Is Title IX Helping Enough Girls?

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - About twenty years ago, Kartemquin Films made a documentary called "Hoop Dreams," following the lives of two Chicago basketball players. It's still referred to often and is worth seeing.

Now the company is working on another such film, "In the Game," on the impact that Title IX, the federal law that created equal sports opportunities for girls, especially those in inner cities.

It follows soccer players at Kelly High School, with a largely Hispanic population on Chicago's southwest side. The school has no field; the girls jog laps in empty hallways with practices early in the mornings. Nevertheless, they're exhilarated, according to the article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Girls involved in sports are healthier, have a greater chance to graduate on time and go to college. But the film will show the public that adverse situations still face urban female sports, and the excitement of playing will make the case that most poor kids have little chance for such "a high."

Reported By Dr. Marciene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio