COLUMN: Female athletes lose interest

Though Hunt was successful, helping her team to a 1-1 record, she only played because of a continuing trend in Penn women's sports -- Anne Kluetmeier, last year's starter and still a Penn student, no longer plays for the Penn women's soccer team. In 1998, Kluetmeier set school records for fewest goals allowed (14), goals against average (.870) and shutouts in a season (10). For her statistical accomplishments, Kluetmeier was named All-Ivy Honorable Mention. So why didn't she play? "When I first got back to school after the summer, I wasn't really into playing soccer," Kluetmeier said. "I came out and played, but since I wasn't into it, I wasn't playing to the best of my ability. So I thought about it for a while and then I told coach I was going to quit." Kluetmeier is just the most recent female student-athlete at Penn to remove "athlete" from her title. In 1996, nine women came to Penn to play soccer. Only five are still with the team. And that is one of the more successful women's programs at Penn. Four years ago, the women's basketball team brought in four freshman to play at Penn. Only one of those four is expected to play this year. Of the 11 women recruited to play field hockey in 1996, only six are still with the team. And of the eight women recruited to play softball that year, only three are still playing. The volleyball team has kept two of its three 1996 recruits. But other factors can be used to measure problems with women's athletics at Penn. There are 13 women's varsity sports -- excluding women's golf which is in its first season -- and eight of the head coaches have fewer than three years of experience. "I believe that it's time for Penn to take a close look at the environment for their women programs in general," a former Penn head coach said. "There has been a large turnover in women's staff, you might even say an exodus in the past three to five years. There has become a greater emphasis placed on winning and greater responsibilities placed on fundraising, compliance and recruiting. "All of this leaves less time to coach and to interact with their team. As this occurs, coaches lose touch with their athletes and their team. Perhaps they could prevent some players from making that decision to quit." And when seniors like Kluetmeier leave their teams, young players are left with instability as their model. "This becomes an unfortunate sequence of events," the former coach said. "Not only is it the model, but you do not have the experienced athletes on teams who can support, understand and nurture the younger athletes. The cycle repeats itself and the model solution becomes quitting." It simply is time for Penn, and many other schools, to examine their women's athletics programs. Penn athletics is at a disadvantage to other schools to begin with. There are no scholarship opportunities and there is simply very little glamour in women's athletics. The only motivation for a female athlete is pure love of the sport. "The restrictions that the Ivy League puts on sports is a problem," Kluetmeier said. "We are supposed to focus more on academics and spend less time on the field. So we don't get to practice as much. That makes it hard to build a program." And if women are not getting a chance to play, the choice becomes easy. There simply isn't enough time to devote to athletics and a grueling curriculum. "If people aren't playing, or they don't feel like they are being given an opportunity to play," said senior softball player Michelle Zaptin, one of three players remaining from an eight-person recruiting class, "they aren't going to put in the time." The softball team also is one of the eight women's programs with a new head coach in the last three years. Carol Kashow coached just her second season at Penn last year. While Zaptin says the coaching change worked out well for her, she acknowledged that the lack of continuity in some programs can cause problems. "People come in and they are joining a program because they like a particular coach," Zaptin said. "It is difficult when things change and you are an upperclassmen." This has become the model for women's athletics at Penn, not the exception. In this era dictated by Title IX, one has to ask what the reality of gender equity really is. With the addition of women's golf, there are 14 women's sports at Penn -- compared to the men's 15. But, in the opinion of the former Penn coach, "the only real 'satisfied' athletes at Penn play football and men's basketball. "You might ask why? They have the most money to do more like take trips and buy equipment, and they get the most attention and respect, especially within the support structure of the Athletic Department. The model for them is completely different than it is for most, if not all the women's programs." Women's sports has come a long way. But the numbers show that large numbers of female athletes are not happy. So Penn and many other schools must continue to search for ways to bring true "equity" to women's athletics. You wouldn't play sports anymore either if it wasn't fun.

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