By Ashleigh Sargent

In between soufflé and sauce instruction, there’s time for athletics. Yes, they do more than cook at the Culinary Institute of America. Since 2004, they’ve played intercollegiate sports (though no scholarship athletes here). And, unlike most college basketball teams, the CIA Steels are co-ed, thanks to the addition this season of Mackenzie Anderson, a freshman Culinary Arts major. Mackenzie — #23 — spoke with FGN about her co-ed sports experience and her hope that more women don’t let their sex keep them off the court or field.

FGN: The Culinary Institute of America is a cooking school that, since 2004, has had intramural sports teams, including some that are co-ed. What drew you here and why do women and men play together?

 MA: The Culinary Institute is amazing! It has been a dream of mine to come here since I was little. At the CIA, if you’re bold enough to try out, women can make the teams because they don’t offer many women’s sports yet. (They are plans to add more women’s sports).

FGN: Why did you decide to play on a men’s team?

MA: During high school I went to a local gym and worked out with personal trainers three days a week. In Fall 2009, I participated in a power lifting competition, which then lit a spark in my brain.  I realized that I was strong and decided to tryout for the football team at my high school.  I played offensive-defensive tackle, JV junior year and varsity senior year. Football was the best experience of my life. It was the most fun I have ever had in a sport, and it proved that girls can do anything guys can do.  I played simply to challenge myself, but I liked that I may have been someone to look up to. At CIA I tried out for them men’s basketball team because I love the sport. They didn’t have a owmen’s team so I just went for it. I had to try out like all the guys who came out for the team, and prove that I was just as good. I made the team knowing that I may not get much playing time, but it was worth it to me. I get to stay in shape and play a sport I love.

FGN: What is it like being the only female player?

MA: My teammates treat me like I’m one of the guys. They never go easy on me, and I have never felt excluded.  I feel I have gained respect from the team.  My coach always says, “I don’t know how you can put up with us.”  The guys always say, “Coach, she’s just one of the guys!” I love that!

FGN: Are there any particularly challenges?

MA: One challenge for me is the running. The guys are such good athletes and it’s hard for me to run as fast as them when we run sprints in practice. It’s also hard to box them out (I’m only five feet tall). Another challenge is the size of the ball.  The men’s ball is larger than the women’s ball that I have been playing with all my life, which forces me to work harder than the guys.

FGN: What do you enjoy about the team?

MA: I think the best thing about being on a team full of guys is that they always challenge you and my teammates are really fun to be around.

FGN: What have you learned from the experience?

MA:  I have learned that if you see something you want, go out and get it. Don’t let anyone stop you. I have talked to women who say, “I have always wanted to play football or I wanted to try out for basketball but didn’t want to be the only girl.” I hate hearing that! Women tell themselves they are not good enough, instead of just saying, “I am good.  I’m going to go out and show these guys what I’ve got and earn their respect.” Some days I’m proud to be the only female on the team, but I also wish more women stood up for themselves and believed in themselves.

The fifth Quidditch World Cup happening this weekend on New York City’s Randall’s Island is looking like a bonafide event: 1) tickets are required 2) there is a halftime show, and 3) there are now some 100 teams (2,000 athletes) plus spectators.

But even as quidditch looks ever more like an NCAA sport (it’s not), it has retained it’s grassroots vibe, pairing competition with conscience. Starting Fall 2012, look for enforcement of – Title 9 ¾ – requiring teams (which have been dominated by guys of late) to have at least three women on the field at all times. (IQA CEO and Commissioner Alex Benepe explains at 3:25 in this YouTube video). The sport also looks to use it’s athletic-cum-magic aura to make a case for fairness on and off the pitch.

Of course, there is still a cup at stake. This weekend, expect top performances from names you don’t always hear shouted in the college sports world: Middlebury, University of Kansas (okay, so they are good at conventional and non-conventional sports), Emerson, McGill, and Vassar.

Jessie Haladyna, Wellesley College Class of 2012, who plays the (female-dominated) defensive  “beater” position, shared her views on the rule change, strategy, and the ethos of the game.

FGN: Why do you like playing Beater?

JH: It’s an aggressive position that requires both physical strength and a solid strategy.

FGN: What is your take on the gender debate? Why do men dominate the offense?

