Generation IX | a documentary for public television

GENERATION IX A 2008 "BILLIE" AWARD FINALIST

Generation IX has been named a finalist for a 2008 Billie Award.

The Billies “honor media excellence in the portrayal of girls and women in sports.” They are named in honor of women's sports pioneer Billie Jean King, and are presented by the Women’s Sports Foundation.

The third annual Billie Awards will be April 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. It’s a $1,250/plate black tie affair; the previous two ceremonies have featured luminaries from the world of entertainment and sports. Sir Elton John will perform a live one-hour concert at the conclusion of the dinner.

The Billies are awarded in five categories: three for outstanding productions (Journalism, Entertainment and Breakthrough & Innovation), and two for outstanding individuals (Female Sports Journalist and Industry Leader.) Generation IX is a finalist in the Entertainment category, which includes nonfiction documentaries and films.

Other finalists in this year's Entertainment category are “Chak! De India” by Aditya Chopra and “Women in American Horse Racing” by John and Sandra Ronan. Last year’s winner in the Entertainment category was Seattle’s Ward Serrill for “Heart of the Game,” (Miramax). The 2006 winner was Joseph M. Lavine for “Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team,” (HBO Sports).

Other past winners include Christine Brennan of USA Today, John Fish & John Barr of ESPN, Bud Greenspan (the Olympic Games filmmaker) of Cappy Productions, Ross Greenberg of HBO Sports, Francis Lyons & Robert Yacyshyn of MTV and Jane Gottesman & Geoffrey Biddle of Game Face Productions.

PRAISE FOR GENERATION IX

"Generation IX" delivers a discerning, refreshing program that's never too rah-rah in its appreciation of female athleticism nor too syrupy in showing us how young women behave ... It succeeds in giving us a sense of how far women's athletics has traveled in three decades only to then dead-end after college.

And rather than following the predictable sports documentary arc of "Will they win the big game?," the camera here tells a quieter, more intimate story unfolding in stand-alone chapters: profiles of female college athletes, a portrait of contemporary young women, a study of how a man nurtures and directs the female body and brain.

Which makes this a smart, finely tuned film, worth viewing by anyone who gives a hoot about young women, athlete or not.

Documentary a winning look at female athletes, with a UW perspective, by Florangela Davila, Seattle Times TV writer

This film isn't about the past. It's about the present, where women are training and showing as much talent and fortitude as their male counterparts on their way to victory.

It's UW women's volleyball coach Jim McLaughlin who puts it best. McLaughlin happens to be the only coach in NCAA history to win national titles with a men's and a women's team. "We're human," he says. "We want to compete. It's human nature. I don't believe what I hear. I don't believe 'women don't compete, men compete.' ... It's a gift, and we should all compete."

KCTS looks at Title IX's effect on college sports, by Victor Balta, Everett Herald Columnist

Jack and Leslie Hamann, the husband-and-wife team who produced the documentary "Generation IX," were intimately connected with their subject to begin with: she was on UCLA's 1973 & 74 volleyball teams; they've coached girls volleyball at Garfield High for about the past 10 years; and they raised a daughter and son who both played sports (she in college; he in high school).

Couple's passion shines through in documentary, by Florangela Davila, Seattle Times TV writer

It’s hard to watch and not be inspired.

Sugar and spice? Sure. But these days, add bruises, blisters, blood, sweat, tears, twists and triumphs. It’s no longer an insult to “play like a girl.” Girls play tough. Girls play to win.

But winning is hard. And few people realize just how hard it is to be a girl athlete, even in a generation where Title IX has long been the law of the land. The true story of Generation IX is compelling, and has barely been told.

In the age of Title IX, women’s sports have grown expensive, time-consuming, complicated and extraordinarily competitive, even at the most elementary levels. Injuries are more common; scandals appear more prevalent, rewards seem less certain. Millions of American moms and dads send their daughters onto playing fields each year, yet many of them wonder: are organized girls’ sports worth it?

GENERATION IX is the story of three exceptional young athletes: teammates on the best collegiate women’s volleyball team in America. Products of an unprecedented era of greater opportunities and higher expectations for female athletes, each young woman found a measure of success only after confronting a host of hurdles at every level. Overcoming most of those obstacles, each absorbed head-turning lessons along the way:

Part of the magic of GENERATION IX is its fantastic setting: China, the most populous and most rapidly-changing country in the world. After winning the NCAA championship, the University of Washington’s volleyball players were invited to tour China on a two-week cultural and competitive exchange. Volleyball is a national obsession in China, where the expression “spirit of Chinese women’s volleyball players,” is another way of saying “relentlessness and hard work.” The first Olympic gold medal ever won by a team from China was women’s volleyball in 1984. At the most recent summer Olympic Games in Athens, the Chinese won a record 63 medals, but only one medal in a team sport: gold in women’s volleyball. With Chinese athletes expected to dominate the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, volleyball matchups between the very best college team in America and the top universities in China are a very big deal indeed.

The China tour inspires the characters in GENERATION IX to compare and contrast the role of women athletes in the two nations. China’s most revered athlete—even more than the NBA’s Yao Ming—is women’s volleyball hero Jenny Lang Ping. Nicknamed “The Iron Hammer,” and commonly described as the “Michael Jordan of China,” Ping is currently head coach of the U.S. Olympic women’s volleyball team. She is also the mother of a young teenage girl, and may be in the best position of anyone in the world to evaluate the comparative opportunities and barriers for women athletes in China and the US.

GENERATION IX features another intriguing insider: Jim McLaughlin. McLaughlin grew up playing volleyball on the beaches of Southern California, hanging out with pals like Sean Penn and Emilio Estevez. Now married to an accomplished athlete, he is the father of two young girls just beginning their athletic careers. McLaughlin is also the only head coach ever to win NCAA championships with both a men’s team and a women’s team, making him an absolute expert on the unexpected similarities and undeniable differences between the two. McLaughlin and his cerebral mentor, Dr. Carl McGowan of BYU, revolutionized women’s volleyball in America by applying lessons learned in both worlds. Their potent opinions about the future of women’s sports are both cautionary and enlightening.

At the heart of GENERATION IX, however, are three of McLaughlin’s star athletes, each of whom applies the discipline learned in sports to grand pursuits outside the gym. Nineteen-year-old Jill Collymore, who is African-American, is an artist, poet and accomplished concert pianist. Twenty-year-old Christal Morrison is a budding filmmaker. Twenty-one-year-old Courtney Thompson has twice been named an academic All-American, and is a talented writer and promising entrepreneur. All three are bold, spirited and opinionated—some of the very traits that many parents hope that sports will instill in their daughters. Each is a charismatic character; each has walked the walk, and together they make GENERATION IX an utterly memorable and illuminating experience.

Twelve members of the University of Washington volleyball team traveled to China, a lineup that includes athletes from Canada, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, and Indiana. Three of those athletes will share the documentary spotlight: