For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a competitor…board games, recess, spelling bees or whatever it was – I wanted to try it and win. Naturally, I was drawn to extracurricular activities involving sports. What is more competitive than that? I could run faster than the boys in gym class and excelled in almost every activity. As I gravitated to like-minded individuals, I realized that most of them were boys. Why was that? Who was this BOY named TOM that everyone referred to and where are the girls? Grade school can be difficult for anyone, but what made it difficult for me was not having friends my age and gender who loved to run, jump, and play as much as I did. Sports started to define who I was and ultimately what I would become. It was my identity, but not intentionally. As an introvert, I found a voice and exercised leadership skills on the track and in the gym – it’s where I belonged and it seemed to be the only place I fit in.
Enter Title IX. In 1972 Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments. It is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. The principal objective of Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in education programs and to provide individuals’ protection against those practices. This was enlightening. Young girls were given the opportunity to participate in athletic programs and school budgets had to adjust to accommodate. Every year, it seemed as though the number of talented girls who desired to compete increased. I was part of a group, a club, a movement and it felt good.
The athletic recruiting process started during my junior year of high school and it was overwhelming. My parents could not afford to send me to the school of my choice while they were paying for my older brother to attend his. I needed a scholarship, but the odds of receiving a full scholarship to a Division I school were slim. In 1992, the year I graduated from high school, less than 2% of undergraduate students in bachelor degree programs received an athletic scholarship. Of that percentage only one third of them went to women and only 20% of the women were black. I was one of the lucky few that was offered a full scholarship to Southeast Missouri State University for four years as a track and field athlete and two years as a graduate assistant coach. Not many people graduate from college with a Master’s Degree without debt. This scholarship afforded me that freedom. Ironically, my graduate school research focused on the implementation of gender equity policy in college athletics. My success and progression in athletics was the direct result of the subject I researched.
Sports guided me through my youth and propelled me through college and into my profession. My first job in college athletics was Assistant to the Head Basketball Coach at Michigan State University in 2000. The title was changed the following year to Director of Basketball Operations, a new position that was created to mirror the men’s basketball staff at the university. As women’s sports gained popularity, athletic directors and universities offered competitive resources and salaries to hire the best coaches and staffs. The number of sports represented at universities grew across the country and women’s athletics were more visible in the media and on television. From Michigan State to Virginia Tech and Kansas, I witnessed and experienced the growth and inclusion of women in sports and grew professionally in an environment that was competitive and comfortable.
Three universities, two promotions and eleven years later, I left the profession – but not sports. My world as a wife and stay-at-home mom is similar to my former life as a student-athlete and athletic administrator. As I face challenges, my tasks transform into an athletic competition and I attack obstacles the same way I did the hurdles in a race – head on, focused and in control. Being strong and courageous is just as important now as it was then, maybe even more so. I’m leading a team, my family, through the wins and losses. Sports helped me realize the need to understand and embrace self-worth and appreciate the value of a support system. My desire to win fuels me and inevitably defines my perspective. I am blessed to be a wife and mother now, but I was and always will be an athlete.
Trena Harris is a native of St. Louis, Missouri and has lived in Chicago since 2011. Harris spent eight years at the University of Kansas as the Assistant Athletics Director for Certification and the Director of Women’s Basketball Operations. She is currently raising her two boys at home with her husband, Clayton Harris III.