JH: It is disappointing but not unpredictable that it’s necessary to enact the new 4:3 ratio regulation. Quidditch teams typically have more male players than female, but it’s not because of sexist team captains. Quidditch integrates the world of nerdy science fiction fans with brute athletes and cocky jocks. More male athletes try out for this tackle sport than women, and every sci fi fan — male or female – is excited to make the world of Harry Potter come to life. If most of your talent at tryouts comes from male jocks, is it really sexist if they cut the less talented (albeit enthusiastic) Harry Potter fans?

That is how any other sport functions; the weakest players are cut. But if you think I am suggesting that all female players are weaker than the males, you are strongly mistaken. I have played teams whose most intimidating player and highest scorer was the female chaser. It is just hard to recruit athletic women to play the sport.

I fully support quidditch as a co-ed sport. It lets males and females compete equally and learn to value each others’ abilities and attributes. Personally, I love the chance to best both man and woman on the quidditch pitch!!!

FGN: As a former NCAA softball player, how does Quidditch compare?

JH: Quidditch rules are more similar to basketball, football and dodgeball than softball. Like many sports, in quidditch you must throw and catch with accuracy. Softball and quidditch are most similar in the strategy of the game. In softball, it benefits you to know the batter; if she pulls the ball to the left side of the field the defense would play her differently than if she preferred to take the outside pitch on a fly to right field. In comparison, as a beater, I observe each player early in the game to determine if our opponent’s offense or defense will be more of a threat; if their beaters shut down our chasers before they can get anywhere near the hoops, then I’ll concentrate on taking them out of play with my own bludgers. However, if a single chaser continuously breaks away to charge the hoops, I might change my strategy and mark him for the rest of the game.

FGN: Quidditch seems to have a growing philanthropic role.

JH + IQA: This World Cup, the International Quidditch Association (IQA) has partnered with The Harry Potter Alliance, to help promote its campaign for fair trade chocolate.  Outside of the Cup, the IQA makes an effort to share quidditch with children – Kidditch! – by supporting elementary school programs to encourage children to learn a sport driven by fair-play and enthusiasm for a magical book series!

FGN: Where is this sport going?

JH: Quidditch is only getting bigger from here! The IQA will continue to inspire young people to lead physically active and socially engaged lives.

Last year's Quidditch World Cup

By Laura Pappano

It may look like an excuse for college students to gather in a festival atmosphere. And on the surface, Quidditch, the Harry-Potter-inspired sport in which players ride on brooms (ok, run with them between their legs), is a reach.

But, then, basketball probably looked odd to those who first spotted boys at the YMCA in Springfield, MA in 1891 hoisting soccer balls into peach baskets.

Like basketball, Quidditch is not merely about the physical challenge of play and competition, but also reflects a social goal. Basketball, invented to occupy boys indoors during winter, embraced the late 1800’s belief in “Muscular Christianity.” Strengthen (men’s) bodies to insure they were vigorous, manly vessels for godly values.

Is Quidditch, then, a means for countering Voldemort? Well, no, it’s actually more reflective of 21^st Century sport values, including gender equity.

Aimee Howarth, outreach director and member of the board of directors of the International Quidditch Association, spoke with FGN about the rising popularity of this campus sport – and it’s co-ed, gender fair karma.

FGN: How is the Quidditch you play, which has 7 players per team (3 Chasers, 2 Beaters, 1 Keeper and 1 Seeker), different from the Harry Potter books?

AH: The main difference is that we run instead of fly and the snitch is a person – we call them a snitch runner – dressed in gold or yellow. The goal is to knock people off their brooms. If you get hit by a bludger (we use dodgeballs) if you get hit by one of those have to run back to your goal post and you have to drop the quaffle [if you have it] or another bludger. The game ends when the snitch is caught. You get 10 points for getting the quaffle through the opposite goal posts (the quaffle is usually a volleyball or soccer ball slightly deflated so you can grab it).

FGN: Isn’t it hard to run with a broom?

AH: You get used to it. The hardest thing about running on a broom is you only have one hand for catching and throwing. Most people don’t even really notice it.

FGN: Can you use any kind of broom?

AH: We are working on getting an official broom. For the World Cup, we use Alivan’s brooms.

FGN: Where is the World Cup? How big an event is it?

AH: This year it will be November 12-13 at Randall’s Island in NYC. Last year we had 40,000 viewers and 46 teams competing. This year, we are expecting 80 teams.

FGN: How is this sport categorized on college campuses?

