By Rachel Tompkins

Signs of Spring have appeared atop the Allegheny Front between the two Virginias. Here in Pocahontas County in West (By God) Virginia that includes shoots of green, the sound of robins — and cheering from the gym at Pocahontas County High School as the Lady Warriors begin their quest for the state Class A girl’s basketball championship.

Last week, they easily dispatched the Midland Trail and Richwood teams. On Thursday and Friday this week, they play in the regional tournament. A win sends them to the state championship in Charleston next week.

This team has a lot of talent and promise. My morning coffee group of retirees who gather at the Dirt Bean dissect the games and the girls over coffee. (The Dirt Bean by the way is a combo bicycle shop, gym, and coffee shop run by Kristy Lanier who is a downhill mountain bike racer.)

Against Midland Trail and Richwood, Pocahontas senior guard Shelby Snead topped 1,000 points and junior Chloe Bland made double doubles as the Lady Warriors won their 20^th game. They play a fast-paced game, driving and kicking out for threes. They employ a pressing defense — often full court — and average nearly 70 points a game.

I have the best seat in the house as I do the play-by-play for the games on Allegheny Mountain Radio WVMR FM 91.9. Long ago — before Title IX — I played high school basketball for the Hinton (WV) High School Bobcats. We played half court and could only dribble twice. Now retired, back on my family farm, I have become the volunteer play-by-play announcer for this terrific team.

The sports reporter for the station, a recent UVA grad, learned that I knew something about basketball when I started morning call-in chats on sports with my friend Caroline Sharp who does the morning show on the station. She and I always talk sports and she suggested we do it on the radio. That part was easy but play-by-play? I wasn’t sure my almost 67-year-old synapses could keep up. (Remember, I said the team is fast).

So far I am hanging in. In this part of the country, volunteering is important. And it’s a big part of this basketball story. The volunteer coach, Tim McClung, manages a local branch bank and my side-kick in broadcasting is Ruth Bland, principal of Greenbank K-8 School and Chloe’s proud Mom. All sports teams at Pocahontas High are coached by volunteers. Maybe the most famous volunteer coach is just south of here: Jim Justice, who owns the Greenbrier Resort, coaches the Greenbrier East High School girls.

Crowds at our games are good—maybe 300 for the sectional final. For the biggest game of the season against Tucker County, the stands were full, probably 500 people. Sure, it’s winter and there’s not much to do outside in this largely agricultural community. But community support is about more than boredom.

Pocahontas County High School, which combined schools in three communities over strenuous objections, is built by the side of a highway near the center of an 800 square mile county and is, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. It has taken 30 years for county residents to embrace this school and its students but now that they have, they show up whether or not they have children involved.

Last June, I had to park a half-mile away to go to graduation. It was standing room only with the gym floor and the stands filled for the 70 graduates.

If the Lady Warriors make it to Charleston, you can bet a regular Hoosiers caravan will travel to the games–about 3 hours away. Another batch will stay with relatives and friends. And this year, others will be able to tune in on the radio.

Rachel Tompkins (R) does radio play-by-play with Ruth Bland (L)

Senior #50 Karen Wilfong takes a free throw

Rachel Tompkins, an aging jock, received a doctorate in education from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1975. She was the founding President of the Rural School and Community Trust, has served as Associate Provost for Extension and Public Service at West Virginia University, Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund, and founding chair of the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service. She now spends time gardening and biking on the Greenbrier River Trail.

By Lindsay Rico

The game was over. Tied. But the excitement was just beginning. About 100 fans (and parents) leaned over steel barriers holding out soccer balls, jerseys, t-shirts—anything that would take ink —eager for the Boston Breakers and Philadelphia Independence players to plant their sharpies.

Leslie Osborne, Breakers co-captain, remembers being that young girl starting her soccer career at ten years old. Is she is ever too tired after a game to sign autographs? “No,” she says. “No matter how tired I am, I always remind myself of how much it would mean to me if I were that little girl to meet the players I look up to and get that autograph.”

Squeezed in among fans in “autograph alley,” I saw a girl clutching a Leslie Osborne poster with a smile on her face. Her dad struggled to find room on a child-sized Breakers shirt that was already covered in signatures. “How important is it that the Breakers come and meet their fans?” I asked. Dan, 44, didn’t pause: “My ten year old daughter is inspired by this. It’s great for her to come here and meet her role models.”

Further down autograph alley, I met Payton, 11, bundled up in soccer gear and ear muffs ( it was super cold!).  She turned to her friend and breathed, “Oh my god! It’s Kristine Lilly!”

