Athlete of the Week - Dargie Anderson

By Aaron Lichtig

Real name: Marjorie Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio Major: English Best sports moment: Going to England to race Oxford and Cambridge." Career ambition: "After graduation, I may coach, teach, or write, but not necessarily in that order. I'm interested in middle school education." Greatest sports achievement: Running a 3:49 at ECAC's as part of Yale's 4 x 400 relay team.

Dargie Anderson doesn't run like a girl. She doesn't throw like a girl either. But she'd be the first to tell you that she writes Like a Girl.

Yale's only magazine devoted to women's sports, Like a Girl, is Anderson's brainchild and passion. It consists of articles, poems, short stories, and personal essays about women's experiences in competitive sports. "We don't focus on Yale sports," Anderson said. "Our goal is to address women's sports from an intellectual standpoint rather than mere reporting. We're looking for pieces that are reflective and creative. We try to take a different take on sportswriting."

The magazine has printed two issues, one in each of the past two years. Due to a lack of funding, the magazine has been sold instead of distributed in the residential colleges. "We do most of our distributing by word of mouth," Anderson said. Like a Girl has, however, had some assistance spreading the word. Sports Illustrated for Women, the largest women's sports magazine, ran a piece on Like a Girl this summer.

Anderson's complementary loves of writing and sports began in high school when she was sports editor for her school paper. "That got me thinking about issues related to sports," she said. She gained most of her sports knowledge, however, from soccer and track. "I liked soccer, but I liked racing the other players in practice the most," she said.

While her magazine was garnering national attention in Sports Illustrated for Women, Anderson was helping youngsters in the New Haven area to share in her love of sports. This summer she worked with the National Youth Sports Program, which allows New Haven kids aged 10 to 16 the chance to play sports in Yale's facilities and to interact with students. Anderson especially relished the chance to see young girls show personal growth. "Each day at the camp assembly we picked one boy and one girl to go before all 275 campers to shoot a free throw for a prize," Anderson said. There was one girl who was shy, not confident, and not very aggressive. It took us a while to coax her out of the line, but eventually she went in front of the entire camp. She shot her free throw and hit nothing but net. It was incredible."

When Anderson is not writing or teaching, she's running—and usually running fast. Anderson sprinted on the relay team that broke the indoor school record in the 4 x 400 relay. She was also on the All-New England relay team her sophomore year at Yale.

Anderson shows her versatility during the winter season, competing in the pentathlon. "Spending ridiculous amounts of time doing one thing is really challenging," she said. "Track is something that I've had to reinvent periodically in order to keep it interesting."

Photo by John Yi.

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