The Rohnert Park Unified School District Board of Trustees vote on Thursday to retain athletic programs at Rancho Cotate High School was influenced by Title IX, a federal law intended to prevent sexual discrimination in schools. Title IX has served repeatedly to protect high school athletics as it would require both male and female teams be cut in this it has been a blessing for SRJC.

Congress Passed Title IX in 1972, when female athletes had little-to-no chance of playing high school or collegiate sports. Thirty-nine years later, the bill impacted sports nationwide at every level of competition. It is amazingly prevalent right here at the SRJC, where female athletes dominate in virtually every sport, and often overshadow our men’s teams. Title IX now protects men’s sports just as often as women’s sports, since female teams far out do their male counterparts in multiple high schools around the country.

The measure keeps high schools from cutting sports programs when statewide financial crisis normally puts sports on the chopping block. All high schools surrounding our campus serve as hatcheries for our sports programs here at the JC, and nurturing their potentials benefit our teams.

The only thing more remarkable than the success of SRJC’s sports programs is that both, male and female, teams continue to show the same amount of skill and dominance. The enforcement of Title IX in high schools surrounding SRJC inevitably increase the amount of talented individuals pouring into our sports programs, making our great teams even better.

Our athletic excellence has already gained nationwide attention, and having excellent sports programs always helps attract students to any campus. This bill helps our school in countless ways, and I’m scared to think about the potential of our sports programs in years to come.

I don’t know what would have become of the SRJC if this measure never passed. I would be devastated if we were known as the school that offered nothing more than academic excellence. Our sports teams give every student a sense of pride about studying at SRJC, and serves as an example of the importance of maintaining equal opportunities for both male and female athletes.

I love the fact that our teams excel at such a high level against extremely tough competition. I’m proud that our women’s basketball team can kick any team’s butt, and that our swim team breaks records easier than anyone could break a pencil. I hold my head high knowing that our school’s name is almost always coupled with words like “win again,” or “headed to state championship.” Our sports teams set the bar extremely high, and I can’t see that bar going anywhere, but up.