HR16

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	16
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002
STATE OF HAWAII

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HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

COMMENDING AND HONORING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII WOMEN’S ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT ON ITS THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY.

 

 

WHEREAS, the Legislature is always proud to recognize and honor those outstanding individuals who share their time, energy and talents to meet the challenging needs of the greater community; and

WHEREAS, the 2001-2002 season marks the 30^th year of University of Hawaii Women's Athletics and is the perfect milestone to honor the long and courageous fight to expand women's sports and build an endowment to support more scholarships in women's athletics. In so doing, the University has come closer to compliance with Title IX, the 1973 federal law that mandates gender equity in sports; and

WHEREAS, Rainbow Wahine athletics has grown in hard-won fits and starts from 20 athletes in two sports 30 years ago to almost 200 athletes in 11 sports today. The program also has grown from one scholarship in 1972 that went to a drum majorette to 105 scholarships in 11 sports today. Some of these women have become honored Olympians, All-Americans, and some of the best-known athletes in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team has become nationally renowned and untouchable; and during the past six years, soccer, sailing and water polo were established and women's track and field sports were resurrected; and teams in these sports have attained national stature each season. In June 2001, the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium held the U.S. Cup, which featured the national teams from the U.S., Australia, China, and Japan; and the Wahine Soccer Team set 23 records, including season team records for 114 points, 38 assists, and 275 shots, making the 2001 Wahine the highest scoring team in the school's history; and

WHEREAS, the Women's Athletic Program has struggled heroically for gender equity with the help of many strong-minded women both in and out of sports. U.S. Congresswoman Patsy Mink co-authored the original Title IX legislation as "a legal instrument" to end domination by men and men's sports. Dr. Donnis Thompson, who started UH's first women's track and field teams in the early 1960's, used Title IX as a weapon to launch Wahine volleyball as the sport that would drive development of a superior Division I women's athletic program; and

WHEREAS, MARILYN MONIZ-KAHO'OHANOHANO, a former Wahine volleyball player and the current director of women's athletics, orchestrated the resurrection of the women's track and field program in March 2000 for the 2001 season, which brought the University closer to Title IX compliance; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, that this body hereby honors and recognizes the notable achievements of the University of Hawaii Women's Athletics Department and its outstanding participants and extends to them its warmest aloha and best wishes for continued success in all their future endeavors.

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________
		Sponsoring Representative _____________________________
		Sponsoring Representative

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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