For the Love of the Game

This class has taught us a lot about the struggles that women have faced just to be able to play a sport they love. There are many struggles, perhaps too many to count. A struggle to prove that their ovaries were not going to fall out if they were active. A struggle to prove that they can stand the physical exhaustion that comes with a 800m run. A struggle to have the same rights as males in school settings.A struggle to be taken seriously as an athlete and not just another pretty face or body. A struggle to keep their personal lives off the court/field. I believe the latter was the one the most difficult to hear about. I was always aware of the stereotype of the "lesbian athlete" but I had no idea just how difficult it could be. The fact that coaches could/would make it virtually impossible for a player to participate in the sport that they worked so hard to play just because they do not agree with their lifestyle was horrible to learn. I would like to see advances in society that things like this was not an issue. Why so people care so much about who others love? Acceptance is what I long for. Acceptance to those that may be perceived as different but still work hard to fight for success. Women athletes are a force to be reckoned with. Struggle is just another word in the dictionary, and as far as I'm concerned go by this simple philosophy... Be who you are, do what you love, and play hard, for the love of the game.


Nicole A. Coleman

Coaches

With the recent stories that have broken out about assistant coaches taking advantage of young children as in the cases with former Penn state football defensive coordinate Jerry Sandusky and former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. I have now reached a point, where I no longer will allow myself to watch college sports such as basketball and football. I have always never been a huge fan of college sports due to all of the stories about certain players receiving benefits O.J Mayo or taking money Reggie Bush or allowing them to get away with certain things like having someone else take your SAT test for you as in the case of Derrick Rose. This latest news of coaches taking advantage of young defenseless children is disgusting in my opinion because these young kids looked up to these people as figures of leadership and for them to use their power for such an inhumane way is evil. The reason that I will no longer follow college sports in general is due to the fact, that those university could have done something to put a stop it; in the case for Penn State where the school president was informed but instead of going to the authority, he chose to ban Sandusky from bringing children into the football building. In the case of Syracuse University, where the current men basketball head coach chose to make negative comments calling the two young boys liars and only bring this subject up now years later because they were interested in making money. Even though the head coach made an apology a day later for his comments, saying he spoke out of line without knowing all of the facts, which was true the damage was done. I have had enough of all of these college sports scandals to the point, where I will no longer follow any large schools such as the USC of football or the Kentucky of Basketball and will only focus on the smaller school that go about winning the right way.

Luis Carlos
Kin 338i
TuTh 930-1045

Is there any room left in L.A. for the Lakers?

I am a fan of Lakers for many NBA season but during the upcoming season it's seen like the Lakers have been pressure by the Clippers. For some reason, the Lakers have been trade off Lamar Odom, Shannon Brown and Chris Paul for this season. I really don’t know why they are making this trade because those players had helped Lakers wining a lot of game. During the upcoming season the Clippers are seeing to do a better job than Lakers. The Lakers are coming off as the losers comparing to the Clippers. I think the main reason for this is because of the bad trade between the players. For the upcoming season, the Lakers still have Kobe as the main player but still the Clippers have a bunch of new guys and Chris Paul, one of their best players. Kobe is getting older and I think the Clippers will take over all Kobe’s fans as time go on. As a Lakers fan, I really wish Lakers can win again the Clippers during the upcoming season but it’s going to be a tough season for the Lakers.

Ngan Bui
ID#009617320

Sexuality and Athleticism

After learning more about homophobia in sport and watching Training Rules, I stumbled upon an article, which I posted on twitter awhile back, that I wish Rene Portland and many other people out there could read. I know it's not about lesbians in sports, but I feel that it goes along the same idea of what Rene Portland and others wouldn't want on their team. The article is about a transgender Samoan soccer player named Jonny Saelua. In the Samoan culture, Jonny is a fa'afafine, which states in the article that "you have to be Samoan, born a man, feel you are a woman, be sexually attracted to males and, importantly, proud to be called and labeled fa'afafine." She became the first transgender player to compete on a World Cup stage and helped achieve American Samoa's first victory in international soccer. Everyone on her team accepts her and makes her feel part of the family. They don't treat her differently and really just focus on playing the sport they love.

I feel that the same thing applies to most teams out there, where the coaches and teammates are comfortable with gay, lesbian, bi or transgender players on the team but that unfortunately wasn't the case for former coach Rene Portland. In Training Rules, it didn't matter how great of an athlete a player was on her team. If Portland felt, thought, or knew a player was lesbian, she would do anything to not only remove that player from the team, but from not being able to play college basketball again anywhere. That was one of the issues that caught most of our attentions in class. No matter how great your athleticism, your sexuality will determine whether you can play or not. If only Rene was more accepting like many people out there along with the Samoan culture. She threw away and discouraged many amazing female athletes that could have taken the women's Penn State basketball team far, as well as their own personal careers in basketball. Definitely not the kind of coach I would want.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/sports/soccer/jonny-saelua-transgender-player-helps-american-samoa-to-first-international-soccer-win.html?_r=2&ref=soccer


Jan Redondo!
KIN 338i Section 1

What I Learned

In our final class meeting we did something that I wish more classes would do: we discussed what we learned, overall, in the class.

We answered our choice of two questions from a list of many. Being the super self-centered guy that I am, I shared one of my answers (because I love to hear myself talk, of course).

My other answer however, I never mentioned out loud. Not even when we were talking in our smaller groups.

"Why?", you ask?

The answer is very simple: in all honesty, I am ashamed.


I don't remember the question exactly, but it was something along the lines of: "What is something you are going to do differently because of this class?"...or something like that.

God, this is kind of hard to write, but I feel like its something that needs to be said...

I say the words "gay" and "faggot" a lot. Not with "homophobic" intentions, just when I'm messing around with my friends or I'm calling something "lame".


I am ashamed that I do that. Furthermore, it really was this class that made me feel that shame.


I used to live in the dorms and one of the first friends I made there was a lesbian couple. Almost every day I would let those words slip. I would call my buddy a "faggot" or call a TV show "gay" without even thinking twice.

The two of them were really cool about it, but I could tell it bugged them a little. So I stopped (The best could anyways).

