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Ultimately, passion is personal," said Donna Lopiano. "It comes from our own experience or story retold." The executive director of the national Women's Sports Foundation began as a young girl with a big dream--to pitch for the New York Yankees. One of the privileges of childhood is to have dreams that may never come true. But, says Lopiano, to tell a little girl that she can't even try to live her dream simply because she is a girl, creates passion that bums white-hot.

Teaming with Athena Yiamouyiannis, executive director of the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE), Lopiano spoke at the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) fall forum in St. Louis. Both administrators have dedicated their careers to advancing women in sport.

Lopiano became one of the country's elite softball players, a pitcher of course. Then she took her passion and administrative skills to volunteer as assistant athletics director at Brooklyn College and from there to the women's athletics department at the University of Texas. While she was AD in Austin, her teams won 26 national championships. Now in her 50s, she celebrates 10 years as the head of the Women's Sports Foundation, one of the top five organizations in the United States in grants to women.

But her passion still burns white hot. Lopiano tells of carrying a bag of softballs in the trunk of her car, so when she spots girls on a playground she can stop and give them a ball and maybe a few pointers on how to play. She asks rhetorically, "When can you say you have taught enough, shared enough?"

"What makes passion functional is the obligation to share it," Lopiano said, challenging those attending the forum to act in defense of Title IX. In referring to the Department of Education's Commission for Opportunity in Athletics, which is charged with recommending "adjustments" to Title IX, Lopiano stated bluntly, "Make no mistake, it's a stacked deck, six outs for them, three for us."

Educators must realize that the law that gave women a more equal playing field is itself on trial. Special interest groups would dilute the law and take away some of its benefits for women on campus.

She suggested advocates of women write an op-ed piece for a local newspaper and encourage those in your e-mail index to do the same. If we don't act individually and collectively, Title IX will suffer. We must put on a "full court press."

Yiamouyiannis concurred, noting that women still get $133 million less per year than men in athletic scholarships. Although athletics budgets have never been larger and salaries of coaches have never been higher, schools are choosing to cut certain non-revenue sports.

Both speakers urged using coalitions to reduce the workload and expenses. Yiamouyiannis cited the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE), a group of 50 organizations dedicated to improving educational opportunities for girls and women.

Lopiano lamented the selective memory that affects the current Title IX debate. In dialogs of the early 1970s on how to measure compliance with Title IX, women's sports advocates argued that females should get half the participation opportunities and half the money.

Instead, the guidelines set up made it "the weakest civil rights test on the books," according to Lopiano. The primary test was proportionality, measuring the gender ratio of sports opportunities against the gender ratio in the student body. At the time 60% of college students were male, so the proportionality test guaranteed male athletes at least a 60-40 advantage in participation opportunities.

Today the tables are turned. Women comprise about 60% of college students, yet they still get only about 42% of the chances to play. One of the major targets of the Title IX committee is an evaluation of the proportionality test. "Now they want to play by a different set of rules," Lopiano said indignantly.

"What makes passion potent is passion for social justice." Lopiano urged those in women's athletics to extend the agenda past Title IX. It is not enough to say we want simply "gender equity." Other issues of social justice require our passionate attention.

* "We must support sports for girls that have not been part of our lives," she said. Girls should be able to play football or wrestle; but we must also consider cheerleading and synchronized swimming. All are viable options to draw girls to competitive experiences.

* We have done little to address racism in sports. Other than basketball and track, women's sports are racially segregated. Women must expand sports opportunities for women of color.

* We must embrace the battles of ageism. Lopiano sees women professionals discarded as they get into their 50s, whereas the system protects males.

* We must insist on and provide opportunities for the differently-abled.

* We must continue to press for social justice regarding sexual orientation. The lesbian label is still one of the major disincentives to participation by both gay and straight girls in sports.

"Once you have passion, it doesn't go out. We can't even consider that we would lose it." Lopiano told of the experience of attending a meeting of women's international organizations in Montreal earlier this year. Title IX is an awesome achievement that is, she reported, the envy of every women's organization around the world. What has it done? Thirty years ago 2% of college athletes were women and they were receiving $100,000 in scholarships. Today 42% are women and they are receiving $421,000,000 in scholarships.

"It all started with a little stoke of passion."

Contacts: www.ncwge.org and wostortje@aol.com