Like guys who pride themselves on memorizing baseball stats, Payton rattled off the number of medals and world championships Lilly has won — along with the number of shots she’s taken so far this season.

“It’s really important!” she said when I asked her about post-game autographs. “Then we know that they really do care about their fans!” She turned away to chat up the players who were  signing her hoodie, offering them her take on their play that night, and calling out certain saves and shots for special praise.

Who says little girls with wash-off tattoos on their cheeks aren’t serious and committed fans?!

After spending 40 minutes in 40-degree wet New England weather surrounded mostly by young girls waiting to meet their sports heroes, three things struck me:

1)     Mainstream sports media — and even organizations — may be dismissive about young female fans. But these kids know more about the game than you think.

2)     These athletes actually do care about building relationships with fans (and it’s not just ticket sales or the ego rush of seeing a kid wearing your number).

3)     This is what professional sports should look like.

What is a real fan? What does that person look like? Is it the barrel-chested guy that begs to be the exclamation point at the end of “GO PATS!” when he and his buddies paint their tummies before kick off?

On this rainy and unpleasantly cold night at Harvard Stadium — when any sane person would have just gone home after the final whistle was blown — I saw something different. I saw big-time, serious, dedicated fans. This wasn’t about the guy with a beer-soaked voice and colorful wig, living vicariously through Tom Brady or Kobe Bryant.

It was about an 11-year-old girl loving how well her team played, about understanding the game, about appreciating the chance to talk about a sport she loves with players who share her passion. And yeah, as it is for every kid who goes to watch a sport they play,  it’s about her thinking, “I could be her someday.”

By Emilie Liebhoff

I recently took my three-year-old daughter ice-skating for the first time.  I skated a few laps, did some quick crossovers, and pivoted back and forth.  She was amazed.  (I’m sure she thought, “What did you do with my mom?”)  Then, with knees bent and arms out, she tried. “Look Mommy, I’m doing it.  I’m doing it!”  It was heartwarming: She wanted to be like me.

This is an exciting Olympic year for me.  It’s the first time my daughter is old enough to really watch Olympic women’s ice hockey with me.  She’s seen men’s football.  She’s seen men’s golf.  And, she’s seen men’s baseball.  Now I get to show her my sport, and the strong, skilled, athletic women who play it.

Here are three reasons why I’m watching with my daughter:

1)    Encourage her to be a sports fan.  Not only do I want to show her that women play ice hockey, but I also want to encourage her to watch sports and to excited about the women playing them.  Men and boys follow sports — but not enough girls and women do. Watching the Olympics is Step One to develop the fan in our daughters.

2)    Show her female sports role models.  Growing up it was tough for me to be a sports fan: Sure, Wayne Gretzy was an amazing hockey player, but he was a guy.  That’s not the case now for our girls. There are incredible female athletes who our daughters can aspire to be like, and who can be positive influences in their lives. (This US team has 15-first-timers plus veteran Jenny Potter — mom! — and superstar Angela Ruggiero, the first female non-goalie to play men’s pro hockey).

3)    Teach her the game. When you are an educated observer, your daughter will notice!  She’ll appreciate and admire your ability to watch the game, root for your team, and know what’s going on. This also is a chance for you to help your daughter build her own sports knowledge.

I did play hockey in college, but that experience isn’t required to watch — and enjoy! — the games with your daughters. Here’s help:

– First, when watching don’t say, “Wow isn’t she pretty?”  Instead, use this opportunity to emphasize the skill and strength of the players.  “Look, Jane, isn’t it impressive the way she stickhandles the hockey puck?” Or, “See how fast she can skate!” Remind them of the finesse and skill required to keep possession of the puck, particularly because checking isn’t allowed, but body contact is.  Point out, that women can use their bodies to protect the puck.

– Show your daughter that you understand the sport. Mention some of the rules. One key rule is offsides: The easiest way to explain it is to always let the puck win a race between the player and the puck.  If the puck crosses the blue line into the offensive end, the puck must cross the line before the offensive player.  If the puck gets sent out of that end and crosses back over the blue line, then all offensive players must follow the puck out of the offensive end.  The puck always needs to win the race.   For more rules and information, click here.

– Make it a point to interact while watching the game.  Have your daughters notice, for example, that when there are only four players on one side of the ice it means that team must have a penalty.  Conversely, the other team must have a “power play.”  This is a good chance for the power play team to score because they have an extra player.  Sometimes, you will notice an exciting moment when a team will “pull the goalie” to put an extra offensive player on the ice.  This usually happens if a team is trying to tie up the game and there is a minute remaining.