But we drifted apart. You know, life just gets in the way sometimes...and without them there as a constant reminder, I feel into my old ways.

This class, with its close examinations of our society and the underlying prejuices we just accept, brought it to my attention once again.

I have tried to stop saying those words entirely. I don't always succeed (old habits die hard), but I feel like I am on the right track to eliminating those words from my vocabulary.

I know it isn't much, but I like to think that every bit helps in everyone's fight for equality.

Thanks a lot for reading :)

Gus Keller
Kin 338i
Tuesday/Thursday 9:30 - 10:45

Reflection

In our last meeting, one of the questions asked was, "Did you perspective on women in sport change?" I guess my opinion did change, as I didn't have much of an opinion about it when class first started.

I had never thought of the all the extra struggles women face in sport compared to men. I simply thought they were not as popular because the sport wasn't as physical due to anatomical differences. I was partially right, but I now realize that there are much bigger problems for women than simply having their pelvis angled differently than men.

The biggest one that stuck out to me was the battle that women had to fight between how masculinity was sought after in sport while it was the opposite in society. To excel at their sport, women had to be aggressive and strong, but to do so came at the cost of their supposed "femininity." Women at the highest tier of sport would skimp out on lifting because it would make them appear "manly."

It's also weird to realize that nearly everybody feeds into this mentality that women are inferior. I realized it when I was talking about girls with my guy friends. We all agreed that women who play sports are usually pretty darn cute. That is, until they get too ridiculously buff and start to look like a man. At that point, I realized how far society has been able to perpetuate that belief unto its members.

This class really was an eyeopener for me. It removed the veil for me about femininity and showed me that it wasn't a battle simply for the women to fight. I really do hope many more people take this class so they may see for themselves.

Bryant Pham
Kin 338i
TuTh 930-1045

Body Image

It is a well-known fact that women have always had some kind of body dissatisfaction, whether their hips are too big, or their eyes are too small. There is some characteristic or genetic trait that a woman can beat them self up about. Constant conversation topics that I have had among my friends have included degrading ourselves. We each continue the conversation, with statements of what we are unhappy with. Although this should not be considered normal behavior, it is something I think women participate in. It’s a terrible cycle that girls have created and continue to be stuck in. We don’t like something about ourselves, so we talk about our insecurity and then point out negative things in others as well. This course went one step further with the articles and additional information on this topic. With the readings brought the extended knowledge that was most surprising to me, adolescent girls as young as eight years old are having body image issues. At such a young age girls are very influenced by what they are surrounded by, and also are pressured by their peers. Society has put a great value on looks. This has made me much more aware of what I am saying and how I portray myself around younger girls. I have tried to make it a point to not say anything negative especially about myself but also not about other girl’s body images.

Natalie Bell

Section 1

Homophobia in Womens' Sports

Rene Portland was the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Penn State University. She was a very successful coach and seen as an icon to the school because of the win-loss records and championships she coached her teams to. She had three rules that her players had to follow if they wanted to play for her: no drinking, no drugs and no lesbians. She made it clear to her teams that if she suspected a person to be a lesbian or found their names to be associated with any lesbians, she would take away their scholarship, cut them from the team and make transferring impossible. Lesbian players had to make the tough decision to either leave what they had worked so hard for or try and hide who they really were so the coach wouldn’t find out. However, whichever decision they chose, it is obvious that Portland affected these women’s lives forever. Jennifer Harris was one of those women who was a star on the team, but when Portland believed that she was a lesbian because of her style of play, dress and braids, she cut her from the team. Harris was one of the first people to stand up for herself in public and show them who Portland truly was as a person, not as a basketball coach, that ultimately brought the end to her career at Penn State.

Homophobia continues to exist in the sport world, mainly in women’s sports and especially in women’s basketball. It is the fear of gay or lesbian people and is not appropriate in society. Homonegativity is displaying negative attitudes or behaviors towards LGBT people. Although it is more appropriate in society, it still isn’t fair. I don’t understand how a person can believe they have so much authority to jeopardize a person’s education because of their personal life. There is no connection between how well a person plays a sport, or does anything in life, to the types of people they are interested in. Poorer shooting percentage or defense is not the result of a girl liking a girl. There should be no reason to cut someone from the team if they aren’t doing anything detrimental to the team and it’s obvious that Harris wasn’t, or any other lesbian, wasn’t. Another thing that boggles my mind is that Penn State is not the only place where discrimination or abuse happens (e.g. Paterno, Sandusky), and that it happens every day across the country. I believe that the public unconsciously uses a coach’s achievements as an excuse for why they shouldn’t be punished and deny that the coaches are still normal people who have the potential to do wrong. It is unfortunate that society has brought people to appreciate sports more than the reality of people who play them. Coaches are still people and shouldn’t receive special treatment because they are given the label of “coach”. It is wrong for people to judge others and even more so, for coaches to use their public support and power as an advantage and they need to realize the entire world isn’t under their control.

I thought the documentary was very good, not in its content but in its attempt to share a small story of what happens daily. The thing that bothers me the most is that society has allowed people to believe this type of nonsense. One of the women in the documentary said that if the term “lesbians” was replaced with a certain race, that Portland would have been gone a long time ago. Homonegativity is a serious issue that is shadowed by racism and feminism, but just as equal in consequence and it needs to be treated that way.

-Chelsea Oshimo, sec. 1

Rene Portland's Lack of Punishment.

Rene Portland was the women’s head coach for Penn State basketball for twenty seven seasons, and for those twenty seven seasons she had no problem with stating her rule of no lesbians on her team. She ruined many female athletes careers because of this rule, it did not matter if these women were actually lesbian or if she just thought they were. It was not until Jennifer Harris accused Rene Portland of removing her from the team because of her sexual orientation that she was given a small amount of punishment. She was only fined 10,000 dollars and was required to attend diversity training sessions, and placed a zero tolerance policy for future violations. Ultimately just a slap on the wrist.

