Smith women lace 'em up and go for the goal   By John Eue M.A.'94   ............................     ............................

An odd thing happened at this year's Olympic Winter Games. While women's figure skating was, as expected, the most heavily hyped, overpromoted competition, a new sport elbowed its way onto the world stage. In one thrilling, gold-medal game, the United States women's hockey team gave viewers--and all girls with athletic aspirations--a new vision of what women's winter sports can be. Like the 20 women on the very first Team USA, some Smith College women have also been making hockey history. The members of the Smith ice hockey club, now in their third season of play, hope the sudden glare of Olympic publicity will take their sport to new heights. Founded by Jessie King '99, the club was chartered by the Student Government Association and began weekly, hour-long practices at Amherst College's Orr Arena. It has quickly attained an enthusiastic level of competition--and a high level of support on campus. "What's been so exciting is the fans coming. It's been packed," says Danielle Young '00, club president. The team now calls the rink at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton home and usually plays one game per week, against club teams from Trinity, Skidmore, Holy Cross, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The team sponsors a "fan van" to home games to ease the commute for campus supporters. "Having lots of fans makes a complete difference," says Brita Dempsey '00, a Smith biology major. "We might not be the most skilled team--yet--but we make up for it in enthusiasm." Dempsey grew up in Montague, Massachusetts, and was a figure skater until she entered high school. Looking for more ice time, she went to work with a skating class. The instructor also happened to be the girls' hockey coach and suggested Dempsey try out for the team. "I looked at her like she was crazy," says Dempsey, who fell in love with the sport and is now captain of the Smith team. Young, an education major from Edina, Minnesota, started out a figure skater as well and played hockey on community teams. When her high school added a varsity women's team in her senior year, she served as captain. The Smith club boasts players from all four classes and at all levels of experience-from players like Dempsey to women like Emily McCue '01, a Smith biology major who grew up a fan of the University of Maine's men's team but never played organized hockey before coming to Smith. Given its disparities in playing experience, the team spent a great deal of time developing basic skills. The schedule usually included three practices per week during the season, and members skated almost every day during Interterm. "I knew I was in trouble," Dempsey laughs, "when we were doing sprints up and down the ice one night and I realized Danielle and Emily were right on my heels the whole time." Team members felt they were much more competitive in the second half of the season and, even in losses, played hard. The sport clubs program at Smith is designed to provide a range of athletic options and recreational activities not represented by the college's varsity athletic teams or intramural programs, notes Theresa Collins, Smith ski coach and adviser to the club sports program. The program currently boasts 13 clubs, ranging from golf to rugby. Sport clubs are organized and run by students under the general guidance of the college's athletic association; they draw financial support from dues, fund-raisers and the college's student government and athletic associations. Sport clubs are open to Smith students of all athletic abilities and performance levels. As a sport club, the hockey team is responsible for running its organization, scheduling practices and working out game schedules with other teams. Given the ad hoc nature of sport clubs at all schools, this can lead to last-minute scurrying when ice availability changes or new games are suddenly added. Still, the team accepts the challenges: "Just having one more game opportunity is great," says McCue. The team must also support itself financially. A 1997 grant from President Ruth Simmons' discretionary fund allowed the team to purchase ice time, equip players and, for the first time, hire a coach. The team is currently selling athletic pants branded with the "Smith Ice Hockey" logo and, as the season ended at spring break, planned to devote more time to fund-raising and attracting the support of local businesses. The Olympic spotlight has already helped; the team was profiled on the local NBC affiliate as a tie-in to the success of the U.S. women's team. Simmons' grant to the team sends a clear message of her support for the growth of women's hockey and Smith's role in it. "So many things are happening in women's athletics right now that are just so extraordinary," she recently told the Sophian. "I think we are seeing a tremendous transformation. To be a part of that is terrific." The public's response to the Olympic women's hockey team reflects a growing interest and participation in the sport. Many women have long been passionate fans of the men's game--the National Hockey League proudly points to arena crowds that are more than 40 percent female--but never before have so many women put on the gloves themselves. The U.S. national team that played in Nagano was formed in 1990; women's hockey in the United States has grown from 5,573 participants that year to 23,010 in 1996-97, and from 149 teams to 910. Women's hockey is generally considered to be more of a "finesse" game than men's, relying more on skill than size; fighting is taboo and checking is not allowed. (Of course, such niceties can fly out the window in the heat of battle--Young, for one, grudgingly admits to spending her share of time in the box.) Still, the speedy, graceful action of the women often puts to shame the defense-oriented, clutch-and-grab game NHL hockey has become; indeed, in the Olympics, the U.S. and Canadian men's teams, stocked with NHL stars, seemed flummoxed by the wider, wide-open Olympic sheet, and both teams left Nagano empty-handed. The men, however, came home to high-paying jobs and Stanley Cup dreams. Many of the women are hanging up their skates. There is no NHL equivalent to the WNBA, although the league did take pains to include a women's exhibition at its last all-star game, and a small-scale league based in the Northeast is trying to line up sponsors for a November start-up. Women's basketball has seen an explosive growth in interest since the 1996 Summer Games, in which the U.S. team captured the gold medal. Many of the women on that team were first-generation products of Title IX, the 25-year-old federal law requiring that opportunities for both sexes be appropriate to interest and need. Many are hoping women's hockey will reap similar benefits from the exposure it received this February. Men's hockey, after all, experienced unprecedented growth after the "Miracle on Ice," the 1980 gold-medal victory of the underdog U.S. men over the heavily favored Soviet Union. Young, who grew up in hockey-mad Minnesota, thinks the Olympic breakthrough of women's hockey will definitely influence young women. "I see a lot of the younger girls saying, 'It's an Olympic sport, I have something to strive for.' It's not just a great way to keep in shape." The surging interest in the game also gives the team high hopes that the sport will soon gain varsity status at Smith. "We can't be the first college to have a varsity women's team," says Young--Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan beat Smith to that net--"but we could be the first Seven Sisters school." As a varsity sport, the team could hand most of its administrative duties over to the athletic department staff, leaving players free to concentrate on development and competition. A varsity team would also attract better athletes-women who play hockey in high school and who might not consider Smith if their options for competitive play are limited. Dempsey, who attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School, notes that many prep schools sponsor varsity women's teams, whose members want to continue their careers in college. Smith is currently developing guidelines and requirements for club sports that seek varsity status. Peggy Fleming, who won the 1968 gold medal in figure skating, was recently asked whether, given the choice as a young girl, she would have preferred hockey to figure skating. "I probably would have," Fleming said. "I was a real tomboy." The figure-skating dreams of a whole generation of girls were inspired by Fleming. Young women today might be inspired by an Olympic women's hockey team on a Wheaties box. Young women tomorrow might be inspired by a team making history at Smith.

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