Team Insight

By Mike May S ome of the most memorable moments in the history sports have involved female athletes. It may have all started with Fanny Blankers-Koen. Who, you may ask, is Fanny Blankers-Koen? Well, she was an early Dutch athlete who was a four-time track and field gold medalist during the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. As a 30-year-old wife and mother, she won gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 80-meter hurdles and in the 4X100 meter relay, earning the nickname "The Flying Housewife." While mostly forgotten today, her heroics back at the 1948 Games helped pave the way for all female athletes because she proved that age and parent- hood are not impediments to success in sports for women. Flash forward to 2018, where her legacy continues today in the U.S. and around the world, with world-class female athletes rivaling their male coun- terparts for success and impact at the recently completed Winter Olympics in South Korea. The numbers certainly tell the story (see article on page 8 for more of the numbers game): In 1988-89, 1.8 million girls played high school sports in the U.S. Last school year that number was 3.4 million, an increase of 84.8 percent. (By comparison, while there are more boys playing high school sports than girls, the percentage increase in boys' participation in high school sports since 1988-89 has been a mere 33.5 percent.) Now, team dealers may not be the best at math, but even they can see how those big numbers add up to big business on the girls' side of the equation. The bottom line: the team business could hardly exist without today's female athlete. "I probably wouldn't be making money without girls playing sports," admits Dale Keith, owner of Duke's Sporting Goods, Elizabethtown, KY. "When I started in this business 40 years ago, there were just four or five 18 Team Insight / March 2018 teaminsightmag.com GIRLS' & WOMEN'S SPORTS / OVERVIEW GIRL POWER

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