My question is, why did this continue on for so long? How much sooner would this have been dealt with if this was an issue based on racism? I doubt twenty seven years. If she said that she wanted no African Americans on her team this issue would have been stopped immediately, and she would have been fired. This just goes to show how certain issues in our society are more important than others. How long is it going to take until our society starts accepting people the way they are? Discriminating based on sexual orientation should be just as big of a deal as racism. No one should have to go through what Rene Portland did to these young female athletes. She ruined their careers and diminish their hopes and dreams, and its wrong.

Christine Thiebert

What do you want from me?

While searching among the many advertisements directed towards women an idea struck me. While there has been much complaint about how ads showing women are sexualized and often times not directly relating to what they are selling, there seems to be just as much complaining regarding the exact opposite as well. Women are complaining when ads are treating women exactly the same as men and approaching their sales the same way they would approach men. While I understand the fact that men and women are different, I would think that at least moving in the direction of equality would bring about more good than otherwise it seems that women just don't seem to be happy with whatever changes do come about. After a good search through all the ads I came to the conclusion that maybe they just want to have something to complain about. The ads seemed to be moving in a progressive direction but the criticisms of the does not seem to be relenting whatsoever. This brought me to the question what do women want to see in advertising? If they don't want to see women sexualized or in provocative clothing or poses and they don't want to see women acting like men then what will satisfy them to buy a product.


Ryan Plunkett
Kin 338I

Homophobia and Athletics

After learning everything about homophobia and LGBT athletes and coaches in this class, I never realized how much of an issue it is for them being an athlete. During high school, I played 3 sports all 4 years and every single year on every single team there was at least 2 gay people on my teams, so it didn’t bother me. Now I played volleyball, soccer, and track, which are not typically the sports associated with lesbians, but because it was never a problem and it didn’t seem to bother any of my coaches, I never paid much attention to it. My volleyball coach was female and she knew when some of the girls were gay and it didn’t affect their playing time or anything. The only thing that came even close to being treated differently was how she joked around with some of them during practices about their girlfriends, but none of them seem to take it personal, they would laugh with her. But one of my friends played basketball during high school and was surrounded by them. She’s straight and that fact that the majority of the team preferred to date women didn’t seem to make a difference in the fact that she loved basketball. I know I didn’t care that some of the girls on my teams weren’t into guys; it didn’t matter because we were all there to have fun with the sport and compete.
In the video we saw in class Training Rules, Rene Portland seemed to think otherwise. I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that out of all sports, she coached basketball and decided to implement this “No lesbians” policy. I don’t mean to sound judgmental or stereotypical but women’s basketball is one of those sports that tend to have more gay athletes than others. It’s just so horrible that Rene Portland was allowed to be the women’s basketball coach for so long, and during her reign she shattered so many of the athlete’s dreams. It didn’t even matter that some of her victims were not even gay, there were so affected by this stupid rule. If she was so against homosexuality because of her religion, then she should have realized how much she was hurting these young women by being so discriminatory. Someone’s sexuality shouldn’t determine their ability to do anything, whether it is playing a sport or coaching it, the important thing is the quality of their play. The whole homophobia in sports issue does seem to be getting better and I hope that athletes in the future won’t have to worry about being portrayed as lesbian or gay and they can be respected merely due to the fact that they are a quality athlete.

Nylene Herrera
Kin 338I Sec 01

Madison Chock and Greg Zuerline, are 2008-2009 worlds junior ice dancing pduring rofessinals figuer skaters. Both fromed a team in 2007 and trained under coaches Igro Shpiband, Marina Zoueva, Jhonny john, and Adrinne Lenda in Canton, Mich. Madison and Greg became more than partnes

Women in Popular Media

"Field of Dreams", "Any Given Sunday", "Hoop Dreams", "Rudy", and even "Space Jam". With all the evolutions in the world of sports, newer and better ways of displaying sport for means of inspiration or entertainment come on the scene. Most of us are familiar with all of the sports movies above, and vast numbers more. We can be certain that there are no shortages of sports movies featuring men, which provide us with countless amounts of inspiring, memorable moments in men's sports. However, is it possible to attempt to correlate the few number of sports movies featuring women's sports with the current lack of comparative popularity in women's sports? I say yes! Movies like "A League of Their Own" and "Bend it Like Becham" feature truly fantastic and quality stories about women in a man's sports world. However, apart from a number of complimentary, almost comedic scenes, none of these movies are centered around the lack of respect in today's culture for women's sports. It is my belief that more media focused on this, in the form of films or otherwise, is positively key in part of the promotion process of women's sports. If there is one thing I take away from this semester, it is that the media has a power unlike any other, not just in the world of sports, but in today's culture, focused around communication and social media. When, then, I ask, will the opportunity present itself to mass market women's sport on the same level as far as popular media? With rising popularity, stemming from the impressive Women's USA Soccer Olympic Team, I feel that there will be an extreme increase in the amount of sponsors, media exposure, and popular media inclusion of women in sport.

don't ask don't tell

Today I was thinking about the debate that one of the groups did on don’t ask don’t tell and also about the movie we recently watched on the coach from Penn State. In high school my varsity coach was a homosexual. It was one of those things where we all knew and she knew that we knew but it didn’t really matter because it wasn’t that big of a deal to us. She never straight out told us that she was gay, and we didn’t need her to tell us. We respected her personal life enough not to comment on it if she didn’t want us to. She and her partner both worked at our school and were both varsity coaches for soccer and swimming. A lot of people in the school and different sports knew and would sometimes make little jokes about it but nothing serious or cruel. I think that coaches should have the right to say if they are gay or not, but also have the right to keep it to themselves. My coach believed if she made a big deal about it then everyone would and since it is her personal life outside of her job as a coach then she had no reason to broadcast it when her team, the only people who mattered to her, already knew. However some coaches might feel differently about it and want to share it with their teams.

Personally I think that students in this era can handle homosexuality now without prejudice because it is pretty mainstream in everyday life, at least where I live. I do think it depends on if you trust your audience or not though. Our coach for example did a lot for us in finding scholarships and team building. But I also think it is a little different for girls then boys coaches. I dont know why but a lot of boy's that I have known feel uncomfortable around homosexuals, more so then the girls Ive known. But hopefully times are changing. My coach started a while back so that might be the reason she didn’t say anything to us about it, but I noticed that from my sister’s time there to the end of mine that she opened up a lot about it to either parents she was close to or even to us by inviting her partner to our games.

