Title IX – Is It Here To Stay?

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Jim Tunney Ed.D

Title-IX

On the TunneySide of Sports
July 11th, 2022 #908
Up next… Title IX – Is It Here To Stay?

Title IX is of particular interest to young people because it prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from excluding students from educational and athletic programs based on sex. In sports, this very literally means that whatever boys/men’s teams are in existence in a school there must be an equal opportunity for girls/women.

Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was signed into law on June 23, 1972 – 50 years ago last month by President Richard Nixon. We as a nation have been struggling with its interpretation ever since. In 1972 I was an inner-city high school principal in the middle of that struggle. My concern was finding enough money in our school’s athletic budget to fund sports that the girls weren’t playing but wanted to.  We didn’t have much schoolyard space but did have interest. How to do it?

I remember a conversation I had at another school with a girls’ teacher/coach who was preparing her GAA (Girls Athletic Association) T*E*A*M for an afternoon athletic event,  I said to her, “Good luck I hope you win.” She responded, oh, we don’t plan on winning – just playing.” Sports changed all that!

As a college physical education major at Occidental not far from where I was then that high school’s principal, I always believed in mens sana in corpore sano, which is Latin for “A healthy mind in a healthy body”. Most of the time a 45-minute P.E. class wasn’t going to do that for many. If we could find a teaching spot in our program, the district would supply our teacher/coach. And we did!

The girls’ interest was field hockey, volleyball, cross country running, and softball. We did the best we could. Trimming some school funding from other sports we found enough money for equipment. With the help of our community, we found enough other monies to adequately supply the remainder.

Will Title IX continue to be effective for schools?

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Jim’s Bobblehead is still available for $30. He has added one of his books (your choice – you pick one from his website www.jimtunney.com) at no extra charge. 

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Are Football Camps Worth It?

Posted on July 4, 2022 by Jim Tunney Ed.D

Independence Day

Wishing you and your family a meaningful and blessed Fourth of July!
“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.” – Abraham Lincoln

On the TunneySide of Sports July 4, 2022 #907 Up next… Are football camps worth it?

With the uncertainty of our country’s future, let us hope and pray that our country can celebrate its Independence Day with some semblance of unity. If we have faith, will we believe that each of us can and will help?

Football camps? We here on the Monterey Peninsula are grateful for camp leaders Ron Johnson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Monterey County (as well as a former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver), and Anthony Toney, who was also an Eagles running back. By the way, former NFL player and coach Herm Edwards who also played at Monterey High and Monterey Peninsula College and is now the head coach at Arizona State, started this camp some 20 years ago. It is not football that is the main emphasis of this camp, but it is teamwork and observance of rules that are emphasized. Yes, there must be rules. Students appreciate orderly classrooms as well as even-handed discipline. We all need them as a moral compass.

Yes, you read that correctly, as in the title of the club and the camp, girls are involved in these football camps. Some are even faster than boys. Nearly 350 boys and girls ages 9-14 participated.

In the camp, rules are stressed on and off the field. Being on time and following the camp leaders’ directions are the main points the camp counselors emphasize. These camp counselors are all volunteers. The lessons learned on the field carry over to the classrooms as well as into the homes. Oh yes, players do and will complain about fouls called on the field but as an NFL official for 31 years, players are appreciative that we are there to enforce them.

I’ve watched these camps from Edwards to Johnson/Toney and observed how, when a rules violation occurs, a camp counselor will pull the player out of the game and explain what the foul was and why it is important to avoid that infraction for his/her good as well as for the good of the team This is a much better method than just throwing a yellow flag. These are life-long lessons.

Will you enforce rules in a consistent,  ethical, and moral manner?

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Jim’s Bobblehead is still available for $30. He has added one of his books (your choice – you pick one from his website www.jimtunney.com) at no extra charge. 

Shop here.

To contact Jim, go to www.jimtunney.com  or email jim@jimtunney.com.

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‘WE’ are the champs!

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Jim Tunney Ed.D

On the TunneySide of Sports June 27, 2022 #906 Up next… ‘WE’ are the champs!

There was a championship parade on Market Street in downtown San Francisco last week to celebrate the Golden State Warriors’ fourth National Basketball League championship in the last eight years. The TunneySide didn’t attend in person but watched with interest and read media reports. The conclusion was that it was a team victory. The TunneySide has consistently promoted the philosophy that the word T*E*A*M should translate to Together Everyone Accomplishes More. That theme has been evident in the voices of the Warriors – players and coaches.

When you follow any team, please look for those hidden secrets that seem to appear as the team develops during its season. While Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is no secret, all one has to do is follow him from Palisades High School in Southern California, to the University of Arizona and into the NBA to see the playing and coaching success he has had. His background has shown up in the recruitment and training of his players. Of course, he has to have the support of the ownership and general manager of the team, i.e., the Warriors.

Did you happen to notice what the first acknowledgment Kerr mentioned from the victory stand in Boston Gardens on the night of the Warriors championship?

The first words out of Kerr’s mouth were when he said “Not enough credit (for this championship) goes to our general manager, Bob Myers” meaning, of course, this championship was a team victory. Myers has been the Warriors’ general manager for 10 years (2012) but was “under fire” not long ago for failing to replace their aging players. That under-fire remark has disappeared – at least for now.

As you watched the Warriors’ season (2021-22) develop you would have expected them to win the championship, I mean they’ve got the best 3-point shooter ever, but it didn’t look that promising late in the regular season. What was it that made the difference? To the TunneySide it was the support of the rest of the team, meaning Wiggins, Poole, Iguodala, Payton as well as the others who practiced and performed to help the others do well. No, I haven’t forgotten those vital three: Curry, Thompson, and Green for without them it was merely a second-rate team. With those three and everyone else —  they are the champs!

Will you support the theme T*E*A*M – Together Everyone Accomplishes More?

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Jim’s Bobblehead is still available for $30. He has added one of his books (your choice – you pick one from his website www.jimtunney.com) at no extra charge. 

Shop here.

To contact Jim, go to www.jimtunney.com  or email jim@jimtunney.com.

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