Skyline College plays host to one of the top track fields in the country. So why is it that we are lacking a track team?
The staff of The Skyline View took notice in this fact and decided that there must be a valid reason. Although we understand the reasoning, we feel that, considering the newly remodeled field, and the nice big chunk of change that went along with it, Skyline should have a track team representing it.
The track is one of the best in the nation, and a number of sports, ranging from soccer to football are practiced on it. Daily joggers get their exercise by doing laps around its footpath. Students from surrounding neighborhoods and schools train for sports. Mothers catch up with their daughters with small talk chats while walking around the bends. But the one thing that is never visible following the track is Skyline’s own track team.
Perhaps the reason Skyline lacks a track team lies within the regulations of the Title 9 agreement, which implies there must be a gender balance in sports and other activities in schools around the U.S. One of the main points of Title 9 is that all schools must have student team/ club ratio that reflects the student body. For example, say the ratio of female to male students is 55% women to 45% men. There would need to be equal or more female sports or clubs to male sports or clubs, or at least as an experimental period. If it happens to be that women are less interested in female sports, then Title 9 allows permission for the imbalance of co-ed sports, so long as it was tried. As it happens, Skyline’s current ratio is somewhere around 55% women to 45% men, as mentioned before. But the school is still lacking interest in women’s sports.
There is always the option of a co-ed team. Men and women alike could compete with others of similar build, and our track would be put to excellent use. Not only would its inner field be played on, but it would stand purposeful for its home.