Allyson Nomura

KIN 338i

sec. 06

Homophobia

One thing that I found very interesting was the topic about homophobia. I didn’t know that there was so much homophobia in our country until I saw the video Training Rules and I read the articles about homophobia and heterosexism. I cannot believe that the things that were going on with the Penn State Lady Lions was allowed to happen. There were many people that were aware that this was happening but yet didn’t do anything to stop it. I just find it sad that many people knew about this “no lesbians” on the team rule but yet nobody took action against it. Even after the school implemented sexual orientation to the discrimination policy, Rene Portland was still in charge of the team and still didn’t change anything about her “no lesbians” rule. I think there should be more awareness about homophobia and there should be ways of stopping things like this from occurring again. People should not have to hide their life only because others are not o.k. with their sexual preference. They should be able to live their life the way they want to and not worry about changing their lifestyle because of society’s expectations.

Hector Barajas

KIN 338i

Section 06

Yoga Curiousity

Growing up in a very athletically demanding family I have been constantly being a sport since a young age. Thankfully, the rate I partcipate in a competitive game has dramatically slowed down. Usually I was on multiple teams simultaneously and rushing back and forth from practice to practice. Because of the physical demand I put myself in at such a young age it has aged my body rather quickly, I feel. After our lecture on yoga I have become much more curious about the benefits yoga would do for my body. Not only could I hope for a physical benefit from yoga but, also hoping for stress relief and an area where I clear my scattered brain. Considering I am a very shy person, I will definitely do some online shopping and purchase an at home yoga video.

Chad Schug

Kin 338I - Sec 06

More benefits of Yoga

My personal experience with Yoga

After hearing the lecture on yoga in class, I just wanted to give my personal story about the wonders of yoga and how it’s helped me control things in my life by connecting my mind and body back. A couple of semesters ago when I started attending CSULB, I worked and went to school and I gradually started going to sleep later and later at night, until some nights I wasn’t going to sleep at all, and it showed. My boss starting taking my hours away in the mornings cause I looked so bad. That’s when I realized I might’ve had a slight case of insomnia and went to the doctor. He of course prescribed medication for sleeping pills but I was too scared I would become dependent of them like many people are. He suggested exercise, when that didn’t help he suggested yoga. I wasn’t flexible and nor did I want to go any class and do it in front of a lot of people so I got a video, “yoga for stress relief”. After the first night I did it I slept like a baby. I did it for a week straight and haven’t looked back ever since. Within a week my insomnia was completely cured. Now I try to do it now at least once a week, but I haven’t had any problems sleeping, in writing this blog I probably jinxed myself but at least I know now how to control it. I strongly suggest everyone add yoga to their exercise routine.

Christopher Barnett

Kin 338I - Sec 06

Off the Court and On the Catwalk

I found an article that interested me with information regarding a WNBA that gave up playing basketball. The player was Elsa Hosk a 23 year old Swedish native that wanted to become a model during her teenager moments. Her dream to model was placed on hold due to the decision to finish high school as a high priority and be a female ball player. Elsa continue to play basketball professional, but wanted to fulfill her dream as a model.
The article caught my attention due to the headline and unusual act for a woman to do regarding sports. I understand that women have rights to choice whatever path they want to live their lives; but the story clearly ties into the stereotype on women. The norm constructs the idea that women are soft like flowers and should not interact in physical activities. I don’t believe that it is wrong for Elsa Hosk to quit basketball and become a model. The action is just unusual for a athlete to do and are view as muscular figures.
The women in sports course discuss the issue with the media and how women are portrayed. This particular article would have been a great topic for the class to interact. The body type image is important on young girls that want to be athletes and the case with Elsa Hosk will not affect the youth. I believe that her choice will remind young girls that they have the choice to become whatever they want and be successful in that career.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2068350/Elsa-Hosk-From-pro-basketball-player-Victorias-Secret-model.html

Tatiana S.kin 338I.S6Fall2011 t-th9:30

Tennis hidden in the shadow

The media likes to place attention towards men’s sports the most. I have been a fan of sports since I could see television and never thought about how basis the media can be towards genders. I found a article on the ESPN website that had the headline “Ana Ivanovic cruises to rout in final”. The article was about a tennis match called the WTA Tournament with a player by the name of Ana Ivanovic defended her Champion title. She won with a 6-3, 6-0 over a player known as Anabel Medina Garrigues this passed Sunday.The article seemed interesting to me as a reader based on the fact that the information was on posted on television as a headline. Instead, the article was on a website and located under other sports. The two players that were a part of the Championship Tournament are new to me as a sports fan that has watched ESPN on a daily basis. The media presents the perspective that they want the audience to believe and what image is considered the right look. I hope that in the future that more women athletes are represented in the sports media and placed in the shadows.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/7198924/ana-ivanovic-rolls-final-successfully-defend-wta-tournament-champions-title

Tatiana S.kin 338I.S6
Fall2011 t-th9:30

Your Good for a Girl

All my life I have always had a passion for snowboarding. Being a girl it has been difficult to receive the respect on and off the slopes each time I am up in Big Bear, Vail, Snow Bird, Brighton where ever I may be. I enjoy riding but it is very insulting when a guy tells me I ride "Good for a girl". What the heck is that supposed to mean? If i were a dude I wouldn't be skilled. What I don't understand is why people don't think us girls can take on the sport just as much as a guy can. Being a 5th year season pass holder and a follower of Big Bear mountain's newsletter I am pleased to have read that this upcoming season Burton's girls team will be coming to visit and taking a photo shoot with the special made quarter pipe for extreme boosting. Along with the quarter pipe photo shoot they will be putting in some down rails and showing off the girls talents. Last year when the Burton team came to visit Bear Mountain, the event was so successful that they were invited to join again. From the footage from last year and the pictures posted, I hope that all people whether men or women see this understand that snowboarding can be for both males or females. And that there are some women out there that can shred and kick butt just as much as a guy can!