AH: We are a club sport. It’s not NCAA or anything like that. We are trying not to go in that direction because some of the uniqueness of our sport could be taken away.

FGN: You mentioned to me that this sport supports gender fair play? How?

AH: As a league we are co-ed and require at least two players [excluding the Seeker] to be of another gender. It is one of the only sports I’ve seen that makes that a rule. We don’t have any rule where if a woman or girl scores its like 2 points that you see in some leagues. We are thinking of requiring each position to be coed.

FGN: Why is that?

AH: We typically see more women players in the Beater position [defense] and more male players in the Chaser position [offense]. From a feminist standpoint that goes along with the Chaser being a more valued position because they score. That is not always the case, but its is something that we kind of noticed. So we are thinking of having offense and defense mixed sex. The board as a whole is committed to this [gender fairness].

FGN: You say this is a competitive sport. Do you have injuries?

AH: It is super competitive. Even though it is seen as a kind of a joke to people on the outside, it is super physical. The most common injuries? We have a lot of broken collarbones. We have had concussions. We haven’t had serious, serious injuries. Most often it is the shoulders, arms.

FGN: And after competition?

AH: Yes, after the World Cup everyone goes to get Butterbeer, which is actually beer with butterscotch in it, I think.

Angela Hucles, who retired just over a year ago, was a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Boston Breakers powerhouse who played with the team during both the WUSA and WPS eras. Hucles, a Virginia Beach native, was named the 2009 Humanitarian of the Year by the U.S. Soccer Foundation. I caught up with her recently to discuss her successful soccer career, her new job in commercial real estate as Client Services Associate at CB Richard Ellis in Boston, and her position as President of the Board for the newly-formed non-profit Dream Big! Oh, and, of course, her take on the US National team’s road to qualify for World Cup play.

FGN: You are one of the most successful female soccer players to ever play the game, earning 109 caps for the USA and scoring 14 international goals. What does it feel like to be a world-renowned athlete?

AH: Well, I don’t feel anything close to being world-renowned, even in the soccer circles, but I do feel good about what I was able to accomplish during my time playing soccer.

Angela Hucles scores

FGN: What influenced your decision to retire? How has your life changed since you stepped off the soccer field?

AH: It was definitely a variety of reasons, not just one that [drove] my decision to retire.  Ultimately, it was the feeling that I had telling me it was time.  On the outside, it may appear that my life hasn’t changed drastically, but internally it has been a whirlwind.  I am now working for a new company, living in a new place in Boston, and engaged.

FGN: The US team is having a bit of a challenge making it to the World Cup. Although they recently beat Italy in a critical game, were you surprised to see them fall to Mexico?

AH: Yes, I was a little bit surprised to see Mexico beat the US in the qualifying match. However, the parity in women’s soccer is becoming more and more present on the international level. One of the biggest challenges opponents of the US team face, is the ability of our women’s team to bounce back as well as the belief in the themselves to succeed. That’s a powerful combination when you have talented players taking the field. I have confidence in the US women’s team to get the job done in this last domestic qualification game vs Italy and is why they were able to pull out a win in the last game.

FGN: Your success in college at the University of Virginia, on the National Team and on the Boston Breakers has made you a household name among soccer fans. How do you think about the fact that you are a role model to so many people?

AH: I appreciate that others actually consider looking at my journey and experiences as an opportunity to learn. I enjoy and value learning from other people so if someone can [benefit from my example] I am glad that I can be helpful.  I always want to live my life in a way that I can be proud of.

FGN: Last year, the U.S. Soccer Foundation selected you as the Humanitarian of the Year. What motivates your involvement?

AH: I know that my successes have come, in part, from the help of others.  It is crucial to do your part in helping and giving back no matter what job you have or what you are doing.  It’s such a great part of life that makes the world better and more balanced.

FGN: What skills did you learn from soccer that you have used in your professional career? Has being an athlete given you any advantages in the workplace?

AH: For the most part, sports, and especially team sports, provide the best learning grounds for corporate America.  Learning how to multi-task, work with different personalities, pay attention to detail, and building a work ethic, is all learned through sports and is crucial to your success in the workplace as well.

FGN: How will you continue to support women’s soccer now that you aren’t on the field?

