The Vermont Principals Association sought to quell the attrition of girls in school sports through a monthly “Girls and Equity” conversation, an event that provides space for open dialogue around girls’ sports and the obstacles that keep them from pursuing a higher level of competition.
According to VT Digger, one of the first VPA initiatives to come out of the “Girls and Equity” conversations is a removal of white shorts from school sports uniforms.
“There’s this whole thing around period anxiety and being comfortable in their uniforms,” said Lauren Young, VPA’s executive director of activities and athletics. “Which, man, that goes back decades for me — having a uniform that fit and I felt confident in.”
One in three girls quits sports by the age of 14, which is also the age range in which a majority of girls first get their periods. That anxiety is a contributing factor to the declining participation.
At “Girls and Equity” coaches, student-athletes, and women in athletics leadership positions talk through issues that girls may be facing in school sports, and hearing from the student-athletes has been key to the VPA’s trend away from white-shorted uniforms.
Darker colored shorts will now be phased in for girls’ middle school and high school sports through grant support from the NFHS and VPA. However, the VPA is still seeking about $20,000 to fulfill all of the uniform requests.
Tim Messier, athletics director at Lamoille Union High School, was one of the first supporters of the VPA’s uniform initiative. Despite the slow summer season, he jumped right to contacting coaches and informing teams.
“What we decided here at Lamoille was to emphasize the concept of choice and options,” Messier said. “And then in contact with the VPA and the vendor, they suggested for a color match that black would probably go best with our present home and away uniforms.”
Similarly, coaches at Champlain Valley Union High School and Stowe High School were quick to support VPA’s mission. Girls’ soccer and basketball team uniforms are already moving to black shorts.
As the VPA phases out white shorts, the organization is also setting its sights on creating uniforms that female athletes can feel comfortable in and opening a dialogue for female student-athletes to come forward when they have any concerns.
“We can’t keep putting girls out into environments where they’re battling so many different things, and who knows what the rest of their day looks like, or the rest of their life looks like,” Young said. “This is the one place that they’re supposed to go out and do the thing they love and enjoy it.”