Kin338i Section 6

C. Elliot

Shred The Gnar....Bro?....

In the recent surf flick, Lost Atlas, directed by Kai Neville, professional surfer Dusty Payne was quoted saying that girls are “terrible” at surfing and “sit on the boat waiting for the surf to die down to 1 foot waves so that they can go out and do their tail slides.” In response to that comment, women’s world tour champion Carissa Moore replied that Dusty was her greatest influence to expand her level of surfing even further this past year at this years Surfer Poll awards. This example of degradation of women’s surfing isn’t anything new. Since the beginning of women’s surfing, they have always had little respect compared to the men. Today, stars such as Carissa Moore and Coco Ho have expanded their trick book even further to include aerials and big carving turns, moves that can be easily witnessed in men’s surfing today. Women’s surfing does not have the same respect, or much less contest prize money as men’s surfing. However it is not without lack of trying. Nike has sponsored an all women’s surfing film called Leave A Message. The future of women’s surfing is promising with expanding trick books, revolutionary surf films, and young girls that are pushing the limits every time they surf.

Eating Disorders

I really wish there had been another day of discussion of the Female Athlete Triad and Eating Disorders. It seems like that it’s always the topic that just gets brushed upon since many people already know about the basic eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia) and the symptoms/ characteristics that define them. What people don’t realize though, is that someone doesn’t have to be “diagnosed” to be considered a disordered eater. A girl doesn’t just snap one day and all of sudden become anorexic, it’s something that slowly starts to build and eventually take over your whole mind and body. When someone finally gets diagnosed it’s almost too late; it was already a problem that had been building for some time. There is a whole range of levels of disordered eating and overtraining to lose weight, making a lot of girls believe that what they are doing is okay since they haven’t actually been diagnosed as “anorexic”. I feel like if girls were better educated on the topic then they could become aware of the fact that might actually have an eating disorder, and talk to someone or get some help before the problem becomes so bad that they are clinically diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or bulimia.

K. Sexton

KIN 338I Section 6

Yoga and Sport

The practice of yoga in my life has tended toward the erratic side of things, but I still have come to know many of the benefits that come from the practice. Like many people, I too thought that yoga was more of a way to stretch than to get a good sweaty workout in, but after a couple classes my idea changed. Though I only went to a couple of classes after first discovering it, I immediately bought some DVDs so that I could practice at home. Almost immediately after beginning, I started to notice my anxiety levels decreasing. So while it was not a deep and spiritual thing for me I did notice the relief that I achieved mentally and physically when I practiced regularly. Fast forward a couple year and I have taken to running and cycling as my main forms of activity. Like many runners I ended up with some over use injuries and my sports medicine doctor recommended doing some light yoga practice to increase flexibility and minimize pain. Once again the results seemed almost immediate. I certainly see where yoga can fit into a person’s life in many different ways and we will get out of our practice what we get in. So while now I participate almost exclusively in endurance events I try to add in some yoga to put a little balance in my life.
A. Page
kin 338I.S6

Portland Massacre

Rene Portland is one of the most recognizable names in all of women's basketball. In her 27 year stretch at Penn State, she appeared in 21 NCAA tournaments, including a Final Four appearance, five Big Ten championships and two conference tournament titles. She is one of 9 women to have achieved more than 600 wins at one school, finishing at PSU with a record of 606-236.

Many believe her to be one of the greatest coaches of women's basketball history, but her resume still lacks a National Championship. I feel there is only one reason a coach this successful can not produce a ring: chemistry. In order for any sports team to play to their peak of performance, all cylinders must be firing and the team dynamic must be extremely tight. Portland however, had three simple rules for her players: no drugs, no drinking, no lesbians. I believe that the third and most controversial rule is what led to her lack of ultimate success.

Homophobia has no place in this world, especially in sports. Team chemistry is without a doubt one of the most important elements of a successful team. When Portland introduced the "no lesbians" policy she created a massive rift between members of the team. There were those who supported her policy and were used by Portland as spies. Others lived in fear of being found out as a lesbian, or simply did not agree with the policy and just wanted to play basketball without the overbearing weight of the fear of getting in trouble.

I feel that if Rene Portland had educated herself on homophobia and its affects on teamwork and interactions, she could have been limitlessly even more successful.

J.Petorella

KIN 338I

Sec 6

PSU = the devil?

Penn State University has had a reputation for winning for decades upon decades. With the recent events that have occurred at Penn State, it seems that all of the memories of their glory years may be discredited. Rene Portland has led the PSU women's basketball team to over 600 victories and has also won the Coach of the Year award twice. Although she has a long list of accomplishments that she is very-well known for over her 27 years as head coach, her reputation may be shot forever now due to her discrimination against homosexuals, or more notably lesbians and she uses her faith as an excuse! I'm not one to judge others on their sexual preferences or religion because I feel that someone else's business is their own, and if they are happy then that's all that should matter. I believe that Portland firmly believes she was doing the right thing, but I cannot understand her God complex. I understand that the Catholic religion believes that marriage and relationships should occur between a man and woman, but if we look out at society today, homosexuals are constantly surrounding us. We can't escape it no matter where we are, but it still makes people feel incredibly uncomfortable. I also believe that you cannot help who you love and that homosexuals did not choose their way of life. No one wants to be discriminated upon and judged, and no one just CHOOSES to be homosexual to be rebellious. I think it's strange that others don't see it that way either, but that's just me. Although her religion looks down upon same-sex relationships, what I'm having the hardest time understanding is why she felt the need to ruin the lives of those that didn't see things the same way she did. She had such an enormous amount of power that she literally ruined the lives of so many women and watching the video in class, you can still see the pain and agony that these women felt. She permanently did damage to human beings that were just trying to chase a dream. After she kicked these people off her team, she went out of her way to make sure that they were never to have a chance at the big leagues all because they lived a different way of life than her own. She is not superior to anyone, she is not God. I cannot believe how long Penn State turned the other cheek and let this woman torture her players. Joe Paterno and his staff only cared about winning, and they did everything they could to ensure that they would keep doing just that... but here we are years later, and all of that might just go to shit.

- Clara Cho KIN 338i S.6

Crazy Crazy Crazy

I could not believe how Rene Portland was still able to keep her job after all that she has done to those poor girls. I never knew about her until this class and I wish I would have known sooner! I cannot believe that this actually happens in this world. I mean, seriously? How is it that good people get laid off their job but some obviously crazy woman gets to keep her job after 1. harassing her players to make sure that they know she doesn't tolerate gays 2. CHANGES A GIRLS HEALTH RECORD LIKE A CRAZY PERSON 3. attempts to sucker girls into going to penn state because other schools allow lesbians to play on the team 4. IS CRAZY 5. RUINS PEOPLES LIVES and 6. CRUSHES DREAMS. Did i mention that this woman never even won a title with her team? How on earth did Penn State think that keeping her on was a good idea? I just do not understand what went on in these peoples minds to think that this insane person should be in charge of other people. They must be insane too. I also feel terrible for those poor girls that had to be in the same room with this woman. I feel like I would just smack her in the face if I was anywhere near her. I can't even imagine having to go through what those girls went through or even what they had to go through after she got done with them. To have everything that you've worked so hard for just be taken away for something that doesn't even matter. She is this so called Catholic but I don't even think that any Priest would even think that this is right. They would probably think that shes a crazy person too...

Desiree Hernandez

KIN 338I Sec 06

It's Not Just Penn State....They Just got Caught

After watching the video about Rene Portland and her anti-lesbian policy at Penn State, and in light of the Sandusky fiasco at the same Penn State, I found many parallels, and these same parallels were a major reason that both affairs escalated to the level they did.

In both instances we witnessed an person in a position of power abuse it. I have previously discussed Sandusky in my former blog post, but Portland's openly anti-lesbian policy and the harm it caused is still very serious itself, as both negatively affected the lives of innocent young children and adults. The damage that Portland caused many young developing young women was obviously long lasting and changed many of the women in the movie lives' forever, often for the negative. This is eerily similar to the affect Sandusky has had on his victims, although obviously not on the exact same level.

The most disturbing fact of the Portland and Sandusky cases were how long they were able to continue. The standing university policy discussed in the video was that a superior must be informed of the situation and then action will be taken. The only problem with this was that in both instances this procedure was followed, and in both instances nothing significant happened. This lack of discipline showed by those with more power than Portland and Sandusky is despicable and cowardly.

But Penn State is not the only place this occurs. In the past year or two college athletics has seen more scandals of similar power abuse than in recent memory, and possibly in history. This exposure of power corruption shows that Penn State is not the only place that despicable acts are carried out and covered up, the only difference is that Penn State got caught with two particularly despicable examples.

The effect this has on sport, and particularly women's sport, is shown by the power structure that allows this to happen. It is still male dominated and as such the equality needed between male and female sports will not occur, especially when proper use of power is not enforced. To remedy this situation, a comprehensive NCAA review of all schools must take place in order to address the corruption that seems to have become more commonplace than rare.

Brandon Robison section 6

Anti-Lesbian: Rene Portland

The video, "training rules" was about how the Penn State women's basketball coach, Rene Portland was an anti-lesbian women who did not want any lesbians in her team. If the basketball girls were lesbians or even caught talking to lesbians, they would be out the team. Jennifer Harris was one of the top scorers in the team but was released from the team because Portland thought that she was a lesbian. Rene Portland should of been fired from the school during this time. She even had a a policy that mentioned NO LESBIANS in the team and no major authority did anything about it. She might have been one of the best coache's of the time but that shouldn't mean she gets special privileges and should definitely not allow her to get away with certain things.

Rene Portland discriminated against lesbians and some of the players had to lie about their sexual orientation just to stay in the team and not get their scholarship taken away. In the video, one of the players lied about having a boyfriend when in reality she was a lesbian. The basketball players avoided any lesbian activity because they did not want to get kicked out of the team. Portland was intimadating to the players and I'm pretty sure some of them are still psychologically hurt. School authorities need to step up and act against such behaviors like this.

Freddy F. kin 338i Sec. 1

Gender as social construct

it is hard to concieve the thought that our genders are a concept that are in fact determined by society. however, to understand this concept we must first deiferntiate our "gender" and our "genetic gender", in other words what society expects us to act and look like because of our genetic gender, and our chromosomal configuration that classifies us as male or female. it is in fact our "gender" that is the social construct becuase from the moment we are born, society imposes upon boys the role ofr masculin rough hellraisers and on girls the role of feminine, submissive, princess. although in our present time there are many instances that suggest a change in the way society views and assigns these roles- the fact is that gender is a concrete mold in the factory of society that is not easily going to broken. the problem with social gender roles is that they are rigid and uninclusive; there is no middle ground for individuals that do not conform exactly to the characterisitcs of the social man or woman. another huge problem is that people in general tend to inerchange or even intertwine a persons social gender with their sexual orientation. these two major issues are what create major problems for women athletes because first of all they do not conform to what society dictates a women should be i.e dainty and soft. secondly, the association of social gender and sexuality is what leads to many female athletes being labled as lesbian and manly. however, this is a concept that is based soley on a construction that penalizes those who insist on breaking away from the imposed norms that set limits upon the capabilites of the human body and mind. women athletes have made strides not only on the part of womens equality but also on the part of advancing society as a whole and helping make society a more accepting and open place to people of all kinds.

kevin C. KIN 3381 sec 06

Women's Sports Magazines

There are a variety of sports magazines available. Unfortunately, most of these magazines are geared towards men. Although female athletes are featured in the magazines along with photographs (most of which are racy), women would enjoy more sports magazines geared towards them. Women's sports magazines would feature strong female athletes portrayed in a way that we would not mind our daughters looking at and admiring. More women's sports magazines can benefit female athletes, women, children, and men. Female athletes would be offered more opportunities to have their athletic talent highlighted; where it would be ok to show off their true strength. Women and men alike could enjoy the articles and get to know these women as athletes and not eye candy. Children would be able to look up to these athletes and parents would be comfortable knowing that this is what our children admire. More women's sports magazines would benefit media and society.