AH: There are numerous ways that anyone can give support to women’s soccer.  I’ve chosen to be a season ticket holder, whether or not I can make all of the games. I go to the ones I can.  I also continue to do public speaking and a little bit of individual soccer training.  I would like to start an annual clinic that also provides young girls and women an educational element as well.  After retirement, I knew I would stay involved in the sport in some capacity, but I am constantly redefining what that means to me.  One of the ways I am choosing to spend my time now is volunteer work in my community.  This is why I decided to team up with Dream Big!

FGN: You’ve just become president of the Dream Big! board. Why did you choose to be involved with this organization?

AH: Dream Big! provides some of the basic needs to be an athlete.  It makes it very hard to be taken seriously and to build up self-esteem when you don’t have the necessary equipment.  I like the philosophy and goals of Dream Big! [The organization helps low-income and homeless girls by providing the basic items necessary to enable them to participate in sports and physical activities]. Combining the philosophy with the enthusiasm of Linda Driscoll, it was a no-brainer for me.  I always have high standards and goals for the activities that I get involved in, so I hope to see this first year of Dream Big! off to a good start with lots of involvement both from the donor side as well as the groups that we will be helping.  It would be incredible to make Dream Big a national or even international organization!

Angela Hucles and Megan Wood

An occasional series about University of Rhode Island Women’s Basketball Team and Coach Cathy Inglese as she tries to turnaround a losing program.

By Laura Pappano

The image unfolded as an accident. At a recent practice, a player scrambling to save a ball heading out of bounds couldn’t stop herself and went crashing into the line of chairs at court’s edge, sending them falling over one by one – as University of Rhode Island Head Coach Cathy Inglese observed, “like dominoes.”

Only, the last few didn’t fall. So Inglese walked over and sent them crashing down.

It was meant as a light moment – an intense Inglese showing off her fun side – but it might as well have been part of the Rams playbook: We’re starting fresh. New season, new challenges.

It has not been a cakewalk for this URI women’s basketball team. They barely missed post season play last year, they have a mostly new staff, and the season –ugh– is starting with a few injuries. Still, this group has grit and they opened their season yesterday against Colgate with a 59-47 win.

Year Two of Inglese’s quest to build – not just a team, but a program, has officially begun. Now that the initial hoopla buy-into-the-vision is over, What does that look like?

Like the tumbling chairs, rebuilding is a chain-reaction. It is a step-by-step process in which one bit of success pushes forward another – something as small as a bench player shedding pounds and deciding to make a run at more playing time.

Inglese and assistant coach Marnie Dacko, former head coach at the University of Massachusetts and Inglese’s one-time teammate at Southern Connecticut State University (and both inductees into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame), talked about the start of the 2010-2011 season.

FGN: How does this year feel different than last year?

CI: We’re building on the on the culture we created. The players have bought into our coaching style and what it takes to be successful. This summer, the players came for summer school and they stayed for both sessions. So they came into this season in great shape. Last year they weren’t in shape. There were some drills at the beginning of last season that I wanted to do, that we couldn’t do. Now they can make it through practice. It shows their commitment to a work ethic.

FGN: Last year, you just missed the A-10 tournament. What did you say to players at the end of the season?

CI: You always want to make your conference tournament. We did well, but it was a three-way-four-way tie and it came down to tie-breakers. I told them I was pleased with their efforts. They never gave up. We always felt we could win the next game – and they never felt they defeated and that is really important.

FGN: You mention that attitude, that mindset a lot. Why does it matter?

CI: There is this stuff on the surface that everybody sees. But there is a lot that happens down here (Inglese, sitting in a chair in her office, gestures with her hands). We are doing a lot of stuff down here that people don’t see. And that is building a culture that we talked about. Even though we lost games at the end of the season, we always felt we could win the next. We put up some lay up or foul shots [that didn’t go in] – and those are the little things you have to get down and then those 5, 6, 7 losses become wins. We never got blown out. It’s one layer at a time.

FGN: You have mentioned part of building a team is recruiting better, faster, stronger, players. Recently, you recruited Lincoln School 6’ 4” senior center Corinne Coia to next year’s team, a top RI player. How hard is it to land talent these days?

MD: Cathy was successful at Vermont, she was successful at BC. [High school prospects] nowadays are much more visible than they have ever been. So you won’t find kids in the woods or a small town. It’s a challenge. But Rhode Island is a well-kept secret in New England.

FGN: You are a veteran coach and you happened to play against URI last season. What do you see here ?

