girl's sports and her own experience growing up with Title IX.

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Spokane Coach Says Current Sports Policies Undermine Title IX Protections for Girls

A longtime Spokane-area track and field coach says recent changes in school sports policies
have put female athletes at a disadvantage and represent a step backward from the intent of
Title IX.

Dori Whitford, a track and field coach in Spokane, said athletics played a formative role in her
own life. She competed in track and cross country at Mead High School and credits the sport
with giving her purpose, structure, and a strong sense of commitment.

“Sport saved my life,” Whitford said. “It gave me direction and something bigger than myself to
be accountable to.”

Whitford came of age as Title IX was being implemented, a period she said expanded
opportunities for girls by guaranteeing access to athletic programs comparable to those offered
to boys.

“I have lived in the first and second waves of Title IX,” Whitford said. “We are backwards now.
Girls do not have what I had when I was in school, and that is not right.”

She said sports play a critical role in developing confidence among young women, teaching
resilience and reinforcing the belief that they can take on difficult challenges. Indeed, research
from the National Institutes of Health shows that girls who participate in sports tend to have
stronger connections to their health and wellness and higher levels of long-term motivation.
“I see lives changed every year,” she said, reflecting on nearly four decades of coaching.

Whitford said her concerns escalated in 2022, when she learned that biological males were
competing in girls’ sports. At the time, she said she did not believe it was happening until a
parent showed her video evidence.

“It’s been put in here secretively,” Whitford said.

She recalled one female athlete who experienced severe anxiety after being required to
compete against male athletes, including panic attacks that sometimes lasted through the night.
Whitford said she is disappointed that adults are not doing more to protect female athletes, both
psychologically and physically, particularly in sports such as volleyball and basketball where size
and strength differences can pose safety concerns.

She described the current state of girls’ sports as deeply troubling and said the displacement of
girls from athletic opportunities feels “like a nightmare I haven’t woken up from.”



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