Tiara Gose
Kin 338 Sec 6

Training Rules vid, how shocking!

In the film "Training Rules" showed how there is injustice that happens in the world due to sexual orientation. The person that committed this discrimination was Rene Portland. She as a Basketball coach might have been respected by Penn State for winning some games. However, she also took away many women basket player's rights to play the sport they love just because they were lesbian. The women who were discriminated against didn't just lose their scholarship but their love of the sport and of life. I never really realized how gay individuals get discriminated against in such a manner. It's unbelievable that schools still do such things in the athletic departments. This type of discrimination happens every day; however, people never really find out. In this case, Penn State/Rene Portland did get caught with violating the rights of many female basket players. This comes to show us as a society that we still need a lot of improvement; to accept people for who they are and not for what race are they or sexual orientation one has.

Rodrigo Uribe

Kin 338I sec 6

The Closet is for Skeletons and Clearly You're Still Alive

This is a shout out and a word of encouragement to those athletes who are hiding their sexuality from coaches, teammates, and the world. Speaking from experience, I know the struggle that comes with being gay and the hardships of ridicule and grotesque looks from those confuting bystanders. The taunts and threats are formidable, but your fear and suppressed feelings will eat away at you way more than those ignorant few preventing you.

Rene Portland, former Penn State women's basketball coach, was one of those few who tormented many of her athletes to stay in the closet or forbid contact with a lesbian. She pushed her beliefs onto her players, yet in a pep talk before a game she hypocritically states, "celebrate who you are." How can non-heterosexual women celebrate themselves when a mentor is tearing them down.

Well guess what? Times are changing, and we are fortunate to be living in a time when the once tolerated are now doing the toleration. More and more athletes are coming out to their coaches and teammates and every person that is doing that is paving the way for future generations to live a life of happiness and without fear and discrimination. Athletes who come out of the closet are breaking grounds to set a new foundation for acceptance and understanding that no matter what sexual orientation you claim you are still a human being. There needs to be more role models for children, so they do not have to feel scared and potentially hurt themselves mentally and even physically.

The change we need for an accepting world begins with you, with every athlete, to either come out and be proud of who you are or to support those who are lesbian, gay, transgender, or bisexual. I promise you it will be worth it.

Need some help...here is an article you may find useful.

Alejandra Fregoso

Kin 338I Sect. 6

Amazing Coach or Demeaning Monster

After watching the video “Training Rules” in class I am mortified at the behavior of the Penn State basketball coach Rene Portland. Unfortunately, however, I am not surprised that this issue was made to be less than it was and that the process of making things right became a long and dragged out process. Rene Portland’s corrupt behavior towards her players was disgusting. She let it be known that she would not accept lesbians on her team and she threatened her players to the point that those who were gay felt forced into leading a double life just to keep their scholarship. She made most of the players extremely uncomfortable. She even went as far as changing the medical records of students who decided to leave her team so that they would not be able to transfer. She also participated in negative recruiting, which means that she suggested to potential recruits that competing schools were full of lesbians and that her team was “lesbian-free”.

In my opinion, her negative recruiting practices were the most disgusting and demeaning. She not only implied that competing schools were full of lesbians but that lesbianism was wrong and because of this, that her school was better. Who is she to say what is wrong and what is right, and how dare she act as though her school is superior. Is it really superior if she has to forcefully repress the homosexuality of her own players so that they must act as though they are heterosexual? One of her own players had to pretend she had a boyfriend at another school just to keep up appearances with Rene. The entire situation ties perfectly into our panel debate about whether or not coaches and players should come out to their teammates. One of the pros of “coming out” was that the team had the potential to experience a stronger bond with their teammates and there would be a greater sense of unity amongst the players. Coach Portland, however, created a completely different set of surroundings for her players. She created an uncomfortable and passively hostile environment for her team which in turn caused tension and a great deal of anxiety. Rene Portland should have put her own feelings aside and allowed her players to be themselves; they would have felt better and therefore they would have played better and maybe then she would’ve actually won some championships.

-Erin Osborne

Penn State : Rene Portland

after watching training rules in class the past couple days i was speechless and amazed of how much power Penn State is giving to their coaches. Starting with Rene Portland and going all the way to Paterno and Sandusky. i feel like just because they win games and are improving a certain sport program the president of the school shouldn't be giving the coaches total control to the point where they don't even realize or care what that coach is doing. Rene Portland abused her power as head coach of women's basketball. it's even demonstrated by how much power she was given when she changed the medical records of that girl who tried to transfer, which resulted in her getting her scholarship taken away,or when she made girls choice between their friends and controlled who they could hang and couldn't hang out with. Portland may have won games, but she broke a team apart slowly and separated girls. she scarred girls who to this day are still dramatized by what she did. and she also made girls hide their true identities. coaches are suppose support and be there for their athletes. Rene Portland didn't do that at all. she didn't even want to be interviewed for the video training rules which showed that she was guilty in everything that the girls stated in the video which is horrible. Overall, Penn State needs to take more initiative and watch carefully over their coaches because this seems to be a repetitive thing where the coach's are abusing their power and athletes.

Robin Mora

kin 338i. Section 01

Penn State as a Poster Child

After watching the video “Training Rules” and hearing about the current scandal at Penn State, personally I have felt a strong dislike towards this just named university. There are other universities where bad things happen as well but for some odd reason Penn State has got caught. Rene Portland was an anti-lesbian and I found it very disturbing what she put those young girl athletes through. Many of the former women basketball players that played for Rene and were lesbian are now living a very hard life and with many psychological problems. Not only did Rene Portland ruin those young athlete’s basketball careers but they are also scarred for life. Both Rene and Sandusky have scarred young people for life and the major disturbance I have with this is that no major authority would put a stop to it and that just because of college athletics they got away with things ordinary people would not be able to get away with. If I’m not mistaken a math professor at Penn State made that point during the film that if he was discriminating he would have lost his job but because Rene Portland was in college athletics she got to discriminate all she wanted. They need to put a stop when it comes to letting big college athletics get away with anything they want just because they are producing a prestigious name.

