Every day I read the recruiting news and see dozens of skilled players that would help UConn's women's basketball. And like Gordon Geckko, I want them all. What a smorgasbord of talent.
Go back in time a bit and this was not the state of women's basketball. I played for the Hartford Hawks men's team in 1960. Over the next few years, I watched a few women's games but it seemed slow paced and there were few great players. And almost no competition for the top two or three teams. I went back to school at UConn in the 80's. Around 1988, I started my dissertation. I expected to find these twenty pound Reader's Guide books to search for articles. Instead, I found some brand new CDROM's which had a library worth of reference material on a disk. Hallelujah! Then I looked at the bottom of the machine and it said something like "courtesy of the UConn Women's Basketball Team" and I made a note to check out this team; they might be special. They are, of course, and I have never stopped being amazed at how they become role models for both boy and girl athletes and represent the university with pride and dignity. And they also seem to win a few championships now and then too. I was hooked.
Fast forward to today. There are many teams with great players who are superbly conditioned, honed in the weight room, and can shoot and pass and play defense with the best of them. The talent level today is beyond impressive. What happened that I missed? It was Title IX that gave women a change to become athletes and be taken seriously. Nixon signed it in 1972. It grew over the years to provide opportunities for women in sports that were almost nonexistent previously. True, it's not prefect but the women now have a voice that they will make heard. And every basketball season, we see the result on and off the court. Tough to ask for more than that.
Go back in time a bit and this was not the state of women's basketball. I played for the Hartford Hawks men's team in 1960. Over the next few years, I watched a few women's games but it seemed slow paced and there were few great players. And almost no competition for the top two or three teams. I went back to school at UConn in the 80's. Around 1988, I started my dissertation. I expected to find these twenty pound Reader's Guide books to search for articles. Instead, I found some brand new CDROM's which had a library worth of reference material on a disk. Hallelujah! Then I looked at the bottom of the machine and it said something like "courtesy of the UConn Women's Basketball Team" and I made a note to check out this team; they might be special. They are, of course, and I have never stopped being amazed at how they become role models for both boy and girl athletes and represent the university with pride and dignity. And they also seem to win a few championships now and then too. I was hooked.
Fast forward to today. There are many teams with great players who are superbly conditioned, honed in the weight room, and can shoot and pass and play defense with the best of them. The talent level today is beyond impressive. What happened that I missed? It was Title IX that gave women a change to become athletes and be taken seriously. Nixon signed it in 1972. It grew over the years to provide opportunities for women in sports that were almost nonexistent previously. True, it's not prefect but the women now have a voice that they will make heard. And every basketball season, we see the result on and off the court. Tough to ask for more than that.
