Jarell Davenport is a three-sport athlete at Tech High School. So, he's skeptical about a new Indianapolis Public Schools proposal that could cut sports teams. "It's not fair to anybody," said Jarell, 17, who plays football, wrestles and runs track. His doubt is echoed by many IPS student-athletes. Some believe the new program could turn students away from the state's largest school district.

Young Niele Ivey intently watches the basketball game on television with her four older brothers. Her eyes focus on the moves and actions of her favorite player, Michael Jordan. More than 10 years later, Jordan continues to be one of Ivey's role models because of "his personality and his dedication to the sport and to his family. He was in the gym an hour before practice, an hour after practice, a

Before the 1970s, soccer was almost nonexistent in the United States. Since then, however, it has steadily gained in popularity so that now it is played routinely at the high school level, as well as at a national one. In Marion County schools, about 900 boys and 700 girls are on varsity soccer rosters. While play at the elementary level is often co-ed, few Marion County high school teams are mixe

"Girls can do anything boys can do." Visit any playground in the United States, and you are almost guaranteed to hear this phrase being shouted by a handful of girls. Times have changed from when the only sport girls could participate in was croquet. Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 requires girls and boys to have equal opportunities to participate in sports. But while the play

W hen former All-Star Jose Canseco used his book "Juiced" to go public on steroid use by professional baseball players, it not only embarrassed the sport, it cast suspicion over other athletes, even at the high school level. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in its 2000 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey that among high school seniors, 3.3 percent of females and 6.4 perc