Daniel Barajas kin.338i Sec.06

"Training Rules" Video

Regarding the video “Training Rules”, all I have to say is that Rene Portland is out of her mind and just a flat out terrible person. It’s fine with me if people don’t approve of homosexual relationships. I don’t really understand what they disapprove of, but it’s their opinion so they can think and feel how they want. But to enforce the “no lesbians” rule that Portland did on her team for so many years is just astounding to me. It also blows my mind that she would not only kick girls off of her team and take away their scholarships, but then go so far as to make it practically impossible for the girls to transfer and play basketball at a different school. I don’t understand why people allowed her to get away with this for so long or merely giver her a tiny slap on the wrist the one time she did get in slight trouble. I also don’t understand why, once the story of her blatant discrimination against homosexuals did get out, girls still wanted to play for her. I understand she’s a great coach but I personally wouldn’t want to play for such a terrible woman. And she’s never won a national title anyways! I guess I knew people still had issues with homosexuality but never really realized just how big of an issue the discrimination still is.

Chelsea Brown

KIN 338I-06

Skirt or No Skirt ?

Lately, the International Amateur Boxing Association are discussing whether women fighters should wear skirts in the ring when fighting at the Olympic games of 2012. Clearly this is sparked charges of sexism and surprisingly some female boxers don't mind. Since female boxing started and during the famous Leila Ali, women have worn boxing trunks. Trunks seem to be the standard and most suitable unform for boxing. Female boxers should have the right to chose what to wear in the ring and not be forced to wear skirts. Some of the female boxers disagree and believe that trunks are the uniform or"kit" of boxing, while others don't seem to mind and they will just follow the rules. These women boxers want to be known as Boxers and not female Boxers. I think that women should have a choice whether they want to wear shorts or skirts. It seems that the International Amateur Boxing Association wants to make the female boxers more feminine. This situation is a lot like the womens basketball. In womens basketball they made women basketball players look more feminine in their pictures and made them wear dresses. The basketball players would wear make up during games and their hair was always in a pony tail because other styles or braids seemed to masculine. I believe if they pass this rule of women forced to wear skirts in boxing it will begin a slippery slope, next they are going to demand women wear make up and have their hair in a pony tail.
Giovanny Gamarro
Kin338 Sec. 6
http://m.espn.go.com/extra/boxing/story?storyld=7272894

It's kind of ironic that the topic we have been focusing on the past couple weeks, following the panel debates, is female athletes in the media. I have been challenged on many different levels since we've began reading articles and watching films on the portrayal, exploitation, and under-representativeness/appreciation of female athletes.

Going into the panel presentations, and even at the end of the debate, I was very much stuck on my personal thoughts, opinions, and ideas that it is very much acceptable for female athletes to pose nude or provacatively. I believed, and still somewhat believe, that they work hard for their bodies and they should be able to show it off proudly, but I never really thought about the way other people may percieve these photos or the many subliminal messages that they send to young girls and boys, and even adults.

I have been clueless to the struggles of women in sport to get to where we are today. I only see women empowered and on top, I didn't have to experience the descrimination and the difficulties in sports for women. But now that I have learned about all the hardships that women went through so that we could be where we are today, I have been easily persuade to have a different view on the way female athletes are portrayed in the media. I still believe that it is good for female athletes to be proud and comfortable with their bodies, but that they should be educated in the past of women in sport.

There are so many underlying messages in the portrayal of women in the media that many people are unaware of: posing with their children and husband, wearing make up and feminine outfits, camera angles, and more. But maybe this is just the current ideals of female athletes today. Maybe the past concerns and accusations are in the past, and this is the way women truly want to be portrayed, with no underlying fears of people thinking they are homosexual or too masculine. I wear bows and skirts because I like to wear them and I think they're cute. There is really nothing else to it.


Kyndall Hagens
KIN 338I Sec. 01

Penn State Basketball Video

All I have to say is that Rene Portland is crazy. It is disgusting and appalling to see what she was doing with the women's basketball program and how she was so homophobic and anti-lesbian. She had no right to tell any of those girls who they could or could not be, that should be up to them.

Like someone had mentioned in class, it is crazy to see that she never won a national title, and yet she could still run the program and be that much of a horrible person. What's also disturbing is how she wasn't winning and the athletic officials at the school even knew that this discrimination was going on. It's sickening knowing that their excuse for not changing this or punishing Portland for this discrimination was because it was not technically in the rules that they could't discriminate against homosexuality. One would think that it wouldn't matter if it was in the rules or not, because it is a case of being humane and treating these athletes who have worked so hard with respect. I had never known how much of a problem homophobia is within the collegiate sports arena, it is truly shameful. They need to let these athletes be who the want to be, and focus on their athletic ability and not their sexual orientation.

Jenna Todd kin 338I.S6

Penn State Basketball

After watching the film about Penn state basketball and coach Rene Portland, I wasn't shocked, but disappointed. I do not think I am ignorant to the different types of discrimination, but its not something I always think about.

There were so many issues I had with Rene Portland from her just not allowing Lesbians on the team, assuming people were lesbians, interrogating people, telling people who they could be around, but what was the most irritating was her and the school preventing these ladies from going other schools after she romeved them from the team or they were harassed into leaving. Either by tampering with medical documentations or just openly threatening them by saying they will not play anywhere else. This is just so dishonest and plain mean. You may have your views or moral values, but to purposely damage someones life is unacceptable. She is suppose to be a coach which is a role model to these young women and set good examples. When I played on teams I looked up to my coaches and put a lot of trust into them. If I had been treated like these girls I do not know how it would have affected me. I believe it would have discouraged me from doing what I love and I can imagine the pain I would have gone through. Instead of growing these youn woman she was more concerend about tearing them down.

Treating people with respect and common human decency can be a start. The old saying of do to others as you would want done to you really needs to be taken seriously. The "I'm better than you" or" my way is the only way" needs to be toned down. Working on ourselves to be the best people we can be will go farther than worrying about trivial stuff about others. Focus energy to things you can actually control.

Vanessa Humic
SEC 6
KIN 338i