Swimming World - TV

Uploaded on July 2, 2010 by jeff

Veteran swimming coach Tom Wojslawowicz details his landmark fight to bring gender equity into high school sports in an exclusive interview on Tuesday's edition of The Morning Swim Show. Wojslawowicz talks with host Brent Rutemiller about starting a girls' high school swim team in Bayonne, N.J., in the early 1960s, when public schools did not offer organized sports programs for females. Wojslawowicz immediately got plenty of media attention, and shortly after starting the program in 1965, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association tried to shut down Wojslawowicz's program and fire him. But Wojslawowicz and his superintendent, who had a son on the swim team, countered with a lawsuit that resulted in a court injunction. The court shut down all high school sports in the state, citing gender inequity. The legal system sided with Wojslawowicz, and his girls' swim team began a wave of female sports teams across the country. Wojslawowicz shares the details of his hard-fought battle and also talks about the current situation involving Title IX in collegiate sports.