Expo celebrates women in sports

A lot has changed since Charlotte Cooper, one of the world's first women's tennis players, took home two gold medals at the 1900 Olympics in Paris. For one, women's tennis attire no longer requires knee-length skirts, and for another, it's now okay for girls to play football: in 2001 Ashley Martin became the first woman to play and score in a Division I-A football game by kicking three extra points for Jacksonville State.

In between, women have achieved unprecedented advances in sports and health, a feat which UB and other colleges recognized on Wednesday with National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

In 1986, the national day was established to remember volleyball player Flo Hyman, an active leader among female athletes who died early that year while competing in Japan. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, UB joined other colleges and universities nationwide to organize over 130 health fairs, sports clinics, lectures and luncheons to promote this year's theme, "Count Me In: Current Perspectives on Female Health, Research and Performance."

"It's great to see that women's athletics are starting to separate from men's athletics with regards to research, eating disorders, self image and injuries," said Dawn Reed, director of Women's Marketing and Special Projects at UB. "This is important, so it's nice to see that we're moving in that direction."

The event, held at the Center for the Arts this past Wednesday night, began with an expo of various on- and off-campus organizations to help provide information on women's health. Groups included UB's Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender, Haven House, Planned Parenthood and Counseling Services.

Joelle Bence, senior women's studies major and president of UB's Women's Club, said her club has attended the event the past few years because it provides useful information for women awareness.

"Basically (our organization) is a safe haven for women," Bence said. "We are very active in the community and do a lot of fundraising."

The networking and expos were followed by a panel discussion of four distinguished speakers, which included Andrea Greenwood, a psychologist and assistant training director at Counseling Services. Greenwood delivered a powerful speech that focused on how women can embrace sports and make athletics become an important part of other women's lives.

"One thing we can do as men and women involved in younger athletes' lives is to help them have some ideas about what sport is and how it fits into their lives," Greenwood said.

Greenwood also pointed out that not many people in this world make a career of playing sport, but sports are nonetheless integral in every person's life.

"Very few people in this room will be a Michael Jordan," Greenwood said. "But even Michael Jordan's identity isn't all about sports, so figuring out how we can interact with sports in other ways is important."

Janice Cochran, a dietitian with Wellness Education Services and Health Services, emphasized how female athletes use dieting in an attempt to lose or control their weight.

"One thing that contributes to athletes going on diets to try to lose weight is pressure," Cochran said. "It's unfortunate that the idea that lighter is better, or thinner is always more effective."

Cochran continued by discussing women athletes' increased use of supplements.

"I really have concerns about supplements for the fact that they're not proven to be effective before reaching the market," Cochran said. "There is always a chance of contamination or (the possibility) these supplements are toxic. I find the use of supplements is something to be extremely cautious about."

The third member of the panel, Kathleen Miller, a research scientist at UB, compared female athletes to women who don't play sports. She discussed how females who participate in athletics have a reduced amount of vices, such as premature sex, smoking or drinking.

"High school girls who participate in sports are less likely to get drunk or high," Miller said. "The overall effect of participating in sports helps reduce (risk factors) that women face."

Miller also distinguished the difference between being an athlete and being a "jock." An athlete is someone in sports who does not include these vices; a "jock" is an athlete who will include some of these bad habits in their lifestyle. A "jock" might binge drink the night before a game, gamble or take steroids to enhance their performance.

Sue Rocque, the head trainer at UB, focused on how injuries in women's sports compared to men's sports are generally similar with the exception being ligament damage in the knee.

"A female who plays basketball or volleyball is two to three times more likely to tear their ACL compared to male. If you're a women's soccer player that number jumps up to four," Rocque said.

Rocque discussed possible reason why female athletes are more susceptible to tearing knee ligaments.

"Researchers are looking at several different areas. Anatomical differences, having less muscle mass, hormonal differences and posture differences could all be a factor," she said.

Researchers have developed theories and trial solutions in an attempt to lessen the gap of ligament damage between men and women.

"There are differences in the way female athletes move, the way they land after a jump, pivot, and the way they accelerate or decelerate," Rocque said. "Women are now being taught such things as how to properly jump and land."

This event, which is in its 16th year at UB, displayed valuable information about the research and perceptions of women's athletics and helped give the crowd of spectators at the CFA new knowledge.

"The event was great this year. We had a great response," Reed said. "We always would like more people to come because I think it's an important message."