Gonzaga Athletics Celebrates National Girls and Women in Sports Day

Feb. 2 marks the 35th National Girls and Women in Sports Day since its inception in 1987, but at Gonzaga University, the history of women in sporting spaces goes back further even than the implementation of Title IX in 1972. 

At GU, the presence of women in sports represent historical steps towards equality as well as a burgeoning tradition of female leadership that has become instrumental to the Athletic Department’s future.

“To look at history to recognize what we've accomplished is an important part of what this day is about, because it also shows us where we're going,” said GU Athletic Director Chris Standiford. “It's hard to know where you're going without knowing where you've come from. So I think it's a day to celebrate what we've accomplished, but also a day to be empowered and excited about where we're going.”

HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SPORTS

After Gonzaga began admitting female students in 1948 and formed the Women’s Athletic Association from 1955-56, women’s basketball became GU’s foundational women’s sport opportunity in its first season in 1961. Back then, the women drove themselves to games, had to wait to play until the men’s team was done practicing, and played in front of empty stands. But a surge of seismic changes was soon to come.

In 1972, Title IX’s assertion that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” had monumental implications for the future growth of women’s place in the sporting world, even if it made no mention of athletics.

Before Title IX, only one in every 27 girls participated in sports. In the five decades since, that number has soared to two in five. Both women’s and men’s participation opportunities have increased every year since Title IX was passed, culminating in a record number of male and female student-athletes participating in NCAA championship sports in 2015-2016. However, women’s overall participation still hasn’t reached the level of men’s involvement recorded in 1971-1972.

“Over 30 years, I've seen a great deal of change, growth, empowerment and success,” Standiford said. “The [place] where we were and where we are now are not the same — in a very good way.”

With that expansion has come plenty of competitive success. Women’s teams at GU have combined for 21 WCC Championships and 23 NCAA Postseason berths since 1990, and GU now employs 12 female head or assistant coaches amongst its eight women’s sports.

“It's just been important to continue the generational change, the access to sport,” said Rian Oliver, a Senior Associate Athletic Director working in Compliance and Student Services at GU. “And so what happens next? I don't know, but preserving the benefits of sports and what they can do for the individual is invaluable. Participation in sports develops characteristics that we want to see in people and society at large.”

Female athletes now comprise 49.6% of GU’s athletes, a subset that Standiford says can’t be ignored.

“I think that a diversity of people always makes for the best environment possible,” he said. “The perspectives of our student athletes can only be understood and supported by people that have lived experiences similar to theirs, and that’s a large part of our population.”

A CHANGING GAME

An increase of over 1000% in youth women’s sport participation since Title IX’s institution laid the groundwork for changes at all levels of athletics that far exceed a quantifiable phenomenon. For GU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Lisa Fortier, the pathways to empowerment flow through sports, and the empowerment of athletes has formed a new generation of female leaders in sporting spaces.

“The opportunities that women have to play sports are really allowing people to look to them as leaders,” Fortier said. “It's an avenue for leaders to be developed and leadership characteristics to be developed and confidence to be developed and teamwork. It's just a different way to promote and develop all of those characteristics that are so important, and it’s newly-charted territory for women.”

The changes seem less gradual when they’ve been experienced through a single lifetime. Fortier remembers growing up in her hometown of Grass Valley, Calif. playing basketball with boys of her age because there wasn’t a girls’ team to join. Now, she gets to watch her seven-year-old daughter play with her own club.

Deputy Athletic Director Shannon Strahl, the highest-ranking female employee at GU Athletics and a former Zags women’s soccer player, has seen the same changes since her time as an athlete in the 90’s.  

“When I broke into this business, there weren't very many women generally in college athletics and, and Gonzaga was not different either,” Strahl said. “So being on the front end of that, understanding that puts a responsibility on us as trailblazers to keep showing that path and to encourage young women to get into this business and to continue to make it the great thing that it is.”

Strahl credits those who came before her with furnishing an opportunity to do things that seemed improbable decades ago.

“That's why I'm sitting in this chair, because somebody blazed a trail,” Strahl said. “And I think it will be neat when it's no longer attached to a first and it's just how it is.”

SUCCESS AFTER SPORTS

Only 17.9% of professional athletes are female — a number that has continued to increase in recent years, but still leaves a disproportionate gap between them and their male counterparts. 

But what Standiford prides himself on is how his athletic department prepares female athletes for success after their athletic careers have concluded, be it through life skills and wellness programming, professional development, or simply through the Jesuit lens of caring for the whole self.

“There is no greater classroom than competition — there is no greater camaraderie,” Standiford said. “There's no greater cohort of people than teammates and teams and coaches and leaders.”

Head Volleyball Coach Katie Wilson sees coaching in a similar light — a developmental dynamic that doesn’t cease after players graduate and move on to the next step in their lives.

“You're at a life stage where you're learning how to be away from home for the first time and you're learning how to navigate all these different situations,” Wilson said. “And I truly believe it's a calling in life where you as a coach are here to help them, not only on the court, but off the court.

“You're going to face harder things and it's winning a volleyball match throughout the rest of your life. And so when that time comes, if you know that you can, you can overcome those difficult situations. 

For Head Women’s Tennis Coach Natalie Pluskota-Hamberg, instilling confidence in her athletes is paramount for the same reasons.

“As a former female athlete and now as a coach, I think that my role is vital,” Pluskota-Hamberg said. “I strive to just empower them — I try to get them to be as confident as they can. Oftentimes females doubt themselves and doubt their worth, so for me, I just try to empower them and encourage them and motivate them and they can do anything. 

“My girls are truly inspiring with what they can do and just getting them to believe in themselves — walk a little taller and feel more confident — is something that's important to me.”

And just as Pluskota-Hamburg recalls idolizing legendary Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt growing up, GU Tennis player Cate Broerman says her coach has been her most significant role model at GU.

“She’s been super awesome and patient with me throughout the years, and without her I don’t think I would’ve gotten through some of the times I’ve had,” said Broerman, who currently serves as the president of GU’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). “She’s believed in me when no one else has and I thank her for that every day.”

AN EYE TO THE FUTURE

The opportunities for future expansion are — as Standiford says — “limitless”. Wilson agrees, citing her experiences with women who embrace the challenges of school, teambuilding and self-improvement simultaneously.

“Women can do hard things,” Wilson said. “We can do really hard things. We're put in these situations every single day where we have to overcome difficult tasks in difficult situations, and we can continue to do it through the rest of our lives.”

NCAA-affiliated programs are now fielding on average one more women’s team than men’s in their athletics programs and viewership and attendance at NCAA women’s sports events is rising yearly, but the women’s overall sport participation rate is still 10.5 percent lower than that of female undergraduates nationwide. 

“People keep doing things that nobody thought was possible,” said Oliver. “... There are still leaders out there that are crossing through those sort of artificial barriers that have been set. So I'm just excited to see that continue and see people have a seat at the table … who knows what the future holds.”