MD: Last year, I gave Cathy her first A-10 win [laughs]. Cathy inherited a program at rock bottom. First, I saw that the president [David Dooley] and his wife [Lynn Baker-Dooley] are huge advocates for the success of women’s basketball. They come to the games. It starts from the top and works down to the team.

The kids on this team are working hard at practice everyday, they are pushing each other verbally and physically on the floor and working toward a common goal. And they are not threatened by bringing in talent. They don’t say [when we bring in potential recruits to practice], “Oh coach is bringing in someone who’s 6’5” will I still get a chance to play?” They want a better program.

Inglese and Dacko at URI

Boston Breakers goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher makes a save during practice as coach Tony DiCicco looks on

By Laura Pappano

In a sport in which 90 minutes of intense play can yield a 0-0 score (say, last Saturday between the Boston Breakers and Sky Blue FC), goalkeeping matters — a lot. And as four WPS teams head into playoffs, there’s extra pressure on those in the net.

Boston Breakers head coach Tony DiCicco, a former goalkeeper for the US National Team, says it’s no coincidence that his second place team started to pick up momentum when rookie goalkeeper and top national recruit Alyssa Naeher won the starting job from Ashley Phillips. “Until she stabilized that position, we were giving up soft goals and this league is tough and you can’t do that,” he said, speaking in his office on the grounds of Harvard Stadium. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that when she became the starter that’s when our run of wins started.”

So what makes a good goalkeeper?

DiCicco, who drafted Naeher (he coached her on the championship U20 team) from Penn State, says Naeher’s athleticism lets her “get to some balls that most keepers can’t, balls in the corner. She has good explosive properties.” While he appreciates her physical talent, DiCicco says that Naeher — like other young keepers — has much to learn. Goalkeepers, he says, develop at a different rate than field players, often reaching their peak after age 30 when field players may be winding down.

“In my mind, the two most important aspects of goalkeeping are athletics and mental skills, ” he says, noting that mental skills are “slow learning skills.” “We can teach technique quickly, we can teach tactics quickly. But the game of soccer is a language.” DiCicco says that experience allows a goalkeeper to “read the game” and understand the possible ways a play will unfold when a ball is 30 yards up the field. “You can narrow the variable and that translates into anticipation.”

It is that ability to anticipate plays, he says, which makes him think little about stats like “saves.” A strong keeper, he says, organizes the defense to prevent shots and intercept balls before they become stat-worthy. So where does that leave Naeher (and her –um — 69 saves in 16 games)?

“The growth is getting her to play on her cutting edges,” says DiCicco. “In college, she just played at a comfort level and she keeps wanting to go back to that level.” The challenge, he says, is getting her to take a more aggressive starting position in front of the goal and to not be afraid to leave the penalty area and clear a ball with her feet.

For her part, Naeher — who got interested in goalkeeping because she had the hand-eye knack from playing basketball –says she tries not to get too revved up emotionally and while she pays attention to field players’ tendencies, tries not to over-think a situation so she can stay loose and react. Here’s what she had to say about her position:

On emotions: I just try to stay focused on not getting too high or too low at any point. [When an opponent scores] there is frustration and there is a I-should-have-had-it/it’s-my-fault feeling. But I try in the game to move on from it and then go back and look at film later. If I give up a goal, as long as I can look back and learn from it, then so be it.

On biggest change from college to pros: Speed of play. Everything is just quicker and the skill level – the forwards here can just hit it harder and are more accurate with their placement.

On facing shots from opponents: About 75-80 percent is about reading where they will go. But there is definitely some lucky guessing involved. [I don't do too much pre-game study of opposing players because] I don’t want to get too focused in on their tendencies because they could change it up. I don’t want to have set in my mind that they are going in one direction and cheat in that direction too much. But I do notice which players are more comfortable with their left foot versus their right foot.

On toughest opposing player: Marta can definitely do things other players can’t do. She only needs half an inch of space to get a shot off.

Naeher at Breakers practice

By Lindsay Rico

After speaking with Urvasi Naidoo about the sport of Netball, only one thing occurred to me: Lebron James could never play this game. Naidoo is the CEO of the IFNA , International Federation of Netball Association, (check out her blog here) and gave me the rundown on Netball as a team sport in its purest form — and as a sport she has used to inspire young girls in India. The balance, agility, and teamwork required to play Netball are skills that Naidoo believes are key in encouraging girls build confidence and realize their potential. And it’s catching on in the U.S., too.

