In response to women's history month, the East Wheelock Cluster sponsored a panel of female athletes last night to speak on "the past, present and future of women in sports," according to Undergraduate Advisor Dave Grelotti '96.
Grelotti, along with the other East Wheelock Cluster UGAs and Associate Director of Athletics Joann Harper, planned the event and chose the three female athletes and one coach who spoke.
Field Hockey Coach Julie Dayton, Kate Andrews '96, Sally Annis '97 and Sarah Billmeier '99 spoke on their experiences as women in the Dartmouth athletic program.
Andrews, co-captain of this past year's women's soccer team, spoke of what athletics does for a woman.
"It's a character builder," she said. "You learn to set goals and to work together as a team. [Playing soccer] has been the most positive part of my Dartmouth career."
Andrews also spoke of the importance of having female role models for the young girls of today. It is the influence of "the parents and the college-age kids who came out and coached us in tee-ball or soccer when we were young," that made a difference in her life, Andrews said.
Coming to Dartmouth, Annis, an academic All-American women's basketball player, had thought to herself, "Yeah, I'm gonna play basketball and it's gonna be fun," she said.
Annis also spoke of the support of others but she mentioned the support from the Dartmouth community.
"Dartmouth really tries to get everything on an equal level," Annis said. "We get a lot of support from the athletic department, the professors, all the way to the kids who come watch us."
Annis recalled going to Charlottesville, Va., to the NCAA Tournament in March of 1995. The team assumed that it would be all by itself down in Virginia but the Dartmouth community surprised it. "It was just a sea of green when we looked," she said.
Billmeier does not play for a Dartmouth team. Instead she spends her time cruising the slopes and is a paralympic gold medalist. Having won six gold medals in her sport, Billmeier has been involved in athletics long enough to know what she is talking about.
"I've asked myself, why is athletics worth it? Why is it worth training hard and getting up early every morning?" she said.
And her experiences on the slopes have given her answers to those questions.
Billmeier told of her experience with fear. About four years ago, after crashing while flying at around 60 miles per hour down the slopes, Billmeier remembers feeling fear.
Her coach told her she did not have to try it again, but Billmeier was determined. "I knew if I didn't run it again, I'd be so mad at myself," she said.
So she picked herself up and moved on.
"Going out of the start, I was scared out of my mind," Billmeier said. "But that's the great thing about sports -- it gives you confidence. It's totally mental. It gives you control over everything."
Dayton used her portion of the panel to speak on the role of women in athletics.
"Part of why I ended up in women's athletics was because of the great role models I had," she said. "Field hockey provided a ticket for me out. It was a vehicle of learning. It taught me how to live life."
Dayton, who played field hockey, basketball and lacrosse, urged the female athletes in Brace Commons not to ignore the role they must play.
"The women today, in 1996, who are college athletes need to think of the example they set," she said. "I think sometimes when I talk to my players that it's a privilege to wear a Dartmouth uniform, I don't think they really hear me."
According to Dayton, Dartmouth treats its women's athletes much better than other schools do. "You would be surprised how women at a lot of Division I colleges are treated as second class citizens," she said.
"Dartmouth is a great place for women athletes to develop," she said. "It's empowering ... When [the field hockey players] thought they could never run another sprint, I know they can. They see what they are made of."
In speaking to the athletes in the audience, she reiterated what athletes must do in order to continue the progress of women's athletics. "You must establish pride for the next group of athletes that come in. It is a selfless type of attitude which is hard to find these days," she said.
