Civil rights: integration of baseball & the disappearance of the ***** Leagues, 1968 Olympics Track & Field

Women’s rights: Babe Diedrickson Zacharias (?sp), Billie Jean King vs Bobby Riggs, title IX & the increase participation of girls/women in sports, change from days where women were too delicate to exert themselves & how this affected their self-perception & independence

Gay rights/homosexuality in sports – Martina Navritilova, outing in men’s pro sports

You should use the Around the Horn format when leading class discussions on anything. It’s a really fun way to lead discussions, especially since it’s for a sports class. My husband does it sometimes in his English class.

There are all sorts of topics to investigate- steroid use in sports, women vs. men in sports (basketball and tennis are good ones), why there aren’t as many black coaches and quarterbacks in basketball and football respectively, technological advances and their effects on the sport, etc.

Another idea is to use bracketology for numerous topics. The first thing to come to mind is comparing old school sports veterans to newer ones. Would Federer be the leader in tennis if he and Borg played during the same era? Students could set the criteria for winners on their own, and everything would be discussion-based (after actually learning about the stuff).

-carlyle school for american indians early 20th century games against ivy league powerhouses. home of jim thorpe and pop warner.

-1968 olympic athlete protestors banned for life.

-soviet boycott of 1984 olympics in los angeles

-1972 olympic murders of israeli athletes by palestinian militants

-cancellation of baseball seasons due to wwII

i could go on and on. a simple time line of the various sports should get you some great info. the olympics are especially great for politcal/historical tie ins.

great idea for a class by the way!