FGN: First of all, what exactly is Netball? How does it work?

UN: Netball is a team sport played by women. It’s essentially similar to basketball: there are two posts and one ball the object of the game is to score the most points by putting the most balls in each hole. There is a substantial difference in rules however. The main rule is that you are not allowed to move with the ball. You must pass it to your teammates and make that pass within three seconds. You are allowed to block on defense, but unlike basketball it is a non contact sport. There is a lot of quick thinking and strategy involved.

FGN: Is it a fast growing sport?

UN: Yes, absolutely. We are finding that it’s not just a commonwealth sport but that its expanding into other countries as well. It’s easily accessible and relatively cheap. You don’t need that much equipment. Just a few girls, a couple of posts and a ball. It’s also a school sport. Every girl has to play netball in school—at least in the commonwealth countries.

FGN: Why do you think Netball is so attractive to women and girls?

UN: It was created especially for women. It’s fun, dynamic and it’s a team game—you can’t have one star. There’s this camaraderie and team spirit that comes into it, which is healthy for girls.

FGN: Is this why Netball is such a good incentive for your program in India?

UN: Yes, the G.O.A.L program, started by the IFNA, targets underprivileged girls and uses Netball to encourage them to transform their lives as well as set and meet their goals. The girls enjoy playing Netball and, yes, it is like an incentive because they play the sport part of the time but the deal is that they also must take time to learn the curriculum that the program mentors have created for them. It’s a fair trade.

Lindsay Rico (R) interviews Urvasi Naidoo (L)

Nasrin Arbabzadeh

By Sarah Odell and Lindsay Rico

Nasrin Arbabzadeh, the leader of the Afghan women’s sports delegation, has been actively working for years for the rights of Afghan women to complete in sports. In 2001, she traveled from city to city recruiting women to compete in the the Third Muslim Women Games. At the time, she told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that she wore a burqa so as not to draw attention to her work. “My life would have been in danger if the Taliban had learned of my activities and my purpose,” she said.

During the opening ceremonies of those games, organizers staged a black out and many athletes wore black mourning clothing and carried candles as a sign of support for the 48 Afghan delegates. Their participation was a symbol of political resistance. “I’m competing here to denounce the Taliban’s uncivilized treatment of women in the name of Islam,” Salma Hosseini, tae kwan do silver medalist, announced at the time.

Last week, at the Fifth World Conference on Women & Sport in Sydney, Ababzadeh stood in a question and answer period, and sought insight into how to develop, support, and train female athletes in Afghanistan. “Does anybody know about the women in Afghanistan?” she asked. The hall was silent.

FGN spoke with Arbabzadeh about her work and the challenges for female athletes in her native country.

FGN: In Afghanistan, what kinds of sports do women compete in?

NA: They play football (Soccer), badminton, basketball, taekwondo, and volleyball. But it’s very hard for them. At first, their families are not happy and they make it difficult for the girls to play. But when these girls bring home medals and awards, then their parents are happy for them.

FGN: What are some of the challenges these girls and women experience?

NA: The difficulties don’t end with the family. Most of our athletes don’t have the right clothes, shoes, or food. And athletes who have become successful are often threatened. Sixty percent of people are happy with them, forty percent are not. People think they are bad girls because they have chosen to participate in athletics.

FGN:What is your role in women’s sports in Afganistan. Who has been important to your work?

NA: I am the first woman to start sports for girls in Afghanistan. I am so happy with Faezah Hashemi, the Iranian president of the Islamic Federation of Women Sport. She has helped lots of young women within the federation, regardless of what country they come from.

FGN: How did you first get girls involved in athletics?

NA: In 2001 I collected young girls who wanted to play sports brought them to the Muslim women games in Iran. The girls competed in volleyball, tae kwan doe, shooting, tennis, running, chess, and badminton. I paid for everything so my teams could go to this competition. The girls and their families were so happy, because in Afghanistan, there are no teams that allow women. But leaders in Afghanistan  did not like what I was doing and I received threats, so [after the games] I went back to Iran.

FGN: Who was behind the threats? Why were you threatened?

NA: The Olympic manager.  He did not have a lot of experience. He saw that I had experience and knowledge. I saw many things I wanted to change. I saw the disabled athletes had terrible equipment. I wanted to help them. I asked him why they did not have better equipment and he did not like that. He told my husband that if I had any more things to say about the Olympic management or problems, he would kill me.

