The Role Of Dominance In Women's Basketball

In his article “The Shame of College Sports,” Taylor Branch (2011) describes how universities are focused on advancing and receiving money from major athletics and having star athletes, but how the universities are not caring for the “student athlete.” The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made college sports into an unmerited business. However, as years progress more athletes are getting smart and are taking the NCAA to court. The more students that challenges the rules by the NCAA and take them to court, the secrets and undermining values of the NCAA come out and the closer the NCAA comes to an end.

Indeed, who would have predicted ten years ago? That women's basketball so wildly popular? Well, people who have watched the growth of women's basketball in southern states. The enormous campus arenas at the state universities in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia filled to capacity for home games. The coach for Tennessee's Lady Vols, Pat Summitt. She has achieved nearly godlike stature in that state. A tall, striking figure on- and off-court. Summitt commands respect. Wherever she goes. My youngest sister, Ruth Ann, who lives in Tennessee. She says you can't near Pat Summitt after a game. "You'd think she a rock star," she says. Although Geno Auriemma, Coach of the UConn women's team. Not yet enjoying that kind of support. He rapidly becoming

It is officially basketball season! Do you know what this means? This means crazy fans going topless, painting their torso one color, incise a letter to spell out their team’s name, and excessive screaming. It is such an interesting atmosphere to be in. However, there is a difference between men and women basketball. What is the difference? Women and men basketball are different in so many ways. Even though their size, athleticism, speed, and strength are comparable they are less competitive, are not able to reach the same level of stability while men add an interest to the game.

UCLA has a world renouned sports program, consisting of highly ranked and successfully teams. UCLA carries a huge reputation on its back in sports, molding Lakers point guard Lonzo ball and producing hall-of-famers in almost every one of their Sports. Are you worthy to live up to 100 NCAA titles, or a count of 261 Olympic medals? UCLA’s girls basketball team is ranked number 11 in the entire woman's NCAA program. Due to the incredible coaching by Corey Close, amazing training facilities, and very gritty players willing to strive for excellence causes them to acquire athletic domination. The way of coaching implemented by and iconic coach named John Wooden is the pyramid of Success, which pushes all athletes to succeed soon enough to become as iconic like players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Jackie Robinson.

In the world of sports, men have traditionally tended to be the leaders on the court or on the field. This statement is particularly true in terms of coaches. However, at one college in East Tennessee, the coach’s name that is synonymous with greatness is that of a female. Pat Summitt, arguably one of the nation's most renowned and prestigious coaches in all of NCAA women's basketball, lived an interesting life that was cut short by the devastating illness of Alzheimer’s disease.

It all started with an email seeking freshman male in his coaching and administration program. The 2012 graduate of UConn’s Sport Administration and coaching program, William Aloia, says this future success as the Associate Athletic Director for The College of St. Rose started out by almost” falling into his lap”. The New Jersey native began his undergraduate experience with two Division-I parents, and like an abundance of people he knew that working in sport was something he wanted to do. Previously a part of the Kinesiology department under the late Joe Marrone, Will jumped on the opportunity posted through an email and started his freshman year as a basketball manager for the very successful UConn’s basketball program. He explains how this experience “opened his door up”. Will states; “once I started at UConn working with the women’s basketball program and being around collegiate athletics at such a high level it’s really something in itself, and unbelievable experience. I knew it was for me, I didn’t know which part for sure, but I knew this was something I wanted to do.” What Will realized very quickly realized about working in sport is that often times it is a thankless job. However, that did not stop him from finishing his undergraduate career as a four-year manager for the basketball team. The motivation for Will early in his career has been a two-dimensional illustration of success.

When it comes to college athletics, there always will be a problem that arises. It is one of the most controversial topics there is. One of the main issues within athletics is the idea of whether to pay college athletes or not. Several studies have been done along with articles from various sources. This has been on the rise especially since “March Madness” is coming up. “March Madness” may only consist of three weekends, however, an 11 billion dollar deal is made to televise the games (Wilbon). This is when you have to take the time to sit back and contemplate whether these college athletes really are getting the fair end of the stick. Under NCAA laws it is forbidden to pay these athletes for their performance yet at the same time they

Throughout paragraph one, Chudacoff cites the argument that many people tend to raise around March Madness, that college

Several times throughout the article he seems to have a tone that hurts his credibility and arguments, by saying “It is ludicrous to argue that the Power 5 programs cannot afford this.” This harsh, unintentional bashing at others who do not believe in what the author is saying hurts his claim and argument by talking down to his audience; as if they do not know what they are reading. Another remark he makes is, “the appeal of college athletics, in no small part, is that the players are students at the universities, so they would still have to take classes. But their loads should be reduced during their years of eligibility, and once their playing days are over, they should be able to finish their education free. That’s only fair.” Here the author is almost stating that regular non college student athletes are not at the same level of importance as the athletes, possibly making some readers frustrated that these athletes get the easy road throughout college. Also, by saying they will be able to go to college free after playing, makes students going to school after graduating for a higher degree feel unimportant and unprivileged compared to the

Zirin goes into depth about how sport writers get pampered with expensive gifts from corporate sponsors and how the NCAA is making money off of uncompensated young athletes. While Ajmani goes into detail about how students are not getting fair treatment, "College students are pawns in a huge chess game" (Ajmani 209); students don't benefit from the games, as they are the ones getting played. Student athletes put themselves at risk just for the love of the game; if they get hurt on the field or court, they don’t have worker's comp for injuries, according to Dave Meggyesy. Both authors believe there is corruption in the NCAA system but focus on different

UConn alumni are spread wide across the sports world. Whether it is playing in professional leagues like Shabazz Napier and Maya Moore or managing baseball teams like Billy Eppler UConn alumni are everywhere in the industry. Recently I had a chance to interview Marty Summa Jr. a sport management alumnus from UConn. Marty and I reviewed some of the aspects of his current job as well as his road to this position.

There has been amplified debate on the treatment, education, training of the college athlete. To avoid exploitation of athletes, “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set bylaws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition” (Schneider n.p.). Intercollegiate athletics have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Currently, intercollegiate athletics generate tremendous amounts of revenue, remarkably in football and basketball. College sports in America is a

When I think of the word power I think of the domination of the Women’s Basketball National team, and the dominating performances they have shown since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Since then they have gone on to win 5 more consecutive gold medals in Olympic play. The power these women have shown since then has been truly remarkable. As women in a male dominated sport they are overlooked by a grave amount, and the money they make compared to the men is pathetic.

This reoccurring issue is not just with Basketball, as it is prominent in all other sports at Elon. In the fall, I worked for the Elon University’s Football team. Football is my number one sport. I grew up raised in a football family and watched both my brothers play, and I still have one brother who is playing in college. I loved working for the team this fall, and I am going to continue working for them for the next 4 years. What I learned while working there was how the students are not heavily involved within the sport aspect of Elon. There are 17 intercollegiate men’s and women’s sports in the NCAA Division 1 (FCS Football) conference at Elon. It was mind boggling that not many students decided to participate in such an amazing

“This team found a way again to pull off a big win,” said LETU head women’s basketball coach Leslie Reinecker. “We knew it was going to be a battle for 40 minutes and we found a way to play through the adversities to finish down the stretch. We focused all week on doing the little things and we did those when it mattered. We fought hard and our players made plays at the end.”