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They are indeed. On athletic fields and playgrounds and in parks and gymnasiums across the country, a new player has joined the grand game that is sporting competition, and she's a girl. As the long summer begins, not only is she learning to hit a two-fisted backhand like Chris Evert's and turn a back flip like Olga Korbut's, she is also learning to jam a hitter with a fastball. Season by season, whether aged six, 60 or beyond, she is running, jumping, hitting and throwing as U.S. women have never done before. She is trying everything from jogging to ice hockey, lacrosse and rugby, and in the process acquiring a new sense of self, and of self-confidence in her physical abilities and her potential. She is leading a revolution that is one of the most exciting and one of the most important in the history of sport. Says Joan Warrington, executive secretary of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women: "Women no longer feel that taking part in athletics is a privilege. They believe it is a right."
Spurred by the fitness craze, fired up by the feminist movement and buttressed by court rulings and legislative mandates, women have been moving from miniskirted cheerleading on the sidelines for the boys to playing, and playing hard, for themselves. Says Liz Murphey, coordinator of women's athletics at the University of Georgia: "The stigma is nearly erased. Sweating girls are becoming socially acceptable."
They have come a long, long way. Consider:
> Eight years ago, 294,000 high school girls participated in interscholastic sports. During the 1976-77 academic year, the number was 1.6 million, nearly a sixfold increase.
> The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, the males' National counterpart to Collegiate Athletic Association, with 278 member schools. The A.I.A.W. now has 825 active members, 115 more than the 73-year-old N.C.A.A. National championships in 17 sports are contested under the A.l.A.W.'s aegis, compared with seven in 1972-73. The A.I.A.W. estimates that more than 100,000 women now take part in intercollegiate sports, compared with 170,000 men.
> Since 1973, the first year the A.I.A.W. allowed athletic scholarships, the number of such grants has soared annually. Last year an estimated 10,000 girls from about 460 schools received scholarships worth upwards of $7 million.
> In 1972, the first all-women minimarathon in New York's Central Park drew 78 entries. Last month 4,360 competitors entered the 6.2-mile (10,000 meters) race.
> One of the world's largest manufacturers of athletic shoes, Adidas, reports a one-year sales increase of 63% in its women's shoes. Sales in equipment especially designed for women have soared as females are finally getting gear that fits, from catcher's masks to hockey skates.