– And, importantly, show your daughters that when women score, they celebrate.  (Girls sometimes feel they are being conceited if they celebrate).  Expressing happiness after a goal is OK and encouraged!

– Also point out that ice hockey is not about the individual, but is a team sport. Highlight the fact that there are five players on the ice and that they all pass the puck to each other to work toward scoring a goal.  They also work together to defend and protect their own goalie.

The Olympic games occur over an exciting two weeks.  Use the games as a chance to not only bond with your daughter, but to ignite her interest in becoming a sports fan.   You may be developing the next generation of female athletes. See  Olympic women’s ice hockey schedule here.

Emilie Liebhoff teaching her eldest daughter to skate

Emilie Liebhoff is former co-captain of the Dartmouth College women’s ice hockey team, mother of two daughters, founder of Moms as Mentors™ and the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools.

By Laura Pappano

It’s starting. New uniforms are arriving. Coaches of other RAMS teams that bump into staff of the URI women’s basketball team are chatting about the season. For the first time in years there is anticipation that this year — maybe — could be the start of something. But as Head Coach Cathy Inglese and her assistants — including two former pro players – prepare for tomorrow’s exhibition game and the season opener next week against Fairfield University, there remains a lot of work ahead for a team that won three home games last year.

Inglese challenged her new team this summer, pressing them to improvetheir grades. Her philosphy: You can’t be excellent on the court and mediocre in the classroom. Players responded.

Now, how do you go from being used to losing to understanding how to win? From playing better on the road to developing a fan base and a home-court advantage?

Coach Inglese, asst. coaches Ashley Earley, Amber Jacobs, and Megan Lanham, director of operations Steve Wallace, and team captain junior Megan Shoniker, spoke with FairGameNews about some of the challenges of teaching players a new system, new expectations — and at the same time building support on campus and across the state for a team that may not — YET — have all the talent it needs to finish near the top of the conference and, dare say, make it to the NCAA tournament.

FGN: As a player, Megan, you were here last year. Does it feel any different now?

Megan Shoniker: It’s a lot different. We are reaching out more and getting people’s attention, going into the community.

Megan Lanham: With men’s basketball, people go and it’s a sport they watch. For women’s basketball, you need to build a sense of ownership. People want to know the players and the coaching staff.

Cathy Inglese: I’ve been out talking with people, groups. I say, ‘We are the State University. We are your University. Come support us. We want to make you proud.’

Steve Wallace: I talk to  my friends and they say they say they don’t go to women’s basketball. I say, ‘Come to one game and you will be hooked.’ And they come and they are.

FGN: How does the team look?

Megan Shoniker: I was really excited about Julia [Barac], one of our freshmen. But she’s gotten injured.

Megan Lanham: We are excited about Megan. The question marks on our team are the point guards. We have two freshmen. That will be something to watch develop.

Cathy Inglese: We need to have some kids stepping up – and it’s still early. I think Julia could be very good. I know she worked hard over the summer and she came back ready. But consistency, that to me right now is our issue. Right now the system is all new to everybody. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I don’t care what the heck anyone else is doing, I’m not looking at scouting reports. I am teaching our players what they have to do on and off the court. Part of it is creating that strong core, teaching them what it’s like to compete, what it is like to go hard.

FGN: I understand that you care a lot about fundamentals. What does that mean?

Amber Jacobs: We break every little thing down. Even the smallest footwork matters like a jump stop or a pivot or jab and go. You learn those in 7th grade, but to break that down again as a college player and build on that to dribbling moves and defensive stances – how to beat your player off that first quick step – footwork and fundamentals are key.

Cathy Inglese: What a lot of kids don’t want to do is break it down. They just want to go out and play. But I’ve noticed that it pays dividends with kids. We run a lot of set plays, but we also look at the fast break. We need to be sure we have smart players so when somebody doubles on the screen, they know what to do…Right now they are running to where they need to be, but not executing. Executing is knowing how to react to the various defenses that are thrown at them. There are all these layers as teacher and coach.

Ashley Earley: The system we ran at Vanderbilt was built on fundamentals. That was one reason I wanted to work for Cathy. As a coach, you can’t skip this step. What’s most exciting to me is to see our evolution. I’m excited to see the team come together. Right now, we are still a group, not a team. But we are 10 steps closer to being a team than we were this summer.

FGN: The Atlantic 10 pre-season coach’s poll has the team finishing 12 out of 14. Does that bother you?

