JULIA TIERNAN/YH Meg Simpson, SY '02

Little by little, women's sports get pumped up

• Improved facilities and increased alumni support boost women's athletics.

War of attrition

In the shadow of high-profile men's sports, particularly football and hockey, which have rocketed toward the top of Ivy standings recently, many women's programs are in the process of quietly rebuilding. Fencing and squash have performed consistently so far this season, while women's basketball, which began sluggishly, electrified fans by capturing four straight wins during the past two weeks.

Despite this seeming resurgence, several fundamental problems still plague many of Yale's women's teams. An inability to retain recruits for their full four years is perhaps the most pressing issue. A need for greater alumni involvement—particularly monetarily—also afflicts women's programs, although interest in female athletics seems to have grown among graduates over the past several years. If women's programs such as basketball can continue to win consistently, however, enthusiasm will undoubtedly continue to grow. "What helps is winning, playing winners, keeping the game exciting," O'Neill said. "We did the same thing with football four years ago that we're doing now. Winning is like a fertilizer—it makes people want to come out."

For women's programs to stay consistent, they must try to lower the rates of team dropouts. On the women's ice hockey team, only three seniors remain out of an initial class of seven. The women's basketball team has only one senior left—Captain Kelly Denit, DC '00—from a recruiting class that was six women strong. Women's soccer loses an average of 60 percent of every recruiting class by their senior year.

Women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith attributed the high drop-out rate to frustration with playing time and a desire to pursue other activities. "It is very difficult to improve the level of play significantly here since academics are your first priority," he said. Sue Barnes, DC '00, a member of the women's ice and field hockey teams, added injuries to the reasons why recruited players left her teams.

Meredith also pointed out that he has trouble attracting highly committed athletes because of the increasing number of scholarships being offered to women across the country. In fact, he believes this has hurt the overall recruiting ability of women's Ivy League sports, though he predicts that the problem will balance itself out in a few years. Dean of Admissions Richard Shaw disagreed, however, commenting that Yale's main competition for female athletes is other Ivy schools. Women's ice hockey coach John Marchetti also downplayed the scholarship issue, saying that the Ivy League is getting its share of high-quality collegiate women's hockey players.

Building blocks

Although women's sports have had trouble retaining athletes, recent improvments to Yale's athletic facilities should attract greater numbers of committed recruits. Most of these improvements—such as the refurbishing of the varsity weight room and the building of new squash courts—have benefited male and female athletes equally, but University President Richard Levin, GRD '74, notes that "others have disproportionately favored women." He listed the Lanman Center basketball and volleyball courts, along with the improvement to all women's locker rooms. "In the year to come, we are moving forward with improvements to the softball field, as well as building a new artificial turf field which will benefit both men's and women's lacrosse, as well as field hockey," he said. Field hockey coach Ainslee Lamb is confident that the new turf field will help attract the type of athletes who will revitalize the program, especially since every other Ivy school has turf except for Yale. She notes that the Administration has taken several additional steps to jump-start the program, such as allowing the team to elevate the level of its schedule following its successful 1998-99 season.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH A new turf field will help attract field hockey recruits to Yale.

The strengthening of the women's sports alumni network also bodes well for the future of female programs. Associate Director of Alumni Affairs Tim Ford said that many men's sports have larger alumni associations because of their longer traditions. "Crew was around long before women were allowed to row, so there are a lot of old men at [our annual alumni] dinner," former rower Charlie Lozner, SM '99, said. "There are also more male rowers graduating every year than women, because there are two men's teams and only one women's team." Despite the discrepancy in number of alumni, Ford commented, many women's sports associations, such as field hockey, are steadily strengthening their alumni connections.

Associate Director of Athletics Barbara Chesler explained that, although women's sports don't have as long a tradition as men's, Beckett can divert funds from the general budget or the Ray Tompkins Associates' Program to help supplement women's programs. Such a policy also applies to programs that are struggling. Chesler also pointed out that the attitude towards donating to women's sports programs has changed. "Now that there are a lot more men who have daughters playing sports, they are much more sensitized to women athletes," she said. "The father-daughter syndrome has really benefited women's sports fundraising. I think people are just beginning to realize that basketball—men's or women's—is basketball, swimming is swimming, lacrosse is lacrosse, and just want to help the program. There's an entire generation of 30-somethings who have made significant money, who don't think of [their donations] as to male or female programs, but they're just making a gift."

Ford said that many of the alumni associations for both men's and women's versions of the sport—including track, swimming, squash, and tennis—have merged into one association. "Male alumni still tend to give more, but there are still many more of them," Levin said. "We're seeing encouraging trends, however. The principal gift for the new boathouse was made by an alumna of the rowing program and her family."

The budding enthusiasm for women's sports among alumni and fans augurs a bright future for female athletics at Yale. "I think over the next 10 years, there will be tremendous change with regard to women's sports—the fan base will grow across the board," Marchetti predicted. At other Ivy universities, indeed, several women's programs have begun to rival their male counterparts for public attention. At Harvard, the women's hockey team electrified Crimson fans by capturing the Ivy title, the ECAC championship, and the American Women's Collegiate Hockey Association championship last season. Harvard Captain Kim McManama '00 noted that her team's performance inspired confidence among the public: "We've never sold out, but I think we had 2,000 people on two different occasions. That is a huge difference from the 200 people we used to get for games my freshman and sophomore years." If Yale's female squads maintain their upward momentum, all programs—even women's hockey—should look forward to a similar progression.

Photo of Meg Simpson, SY '02, by Julia Tiernan.

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