Thirty years ago at UW-Madison, 12 club sports for women were officially integrated into the athletic department and received varsity status. These 12 sports – badminton, basketball, crew, cross country, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and volleyball – had 109 participants, with no scholarships and a budget of $118,000.
Today, the UW-Madison still supports 12 women’s varsity sports (lightweight crew, ice hockey, softball and soccer added; badminton, fencing, field hockey and gymnastics eliminated). There are nearly 400 women student-athletes, 227 on scholarship. Today’s women’s athletics budget exceeds $9 million.