Megan Shoniker: It’s a smack in the face. You never want to be 12 out of 14, but we have yet to prove we deserve higher than that. It’s our job to prove them wrong.

Cathy Inglese: Pre-season polls are guestimates. It’s how you finish at the end. Obviously we are hoping to be much higher than 12th.

FGN: There were also no URI players named to the first, second, third or defensive teams in the Atlantic 10. How does that reflect on your team?

Megan Shoniker: There are a lot of talented players in the A-10.

Cathy Inglese: We are here to change the culture of what people think about URI Women’s Basketball. The players on our team have to get better, but we also have to bring in better talent.

FGN: It seems like a Catch-22. How do you bring in better talent when the program has had a losing record?

Megan Lanham: The responses we are receiving in recruiting [for next year] are great. Having Cathy’s name attached to us is getting us in with high level players. They are calling us, they are visiting, high school coaches are contacting us. People know this is a building year. That’s been established. But there is an excitement to build a tradition and be part of hanging that first banner, to be a difference-maker in a high level conference. And Cathy is regarded as one of the best coaches in the nation. What kid wouldn’t want to come here?

By Laura Pappano

Let’s get over the woe-is-us tone that shrouds women’s professional soccer. Yesterday’s NY Times story captured the uncertainty league bigwigs feel around the (admittedly) very challenging task of filling soccer stadiums, and getting enough sponsor and ad dollars to give WPS staying power – and in a recession.

What’s troubling, however, is that WPS seems to want something it doesn’t have: raucous, beer-swilling, MLB and NFL fans (read: real fans). You know, the guys sports radio hosts describe as living in their mother’s basements and existing solely to follow every move of their beloved team and call in to talk about it?

It explains the origin of “fan” – that is “fanatic.”

In the Times story, Boston Breakers director of business development Andy Crossley says, “We need to get out of the ghetto of being a role model for girls.”

The quote was in the context of wanting to reach the men (again, read: real fans) who are taking the pony-tailed, soccer-playing daughters to games.

I dare say there’s not an exec in Major League Baseball who wants to get out of the ghetto of being a role model for boys.  (The stress, rather, comes because the jerseys of certain poor-role-model players suddenly become unmarketable.)

Why are young male fans courted and prized while young female fans are considered a sign of failure?

How will we cultivate a generation of season-ticket-buying female fans if we don’t value them as kids? (I suppose it’s a good thing Disney and Hannah Montana don’t discount the economic power of girls).

This is where WPS can learn from NASCAR.  A few observations:

1.    NASCAR has been all about serving the fans’ interest, creating the Sprint Cup Series to stir play-off-style excitement throughout the season, and this year mid-season changing the format of re-starts to increase the drama for fans. (Lesson: Don’t be afraid of altering the format).

2.    Drivers talk about the value of fan support and fans are known for shelling out and covering themselves in fan gear and buying sponsor’s products (Lesson: As a result, who wouldn’t want to sponsor NASCAR?)

3.    NASCAR’s fans base is changing – and that’s OK. An ESPN Sports Poll, for example, shows that today 60% of fans live outside of the South, 41% are female, and since 2000, the percentage of fans making $100,000 or more has doubled from 7% to 16% — and with that an increase in college grads (now one in four). (Lesson: You can grow beyond your original fan base)

4.    Still, the shifting fan base presents a challenge. In response to rising prices, drivers give away tickets to followers who feel priced out – even as execs think about what fans want. As one report quotes Richard Petty, seven-time champion and team owner: “We have to play the game a little bit different than what we did 15 or 20 years ago because society is dictating they want to see something different. It makes it really tough from NASCAR’s standpoint (of) what is the fan really looking for?” (Lesson: Be nimble and listen to your fans)

5.    Driver Jeff Burton actually likes kids among NASCAR fans: “There are a lot more families today, a lot more kid-friendly environments. Last week we went out to do hospitality on Sunday morning and there was a kid’s playground area with inflatable toys and all kinds of slides and all kinds of things. There’s been a huge effort to try to get children involved, which I think is a great thing.” (Lesson: Kid fans are not a negative; they are your future. Just ask the MLB and the NFL)

If pony-tailed girls are the core fan base of women’s professional soccer, work with that. There are other groups at games, too, including a report on the opening day of the L.A. Sol’s season describing the excitement among eight nuns from the order of the Eucharistic Franciscan Missionary Sisters (coincidentally dressed in heavy blue and white habits — the team’s colors), clutching T-shirts they’d won.

