Hanover Always Ahead in Girls Sports
After the enactment of the Title IX Educational amendments in 1972, all gender-based discrimination regarding the participation in educational programs and activities receiving Federal funding became illegal. This amendment requires equal attention and funds be given to both boys’ and girls’ sports teams in public schools. This not only gave female athletes more sports options and access to better equipment, but it greatly increased the number of female high school sports participants. But at Hanover, that was never an issue — girls were participating in the same sports as boys as far back as 1926. Today, only forty years after the amendment’s enactment, “girls outnumber the boys” for sports participation at HHS, according to athletic secretary Kim Davis.
Here at Hanover, girls even have more sports to choose from than do the boys. Every Hanover sport has separate girls’ teams, such as in soccer and basketball; is coed, like cross country running and all of the ski teams; or allows girls to participate in the traditionally male sports, such as football. MacKenzie Anderson played on the boy’s JV football team as a sophomore in 2009. All she had to do to join was try out.
Hanover girls’ athletics has a tradition of excellence. The varsity girls crew team has won the state championships every year except 2005, since 2003, and girls’ cross country skiing and running have won so many state titles, that they have moved onto their second banners hanging in the gym. The cross country running girls also brought home two New England Championships, in 2006 and 2007, and in 2007 they placed fourth in the nation at Nike Nationals. Girls’ hockey took the state title every year from 2005-2011 and girls’ outdoor track won the state meet nine times between 1990 and 2007.
Every female sports team at Hanover has taken at least one state championship plaque home, even the girls’ softball team sports “1983” on their championship banner. The girls have come a long way from wearing skirts during basketball and field hockey. Hanover has always made an effort to offer all of its students, regardless of gender, the highest number and caliber of opportunities possible. Girls’ sports are but one example.
