There’s a statistic in youth sports that keeps educators and coaches up at night. It’s often called “The Cliff.”

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, girls drop out of sports at two times the rate of boys by the age of 14. Just as they’re hitting their physical stride, they walk away. The reasons are complex — body image issues, lack of encouragement, and social pressure all play a role.

But there’s another factor that we don’t talk about enough: Resource Allocation.

The Friday Night Lights Effect 

In many traditional high school settings, despite Title IX, there’s still a hierarchy. The boys’ varsity football or basketball game is the main event. It gets the prime time slot on Friday night. The pep rally. The marching band. All the pomp and circumstance.

The girls’ game? That’s often the opener. It’s played at 4:30 PM on a Tuesday, or used as the warm-up act before the boys take the field. Subconsciously, this tells a teenage girl that her effort, her sweat, and her drive are secondary. It tells her that she’s the “JV” version of the real thing.

At an all-girls school, like Mt. St. Mary Academy, that hierarchy doesn’t exist. Here, the girls are always the main event.

When our basketball team plays, the gym is packed for them. When the lacrosse team takes the field, the best equipment and the prime practice times belong to them. There’s no fighting for space or attention.

This environment keeps girls in the game. In fact, research shows that girls who attend single-sex schools are more likely to engage in varsity athletics than their co-ed peers. They don’t just stay on the team; they lead it.

This shift has a profound effect on body image. In a co-ed world, teenage girls are bombarded with messages to view their bodies as ornaments—things to be looked at. In an all-girls athletic environment, the focus shifts to the body as an instrument.

It’s not about how her legs look in a uniform; it’s about how fast those legs can carry her down the track. It’s not about being “dainty”; it’s about being strong enough to box out an opponent for a rebound.

When a girl sees her body as a tool for achievement rather than an object for consumption, her confidence skyrockets. She learns to take up space. So if your daughter is an athlete, or even if she just likes to run around, put her in an environment where she never has to wonder if her game matters. At The Mount, we already know it does.