Guys who live in their mom’s basements may never buy a ticket to a WPS game. But who cares? Twenty years from now, that pony-tailed girl will want a luxury box.

By Laura Pappano

Of course being hot helps. Good-looking athletes get our attention, whether we’re talking Danica Patrick or Tom Brady. It doesn’t make them any better on the racetrack or the football field, but it does attract fans and sponsors.

I get that.

But there’s trouble when we consider the broader implications of who gets a hearing and some respect in our society – whether it’s on the field – or on a campaign trail or in a boardroom.

Do we need sex to sell women’s sports? Do women have to be attractive to be listened to? Unfortunately, women are forced to occupy a very narrow cultural space in our society (bitch, bunny, or mom?) that’s tightly tied to our bodies.

Michele Obama may be smart and accomplished, but we are most comfortable talking about her outfits and messages about organic gardening and family nutrition. That’s not as scary as hearing what she thinks.

Isn’t it obvious that we need to expand the depth and breadth of female public images? We need women pioneers (more females on Supreme Court, in Congress, in executive suites, on Little League teams, represented as artists in museums, as directors in Hollywood, etc…). In other words: Normalize female leadership so it’s not FIRST about how you look.

Artist Lillian Hsu has just launched an art action and held a mass event last weekend in which supporters placed 8.5 X 11 posters reading “Beautiful Just the Way You Are” in front of magazine covers featuring all-too-familiar representations of glam-only objectified female bodies. Her point:  Intervene and interrupt the auto-absorption process that makes smart women feel inadequate if they aren’t skinny with perfect teeth and skin.

As Hsu puts it: “Before we are ten, and then without pause throughout our lives, we internalize the lesson that our bodies are how we will be first judged as individuals, and that there is a body type that we must attain to be judged worthy of attention.” And the judging of bodies she is talking about isn’t about what athletic feats those bodies can perform, but how hot they are doing it.

I’m not burning my bra  (‘specially my sports bra!) or throwing out the lipstick. It’s all right with me if Danica Patrick takes a Madonna-like command of her sexuality. But just as everyone knows that because Tom-Brady-the-model is pretty, doesn’t mean Tom-Brady-the-football-player isn’t tough, we need to extend that flexibility to women.

While we’re at it, let’s lose those tramp-victim-slut ads for jeans and perfume and popularize the scent of real female power.

A reader writes: “…there is also a big gap between the quality of play for men’s and women’s college b-ball…and thus the price disparity.”

Absolutely, men’s college basketball is a fast-paced exciting game and male players on average may be bigger and faster and jump higher than female players. And yeah, the McDonald All-Stars would beat top women’s teams. But then, the L.A. Clippers (18-58) would beat any of the top men’s college teams by 50 points.

The matter here is not about bigger, faster, stronger, but about competition because that’s what we pay to watch. People leave blowouts at halftime. We watch college ball – men’s or women’s – because – well – it’s college ball. It doesn’t matter that it’s unlikely that a single player on Villanova will end up in the NBA; they were fun to watch because they brought a good competitive game to their opponents (at least while the run lasted). And the women do that, too.

THE TAXPAYER ISSUE: Let’s play fair with public benefits

Before we start creating derivatives based on the worthiness of various college men’s premium seating plans, let’s get hold of a key fact: College basketball exactly ISN’T a free market system. March Madness bracket betting (plus those massive salaries for men’s coaches) camouflage the fact that college sports are part of educational institutions that receive public funds and tax benefits as non-profits.

I’m not sure many female taxpayers – if they thought about it – would be so excited about using their earnings to feed differential treatment of women based on the historic fact that men’s teams have been more heavily supported, promoted, and publicized. The presumption that fans don’t want to watch women’s basketball is based on…what? That they are scheduled, priced, and promoted as lite fare?

THE TICKET PRICE ISSUE: Not a call to scalp the fans…!

Just because I point out that, controlling for attendance (some folks may have missed that part), most colleges charge twice as much to see men’s basketball as women’s basketball is not a mandate to double the price of women’s tickets. Rather, it’s a call to look at what we’re saying when we accept such a huge pricing disparity (hint: it’s about more than tickets).

Interestingly enough, several D1 colleges have an appealing alternative: They charge the same to attend men’s and women’s games. (Check out Louisiana Tech, Campbell University, Central Connecticut State University, Grambling State, University of Hartford, just to name a few…) Maybe if tickets to college basketball more reflected their role within a university setting – rather than as mini-pro enterprises – more fans could appreciate (and attend) both games.