Arbabzadeh now lives abroad, in Australia, and serves on the Women with Special Needs Committee for the Islamic Federation of Women Sport.

FGN's Rico & Odell talk with Arbabzadeh

Ahlam Al-Mana, is president of the Women’s Sport Committee in Qatar, which was formed in 2000 and is part of Qatar’s Olympic Committee. Al-Mana, who played handball at Qatar University, earned her degree in physical education. FGN spoke with Al-Mana at the 5^th World Conference on Women & Sport held last weekend in Sydney.

Ahlam Al-Mana

FGN: Has it been hard to recruit girls and women to play sports in Qatar?

AA-M: In the beginning, it was very difficult for us. The culture didn’t allow girls to go out and play sports. We started by using the facilities in the schools because it is very easy to go to parents that way. For example, we say, “Your daughter is talented in the sport and we would like her to join us.” In Qatar [in the beginning] people didn’t know about the importance of sport for women, about the Olympic Games.

FGN: How can you change this?

AA-M: The Asian Games were organized in Qatar in 2006 and there were 11 sports for women. We had 46 players. It was very big. It made a huge change in the mentality of the parents. Now many parents bring their girls to participate. They say, “It is our dream to see our girls playing in the Olympics.”

FGN: Probably the issue that most crosses Westerner’s minds when Muslim women play sports is the matter of dress. Is it possible to compete while respecting religious rules requiring the body to be fully covered?

AA-M: There are now many countries that issue special clothes for the Muslim countries. There are many companies working on special [sport] clothes. We saw Cathy Freeman [she won the 400 meter race in Sydney in 2000 wearing a track suit that covered her head and full body, not for religious reasons but because it was her preference]. She covered all her body. And she won! She won the Gold Medal!

Here is the problem. The rules of FIFA [international governing body of soccer] they stopped the Iranian women’s team from playing one month ago. They had the qualifications, but because they wear a cover they could not play. That is not fair for the Muslim players. They should be able to participate in the World Cup with covering. You can participate if you want to wear shorts. You should be able to participate if you wear long covering. Maybe there is a difference for your results, but it should not be a technical rule. [FIFA has since agreed to an acommodation, allowing players to wear caps that cover their hair].

Olympic Gold Medalist Cathy Freeman

FGN: Will you have many athletes in the 2012 Olympics in London?

AA-M: I hope we will have girls in shooting and fencing. I have a very good shooter who is 14 and a very good fencer who is 16. But there is one thing about our country – we are the beginners in sport. Of course the Olympic Games is a dream for everyone. We have everything – financing, support – everything, but we may miss the qualifications. We have girls that are good but they are not at the level to qualify. I hope the IOC [International Olympic Committee] would give the beginner countries the chance – especially for the women. If girls have the chances to compete, they can be a model for the other ones.

FGN: Because organized sports are so new, how do girls decide which sports to play?

AA-M: We use the results of talent tests. Every year a girl takes a test. They have a special test with many parts. They test how she throws, how she runs, how high she jumps. This is the general test and through this they choose which sport.

FGN: Where do athletes train? Which sports do they participate in?

AA-M: We have three centers [Aspire Academy] and we have 11 or 12 sports. We have handball, volleyball, table tennis, basketball, and football [soccer]. And some others. (See photo of Hissa Darwish and Mayi Al-Mohammadi, who work with talented 11-year-old girls at Aspire Academy).

FGN: Thank you very much.

AA-M: Thank you.

Hissa Darwish and Mayi Al-Mohammadi work with talented 11-year-old girls at Aspire Academy

By Megan Wood

When umpire Perry Barber steps behind the catcher, fans often do a double-take when they glimpse the ponytail resting on the back of her uniform. Female umpires are not only rare, but practically unheard of.  Barber is one of only eight women to umpire professional baseball, officiating around 200 games a year for local, regional, state and professional leagues including spring training for Major League Baseball. After umpiring for over 25 years, Barber tells why there so few female umpires — and why calling balls and strikes is often viewed as something only a man can do.

FGN: When did you discover you wanted to be a professional baseball umpire?

PB: My early fascination with baseball had nothing to do with athletic competition and everything to do with being a trivia nut and former Jeopardy! champion who wanted to educate herself about baseball as a subject, not a game or sport. I needed to hold my own in trivia contests a friend constantly challenged me to.

