ORANGE — It’s been 40 years since the introduction of Title IX — the 1972 federal law that forbids gender discrimination at schools that get federal aid and changed the male-dominated culture of American sports.

Long-time Little Cypress-Mauriceville volleyball and golf coach Vicki Castino and West Orange-Stark volleyball coach Gwen Kelly-Hall have both seen a lot of positives along the way.

“There are so many sports now for the girls and it’s truly a great thing for everyone involved,” said Castino, who has claimed more than 400 victories coaching the Lady Bears to numerous volleyball playoff berths and a slew of District 20-4A golf titles. “I’ve been at LC-M a long time. When I got here, the only sports for girls were volleyball, basketball, track and tennis. Since then, we’ve added softball, soccer, golf and fall tennis.”

Kelly-Hall echoed the same sentiments.

“Sports have come a long way for women,” said Kelly-Hall. “There are so many options for kids today, compared to in the past. It gives so many kids something to do and there is less idle time. There is such a big selection to choose from. Sports is great and all, but academics are the most important thing. A lot of girls compete in sports, they work hard, and they earn a scholarship to go on to college. If it wasn’t for sports, many of them never would be who they are today.”

Castino loves that young ladies have more options now.

“It encourages kids to learn a lot of different skills,” said Castino. “Just being around a team atmosphere year-around is tremendous these days. You learn so many different skills. You learn how to bond as a team and group and how to mix with different people to become one cohesive unit. Skills like that can only help you later in life. I think that has really helped women across the board.”

The number of girls in high school sports has jumped nearly 1,000 percent since 1972. Before Title IX, about 1 in 27 high school girls played.

There are nearly 10 times as many female players in intercollegiate athletics as there were in 1972.

“Those are amazing numbers,” said Kelly-Hall. “It’s almost reached a point to where if you work hard enough and have your grades where they need to be, you can move on to college, play sports, and earn a great degree.”

Kelly-Hall has coached some excellent players over the years at WO-S, especially a certain duo that consisted of Brittany Scott and Brittany James. Both of them were All-State basketball players and All-District volleyball players. Scott also excelled in track and James in softball.

James went on to play at North Texas and Scott starred at the University of Houston, leading the Lady Cougars to the NCAA Tournament her senior year. Scott is now playing pro ball overseas and both have earned their degrees.

“Those two kids were phenomenal,” said Kelly-Hall. “They had plenty of doors that opened up for them and those two never seemed to stand still. It was always about moving on to the next sport and helping their teammates out. Title IX is super and all, but the kids still have to reach their goals and that includes all the hard work that they put forth.”

Kelly-Hall is just as proud of those kids that excel in the classroom as much as they do on the playing fields.

“This year our valedictorian was Sarah Ragsdale, who is an outstanding softball player and was a cheerleader and our salutatorian was Jada Simien, who was a superb volleyball and softball player along with being a cheerleader,” said Kelly-Hall. “That’s an awesome thing to accomplish.”

Castino has seen several of her player go on to excel in life after receiving scholarships.

“With more opportunities, kids have went on to become excellent women in the workforce,” said Castino. “Many of them turn into excellent teachers and coaches and our schools always need good teachers and good coaches.”

As volleyball coaches, Castino and Kelly-Hall’s teams are competing in the fall against the big “money-maker” — football.

“Football is pretty much the big money-maker throughout the country and everyone understands that, it’s America’s sport,” said Castino. “That’s where the crowds still go. That’s where the bands and drill teams perform at halftime. As far as volleyball goes, I think we have some of the best fans in the area. We’ve filled our little old gym up a bunch of times.”

“When the year starts and I see our volleyball budget compared to the football budget, I’m like, Wow,” said Kelly-Hall. “That’s just the nature of the beast. But then I look back when I played in high school, we had one uniform and it would get passed down the next several years. Now, we may have two or three uniforms in each sport. Things have definitely gotten better budget-wise. As a coach, you’re always seeking more though. Any coach will tell you that.”

For Castino and Kelly-Hall though, both of them graduated from smaller high schools and they played everything.

Castino graduated from Evadale High School in 1976, competing from 1972-1976. She excelled in all sports and was a cheerleader as well. She also went on to be a cheerleader at Lamar University.

‘From a small town, we didn’t know any better, we played everything,” said Castino. “The thing about Evadale, they supported all the kids in all their sports, whether it was ale or female. They still do that today.”

Kelly-Hall graduated from Kountze High School in 1983. She was a All-State volleyball player and was a key cog in the Lionettes winning three straight state championship titles from 1980-82.

“We were a small school and we played everything,” said Kelly-Hall. “We didn’t have a lot of depth back then but you knew your teammates. They were right there beside you, whether it was volleyball, basketball or track.”