GOSHEN — Carla Herschberger has had the unique perspective of seeing Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 in action from three different angles.

She has seen the landmark piece of legislation from the viewpoint of an athlete, a coach and as the mother of four daughters.

“Title IX has been good for women’s athletics,” Herschberger said. “I have seen progress in how female athletes are treated, but I think there is still more work to be done.

“There’s an attitude toward girls sports that needs to change. People don’t come to watch girls sports like they do the guys. We are brought up with that attitude and it can transcend into all aspects of life.

“Still, Title IX has changed society. Some people will not change unless they are forced to. If they don’t see it as an advantage they don’t want to change.”

Herschberger is a 1979 graduate of Caston High School in Fulton, (southwest of Rochester on Ind. 25). She competed in volleyball, basketball, softball and track. She was also a cheerleader.

“My freshman year was the first we had girls sports at Caston,” she said. “We had basketball practice in the morning before school because the guys had the gym after school. Even the junior high boys team had priority over us. All of our games were during the week. So even if we had a game the night before we still had to get up before 6 a.m. for practice.

“Now the teams share gym time. At Fairfield, (athletic director) Mark Hofer has the girls go one day after school and the boys the next. We’ve made progress on paper, but boys and girls sports are not treated equally. Football and boys basketball get the most attention, because they support other sports. Although at Fairfield I like to think my volleyball program supports itself.”

Herschberger has been the Fairfield girls volleyball coach for the past 11 seasons. Carla and two of her daughters — Brittany and Courtney —were conducting a volleyball camp for Falcon players this past week at Grace College in Winona Lake.

A new era

“It’s too bad mom didn’t have the opportunities we’ve had,” Brittany said. “I would have liked to have seen her get the opportunities we’ve had. But it’s because of women like mom that we’ve had those opportunities. They did a lot of work so we would get the opportunities. I realize that now, but I’m not sure I did during my school days.”

“I had some of the same opportunities my girls had,” Carla Herschberger said. “One area things were a lot different was in the coaching. In my playing days, basically if you were a warm body you could coach a girls sport. We now have more qualified coaches. That has changed for the better.”

Fairfield volleyball teams under Carla Herschberger’s direction have compiled an impressive record of 323-70 (.822 winning percentage) to go with eight straight sectional titles, a total of five regional championships and a semistate crown. The Falcons made five consecutive appearances in the state finals from 2007-11.

Prior to her career at Fairfield, she coached at Westview.

“Darlene Matthew (athletic director) was very good about treating male and female athletes equally,” Herschberger said. “If a boys team got new uniforms one year the girls did the next. Hofer has been pretty good about things like that. As a coach I don’t have any complaints. Things are way better than they used to be.”

After high school, Carla played one year of volleyball at Manchester.

“I went out as a sophomore, and to tell you the truth had I been the coach I would have cut me,” she said. “I really liked the coach and did want her to have to make that decision.”

A family sport

Carla and her husband Kirby have four daughters: Mandy, Brittany, Kelsey and Courtney. All four of the girls played volleyball at Fairfield and all went on to compete in the sport in college. Mandy, Brittany and Kelsey at Goshen College and Courtney has one more year at Taylor University.

“I’m thankful for all the opportunities my girls have had,” Carla Herschberger said. “Sports are about teaching life lessons. My girls have learned lessons about working hard and leadership that have and will continue to benefit them. And sports helped pay for part of their education. They also got money on the academic side.”

“Title IX has been good for women’s sports. Without it we would probably still be struggling,” Brittany Hershberger said. “Big men’s sports still get the attention. When you walk into the cafeteria or gym you see signs for football or men’s basketball and not much about the women’s sports. Even the newspapers. Our dad wrote letters when my sisters and I were playing asking why boys basketball teams got a separate article on each school while the girls were all together in one story.”

Despite the advances made by the Title IX legislation there are instances where men’s and women’s sports are still treated differently.

“When Fairfield hired a boys basketball coach, a search committee was formed and a number of candidates interviewed,” Brittany Herschberger said. “When the school hired a girls basketball coach. There was no committee and one informal interview with that person getting the job. It’s not that I think the new girls coach will not do a good job, it’s the fact the process was so different.”

Playing for mom

“She’s a good coach, but I’m not sure how hard I listened to her since she was my mom,” Courtney Herschberger said. “We appreciate her more now. She puts more time into her program than some college coaches.”

“She puts a lot of time in the volleyball program,” Brittany Herschberger sad. “She also cares about other girls sports. When she has open weight training in the summer for volleyball players, it’s open to any female athlete.

“Like all high school kids, when we got to college we realized how much we had learned from her. If I could do anything again, it would be to have the chance to go back and play for her again.”