I started going to as many Mets games as I could. At Veteran’s Stadium in Philadelphia this older couple sort of adopted me. They would let me sit with them right behind the Phillies’ dugout and take me back to the first aid room after games to meet their friends who worked there. The first aid room was adjacent to the umpires’ dressing room.

One time National League umpire #11 Ed Montague stopped in to say hello. The moment I shook his hand, it was like being struck by lightning, and I don’t mean in a romantic way, but something about him affected me so profoundly I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Until I met him, I was like everybody else and didn’t give much thought to the umpires as anything other than peripheral characters on the field, but that changed in an instant.

One night, I found a newspaper ad on my pillow that my mom had left for me. “Indio needs umpires,” it read. My first reaction was definitely not “Wow, I’m signing up tomorrow,” but confusion. When I asked why she had left it, she said, “Well, I thought it was something you’d like to do.”

So began my umpiring “career.” People were often hostile to me, but I attributed their vitriol more to the fact that I was untrained, meaning incompetent, than that I was female.

I never thought about the fact that I was a woman and women didn’t do that, or about the political implications inherent in my becoming an umpire, or anything except this is how I can stay connected to baseball and my mom… I loved baseball, and umpiring was my way of expressing that love and turning what had been a mostly cerebral attachment to the game into something tangible. If it hadn’t been for my mother, who knows if I ever would have found my way into a chest protector and shin guards. She made the connection I hadn’t; she connected the dots and saw something in me I didn’t see in myself.

FGN: Why did you decide to officiate baseball instead of softball?

PB: I didn’t “decide”; once my mom suggested that I umpire Little League baseball and I started doing it, softball just wasn’t an option. I’m glad softball exists as an alternative to baseball — even though from my perspective it also siphons off a lot of young girls who might otherwise be integrating baseball more fully — but I have no quarrel with any athletic endeavor that brings girls and women together to compete and play. I just don’t get the same charge from umpiring softball as I do from baseball. I’m baseball trained, and it’s my passion, so that’s what I stick to most of the time.

FGN: What is it like to step on a baseball field and umpire a men’s game?

PB: It’s a rush, an adrenaline charge, an affirmation of life and living and all things positive and hopeful. Just being out there on a ball field with other people running around sweating and frolicking about, it’s all so wonderful to me, even thirty years into my career. I think when I was a neophyte and unknown to many of the league and teams for which I umpired, the expectations others may have had of me might have been just a bit unrealistic (as in, they probably all thought I would stink!). But I never let anyone’s expectations deter me from pursuing my passion no matter what anyone said about how bad I was, or why was I doing this, or why didn’t I just get married and have children like a normal person and give up this umpiring thing. In other words, all the nay saying I heard (and still hear sometimes) about why I (or women in general) shouldn’t be out there with the guys. My interactions with coaches are always respectful on my part, although I can’t speak for them; I’m sure there are a few who have regarded my presence as in intrusion rather than as an asset, but that’s their problem, not mine.

FGN: How do fellow umpires and players treat you during the game? Do you feel more pressure because you are a woman umpiring men?

PB: I like to think I’m treated as an equal by my partners and fellow umpires, and for the most part, at this stage of my career, I honestly believe I am. There are probably some umpires (and players too) still opposed to sharing the field or the dressing room with a woman, but my attitude is always that I’ll be able to change their minds once they work with me and see I’m as capable as any other umpire. I don’t feel much pressure about being a woman or “representing” other women, although I may have when I first started.

FGN: Why are there so few women in umpiring? How can we encourage more?

PB: Women are not initiated into the baseball culture when they’re in utero the way boys are in this country. That’s one reason. Plus the few girls who do play baseball are often steered towards softball as an alternative. The same problem applies to umpiring baseball; there is no organized, sustained effort to recruit, train, and retain the services of women umpires.

Change will come as the result of a multi-pronged approach, including presenting umpiring as a career or a vocational option to girls and women.

For instance, we should be making a real, concerted, committed, and sustained effort to recruit, train and assign young girls to little leagues, youth leagues, high school and college games so they become a part of the culture when they’re young, the same way the boys do; and getting a lot of women to attend umpire school en masse so at least two or three get jobs in pro ball at the same time instead of just one at a time (the way it’s always happened up until now). That way there will be a support system for them, an infrastructure of sorority and women encouraging women, providing counsel and mentoring to each other.